Paradox Soldiers   Starring: Aleksei Barabash and Semyon Belotserkovskiy Metrodome RRP: £15.99 MTD5589 Certificate: 15 Available 21 February 2011

Four friends from differing backgrounds combine their daytime jobs with their interest in historical recreation. When a grenade explodes during a war re-enactment the four are thrown back in time to one of the bloodiest battles between the Russians and the German Army. The four have to survive the battle without changing the future, all the while trying to find their way home...

Paradox Soldiers (2010 - 1 hr, 37 min) is a Russian science fantasy film directed by Oleg Pogodin and Dmitri Voronkov, from a script by Aleksandr Shevtsov.

The film is a sequel to We are the Future, which if you haven’t seen the original creates a small problem as the love story, which runs through Paradox Soldiers feels foundationless.

To be honest the idea isn’t an original one, having previously been used most notably in The Final Countdown (1980) but for a film which was made on a modest budget the battle scenes are worthy of a more expensive production.

Our four central protagonists journey is no more complicated than the preamble suggests and it does sound like a pretty awful B-movie, but the actors pull it off with panache and the director takes his subject seriously, which elevates the film above its possible bargain bin demise. The plot is mad, but it works. It's just a real shame that the original film is unavailable to buy, as the love story seems a little left out on a limb.

The film is presented in Russian DD 2.0, which is odd for a modern action film. Although the audio is clear, the action sequences would have benefited from at least a DD 5.1 mix. The print is pin sharp, allowing all the visceral gore and violence of the battle scenes to shine through.

6

Charles Packer