Attraction

When an alien spaceship decides to fall out of the sky, it usually has the decency to aim for the White House or a cornfield in Kansas. In Fyodor Bondarchuk’s 2017 spectacle Attraction, the cosmic visitor opts for a much less cinematic destination: the Chertanovo district of Moscow. It’s a gritty, concrete jungle of Soviet-era apartment blocks, and the arrival isn't a graceful landing—it’s a catastrophic demolition derby that levels half the neighborhood.

I watched this for the first time on a Tuesday evening while distractedly trying to figure out why my radiator was making a sound like a trapped Victorian ghost, and honestly, the sheer scale of the opening crash was enough to make me forget my plumbing woes entirely. This isn't just "another" sci-fi flick; it’s a fascinating look at how Russia does the big-budget blockbuster in an era where Hollywood usually holds the monopoly on blowing things up.

A Neighborhood Under Siege

The plot kicks off when a massive, spinning orb-like ship is clipped by the Russian Air Force and comes screaming down into a residential area. Among the survivors is Yulya (Irina Starshenbaum), the daughter of a high-ranking Colonel (Oleg Menshikov), and her hot-headed boyfriend Artyom (Alexander Petrov). While the military sets up a perimeter, the local youth—led by Artyom—start feeling a bit territorial. The film’s original tagline was "The Earth is for Humans," and Attraction doesn't waste any time showing us how quickly "protecting our own" can turn into "violent xenophobia."

What struck me most wasn't the aliens themselves, but the human reaction. In our current era of social media-driven polarization, the way the film portrays the mob mentality in Chertanovo feels uncomfortably accurate. You’ve got the government trying to keep a lid on things while the street-level guys are essentially looking for any excuse to punch a hole through something shiny. It’s a drama wrapped in a sci-fi shell, focusing on the friction between those who want to communicate and those who want to "defend" their turf.

Romeo, Juliet, and the Spaceship

At the heart of the chaos is a romance that feels like Romeo and Juliet if Romeo was an extra-terrestrial with a penchant for leather jackets. Yulya eventually encounters an occupant of the ship, Khariton (Rinal Mukhametov), who looks surprisingly human once he steps out of his high-tech exo-suit. Their burgeoning relationship is what drives the second act, shifting the tone from a disaster movie into a character-driven drama about understanding "the other."

Alexander Petrov is the real standout here, though perhaps not for the reasons you’d expect. He plays Artyom with a raw, ticking-time-bomb energy that makes him the cinematic equivalent of a high-speed car chase through a glass factory. You start the movie rooting for him as the protective boyfriend, but as his jealousy and nationalism curdle, he becomes a terrifyingly relatable villain. He represents that specific brand of modern "hero" who lets anger dictate his morals, and Petrov plays it with a sneering, frantic intensity that I found genuinely unsettling.

The High-Gloss Russian Spectacle

Technically, Attraction is a beast. Produced by Art Pictures Studio, it’s a testament to how far Russian CGI has come. The ship design is unique—a shifting, fluid set of concentric rings—and the "suit" the aliens wear looks like something out of a high-end tech demo. It doesn't have that "rubbery" feel that plagued a lot of non-Hollywood sci-fi in the early 2010s. Fyodor Bondarchuk, who previously gave us the epic Stalingrad, knows how to frame a shot to make it feel massive.

Interestingly, the film was a massive hit in Russia but landed with a bit of a quiet thud internationally, largely because it was marketed as a straightforward invasion movie. If you go in expecting Independence Day, you’re going to be confused when the middle hour turns into a nuanced discussion about blood types and local politics. It’s much closer to something like District 9, albeit with a glossier, more "pop" aesthetic. Apparently, the production had full cooperation from the Russian Ministry of Defence, which explains why the tanks and jets look so much more authentic than your average CGI military—they were using the real toys.

The Modern Context

Seeing this film now, years after its release and amidst our current global climate, the "us vs. them" narrative hits different. It captures a specific moment in the late 2010s where blockbuster cinema started grappling with the idea that the "invader" might not be the monster—we might be. While the dialogue can occasionally lean into the melodramatic (it is a Russian drama, after all), the emotional core is solid.

Is it a masterpiece? Not quite. The pacing in the middle drags as the romance takes over, and some of the supporting characters are about as deep as a puddle. But for anyone tired of the same three superhero templates, Attraction offers a fresh perspective. It’s a film that asks what happens when the "unidentified" becomes "identified," and the answers it provides are surprisingly human.

Ultimately, Attraction is a visually arresting piece of contemporary cinema that manages to sneak some genuine social commentary into a story about a big metal ball falling on Moscow. It’s a reminder that even when the stars come down to Earth, we’re usually too busy fighting each other to notice the beauty of the landing. If you can handle a little teen angst with your first contact, it’s a ride worth taking.