It's a shame that a seasoned writer didn't proofread the screenplay to fix the many plot and technical issues. The editing has to be one of the worst I've seen. The directing was sub-par. The English dubbing was decent, and the cinematography and visuals were stunning. Acting was actually not bad. My generous 7/10 could've and should've easily been a 9/10. Such a shame.

I have to say that I've seen effects and action like this before in other Russian movies, but in Attraction it was the story and, even more than that, the acting that elevated the film. Particularly Alexander Petrov was great with Oleg Menshikov a close second. Special mentions for Irina Starshenbaum and Nikita Kukushkin.

The story is about an alien spacecraft that force lands on Earth. They just want to repair and go, but humans are not so eager to let them leave and ascribe to the aliens whatever actions of intentions they fear or hope most. The romance part of the film was a bit much, I think, but not something I haven't seen before or that I have something serious against. There are still issues with how Russians are creating the scenes in sci-fi movies, something that is strange considering they have a great body of work with amazing actors and cinematography, but they are coming along. This has to be one of the best sci-fi action Russian films I've seen so far and I can't wait for them to make more, because I love the Russian science fiction literature and I hope we will soon get that in film format. But, just know that the rating here is relative to other Russian action sci-fi, not movies in general.

ATTRACTION is a big budget Russian alien invasion movie that feels like a cross between INDEPENDENCE DAY and in particularly the low budget gem SKYFALL. The story sees a bunch of characters finding their lives turned upside down when a massive alien ship crash lands in the city, spearheading an alien invasion of CGI beasties. And CGI is certainly the catchword here, with all of the alien moments featuring CGI in one form or another. It's not the greatest, if I'm honest, and a climactic vehicular chase looks pretty poor when it comes down to it; more a video game than a film.

Outside of the sci-fi elements, the story drags interminably with too many needless characters adding little to the narrative. There's little in the way of momentum, just po-faced seriousness and an earnest nature which never really feels all that convincing. To my mind, ATTRACTION might have worked well for local audiences, but for international viewers it all feels a bit lacklustre.