Genre: Action/Superhero
Director: Brad Bird
Writer: James Morgan & Harry Wright
Based on DC Comics characters
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Tim Roth, Sofia Black D'Elia, Kevin Durand, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Emory Cohen, Oleg Taktarov, Colm Feore, Christoph Waltz, James Remar, Dominic Purcell, Jim Caviezel, Hafbor Juliuss Bjornsson
Plot: Kilowog (Kevin Durand), a member of the Green Lantern Corps, has been forced to flee his home planet of Bolovax Vik after it was destroyed and he found his refuge on Earth. He decided to hide in the Soviet Union, as communism is what reminds him the most of his former home. The Soviets, however, want something in return for hiding. Mikhail Gorbachev (Colm Feore) meets with his most trusted advisor and they look at what’s happening on the other side of the world, with their Captain Atom and they want their own superhero, but not just one, they want an army of superhero. A chained Kilowog helps the Soviet Union’s best scientists to conceive a wonderful armor, that would stand the test of time and would last forever. Gorbachev calls it the Rocket Red armor. They mass produce it and just like that, the Rocket Red Brigade is born.
Dmitri Pushkin (Joel Edgerton), a brave and patriotic Soviet soldier is leading a parade just outside the Kremlin. In attendance is Mikhail Gorbachev, who came out to observe him and particularly him. Pushkin can feel the immense pressure on his shoulder and he was told earlier that Gorbachev himself would be watching, so he’s sweating profusely and is nearly shaking, but he does his best to keep his cool. His myriad of medals strapped against his chest are a testament of his braveness and accomplishments. Looking at him, Gorbachev tells him he’s the perfect poster child for their new project. When the parade is over, Dmitri is asked to meet with Gorbachev and of course he accepts, although he’s a bit nervous. Gorbachev asks him if he wants to volunteer for the next project of their glorious nation and Dmitri accepts, knowing that he had no other choice, although he’s immensely proud that their leader thought of him for this. They enter in a car and are taken to an underground facility, where Pushkin hears Kilowog grunting through a door, but Gorbachev tells him not to mind. They enter a room, where they unveil to him the Rocket Red armor.
On the foreign planet of Angor, Silver Sorceress (Sofia Black D’Elia) and Blue Jay (Tim Roth), two superheroes known as the champions of Angor fight off robotic enemies who target the population. They are at the service of the Extremists. Doctor Diehard (Christoph Waltz), Dreamslayer (James Remar) Gorgon (Dominic Purcell), Lord Havok (Jim Caviezel) and Tracer (Hafbor Julius Bjornsson). Silver Sorceress, using her powerful magic, destroys the robots and Blue Jay, with his ability to shrink, is able to enter the robots internal wiring and turn them against each other. The Extremists set off the nuclear bombs they placed all over Angor. When Silver Sorceress sees the nuclear mushroom cloud, she calls back Blue Jay and opens a spatiotemporal portal to a random location to save their lives. They land in the middle of the water, with nothing in sight.
A while has passed since Kilowog created the Rocket Red brigade in association with Gorbachev’s best scientists. The training has been grueling, most of the original volunteers for the Rocket Red brigade died in training. In fact, all of the original Rocket Reds died, but three: Josef Denisovich (Emory Cohen), Dmitri Pushkin and Vladimir Mikoyan (Yuri Kolokolnikov), Rocket Red #1,4 and 7 respectively. The three friends wear the original armor, the only ones to do so. As Kilowog continues to develop a new and improved Rocket Red armor, the original Rocket Reds are on a mission to stop enemy dogfighters illegally flying in the Soviet Union airspace. Using their armor, they project powerful energy blasts that destroy the dogfighters and with their rocketed-powered suit and enhanced strength, they’re able to carry them in the water so they don’t crash on a city. When they get on the ground, they all high five and go back to their headquarters to celebrate their successful outing. On the way back, as they are flying, Vladimir stops flying and crashes on the ground. The other two go down to see what happened and they notice that he’s dead. They carry it back to their headquarters and the doctor who examines him says that Vladimir was not human, but was an android.
Blue Jay uses his wings to fly and carries Sliver Sorceress with him. They reach land and by reading on a sign, they find out that they are in USSR, although they have no idea where it is. They walk for a little while, being starred at by numerous people, it’s not everyday that you see a blue-winged man and a sorceress. People look happy and have a nice and calm demeanor, a far cry from their home world of Angor. They never thought they would be able to find somewhere so calm, where nobody’s on edge. Another sign: “Pripyat, Population 49,360”. Blue Jay turns around and asks where they should go now and if they should settle here. Silver Sorceress agrees, but as she does, she sees another radioactive cloud. They landed on Earth on April 26th 1986, the day of the Chernobyl disaster. She opens an open portal to get out of there.
Gorbachev meets with Kilowog face to face for the first time. He berates the alien for not building good enough androids. Most of them malfunctioned after a couple of days and now none of them are in function anymore, only humans remain. Gorbachev gives Kilowog an ultimatum. He improves the androids he’s building, or Kilowog won’t breathe again. As soon as Gorbachev leaves, he goes in a conference room full of scientists and they talk about their plans to make a superhuman without an armor. Gorbachev gives the project his approval. They can proceed with the tests. Armed soldiers walk in a straight line across the headquarters. They enter a room and take Dmitri and Josef with them.
Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress land back on their home world of Angor. Everything is destroyed. They try to look around for survivors of the nuclear attack, but everyone they see is petrified and disfigured. Silver Sorceress thinks she heard something and they see Tracer running towards them, running like a gorilla. She quickly opens another portal and they get in.
Dmitri and Josef are all hooked up to machines, closely monitored by a myriad of doctors. They agree that it’s time for them to unplug one of them to see if they can’t live on their own, without the help of machines. Josef is the first to be unplugged and he opens his red eyes and breathes normally. They unplug Dmitri too and it looks like he survived. They are told that they were genetically enhanced and are now stronger and more tolerant to all sort of things, which will make them better Rocket Reds. Speaking of the Rocket Red brigade, Kilowog managed to build better androids that survived this time around, while Dmitri and Josef were in a medically-induced coma. After the country’s scientists were able to replicate them, Kilowog has a face to face with Gorbachev, he will free him so he can do whatever he wants, but he must leave the country.
As Dmitri and Josef are shown their new Rocket Red armor, not far away from here, they unchain Kilowog and get him out of the safe chamber he was placed in. As soon as he’s out, he heads for another room and puts his Green Lantern Ring on his finger, giving him incredible abilities. He tears apart scientists and soldiers called in backup, before taking off and break free by flying and destroying the roof with just his fist. Dmitri and Josef were out for a test trial, where they were forced to go try to stop Kilowog. They take off and meet in the air with the extraterrestrial giant. They circle around him to try and confuse him, but Kilowog is as tough as he looks like. He projects energy fields with his hands which destabilizes both Rocket Reds and it allows Kilowog to fly away to an unknown location.
Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress land in the middle of Moscow. They hide for a while and discuss what they should do to avoid another catastrophe like that. Blue Jay says they should find all the nuclear bombs in the world and destroy. They know what a nuclear explosion can do to a planet and they’re unsure that this planet knows about it. They see so many happy people around that they don’t want them to die. They want to save these people, they feel like they owe themselves that, after failing to save theirs. Blue Jay tells Silver Sorceress to stay here for a while. He will shrink himself and fly to look for nuclear warheads.
Days go by and while the USSR mass produces Rocket Red androids, Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress lists the inventory of Soviet nuclear warheads, thanks to Blue Jay’s ability to be unnoticeable and then, they plan their first attack.
Silver Sorceress salutes a guard near a Soviet facility and flirts with him while Blue Jay, being about five inches tall, presses on the button to open the gate. She knocks down the guard with an energy projection, while Blue Jay deactivates the camera. He jumps a little to give her a high-five, but he lands on the wrong button, triggering the alarm. Not far away from here, the Rocket Red Brigade, led by the only two humanoid Rocket Red remaining, takes off to eradicate the threat. A literal red spot forms in the sky and travels at hyper speed so they reach their destination in record time. Blue Jay, who got back to his normal form barely had time to make a step, before he’s the target of Rocked Red’s missiles. He shrinks back and hides behind a heavy rock, absorbing the blow. Silver Sorceress uses her magical powers and her knowledge of advanced technology to rewire the internal wiring of a certain number of Rocket Red, making them turn against each other and destroying each other. Blue Jay uses his quickness and his wings to fly through the sky and shrink himself to dodge the missiles. Silver Sorceress is able to shield herself from the explosions and continues to turn the Rocket Reds against each other. She then turns her attention at Dmitri and tries to rewire him, but she can’t. He flies in her direction and is about to shoot a missile and a force field at her, but Blue Jay regains his normal form and tackles Rocket Red at the last second. Josef is busy destroying the alienated Rocket Reds and doesn’t notice that Dmitri was knocked down. He also doesn’t notice Silver Sorceress running across the field and enter the warehouse where the warheads are stored. Blue Jay continues his stratagem outside and makes both Dmitri and Josef collide when he shrinks at the last second, as he burst into laughter. He joins Silver Sorceress as Dmitri and Josef destroy the rebellious Rocket Reds. She’s able to destroy the warheads without detonating them. They go outside, even if they still hear the explosions. Dmitri spots them and directs a missile at them. Blue Jay is able to shrink once again, but Silver Sorceress only partly absorbed the blow. She opens a portal to get away from there and in the aftermath of the explosion, both Dmitri and Josef look around for them, but can’t find their enemies. They go back to their headquarters to regroup with the small group of remaining Rocket Reds.
Kilowog flies in the dark sky of the night and wonders how he could get back at the Soviets for treating him so badly all these years. After all, he only sought refuge their after he lost his home thousands and thousands of mile away from here. He was chained and forced to do things he didn’t want to do. They forced him to work for them and got nothing in exchange. Like a bull in front of a torero, he’s enraged when he simply thinks about Mikhail Gorbachev. The Soviets underestimated him. He may large and funny-looking and rendered inoffensive without his Green Lantern ring, but Kilowog is one smart cookie. He knew what was going on and he’s been planning his revenge even before they even thought of removing his chains.
Dmitri and Josef take off their helmets and argue about what happened out there. They call Gorbachev on the phone to voice their concerns about the malfunction of the Rocket Reds and their cheap building-cost, rendering them almost ineffective in combat. Another touchy subject amongst them, Dmitri is convinced Kilowog screwed them over only to get away from captivity, but Josef is convinced that the team in charge of the creation of the Rocket Reds is to blame. Gorbachev takes Josef’s side and says he will take care of it, before hanging up. In the ensuing minutes, soldiers come in and execute the research team leaders to give a message to the remaining ones to do a better job. Dmitri tells Josef that this is all is fault and he shouldn’t have expressed his concern about that to Gorbachev. He’s absolutely sure that Kilowog is behind all of this. Josef tells him to calm down. If Kilowog planed a rebellion all these years, if would not have simply fly away, he would be back to fight.
As they leave each other going in opposite directions, Dmitri remembers a conversation he had with Gorbachev when he first showed him the Rocked Red armor. He told Dmitri that this project required something a human touch and the leadership that only a man could provide and Dmitri was very proud to know that Gorbachev held such a high esteem of him. As Dmitri daydreams, Josef is in his dorm and he drops a mirror on the floor and he steps on a shard of glass that would cut most people. He smirks and takes out with no efforts, but he doesn’t bleed. The wound heals on its own and they both go to bed, thinking about two completely different things.
Silver Sorceress is still healing from the injury she sustained at the very end of their fight with the Rocket Red Brigade, but she wants to go out there once again. Blue Jay tried to dissuade her from throwing themselves into the lion’s den so soon, but her mind is made up and she circles another spot on their map, signaling their next destination. She opens a portal to get there and she lifts Blue Jay, who always shrinks himself when he sleeps, and throws him in the portal.
He’s disgruntled when he wakes up even madder when he finds out that they’re attacking by night. She tells him that they will stick with their original strategy, since it worked the last time, but it would be better if he didn’t trigger the alarm, so no tiny high five this time. Blue Jay gets up in the air and points in which direction they should head to get to their destination.
They are not the only ones who wanted to hurt the Soviets tonight. Kilowog, from up in the air, where no one can see him, activates something he carries on him. He freefalls closer to the ground and he lands right in the middle of the same airbase Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress are trying to get in. He crashes like a meteor and the whole base is alerted. He goes on a rampage and kills everyone there. He punches through walls and he tears everything up. They sent dogfighters at him, but he destroys them easily, before flying away, heading for Moscow. The surviving soldiers ask themselves where the hell is the Rocket Red Brigade.
Midflight, Kilowog presses on another button on his device, triggering a yellow light on it. He lands at another base and completely destroys it again. At the Rocket Red headquarters, Dmitri is awakened by an already-dressed up Josef, urging him to put the armor on. They take off with their army of Rocket Red androids behind them.
Silver Sorceress and Blue Jay arrive at the airbase and find out that everything is destroyed, but nobody touched the nuclear weapons. She deactivates them while Blue Jay threatens a surviving solider to learn what happened. They are then informed about Kilowog’s presence. Blue Jay asks the soldier where Kilowog went after he said he took off in that direction, pointing at the sky. Silver Sorceress realises that he’s heading for another base and they head there too. They land in the middle of the equally ravaged airbase and deactivate the nuclear weapons. They teleport to another airbase, telling themselves that this is too easy.
Kilowog waited for the Rocket Red Brigade to show up before destroying the airbase. When he has in sight, he presses a third button on his device and the light turns red. The focus shifts to Dmitri and Josef, ahead of the pack. They hear a huge explosion behind them and it’s the androids exploding one by one, creating a massive explosion. Dmitri looks at Josef in disbelief as Josef accelerates and joins Kilowog. The alien whispers something to Josef and he turns on Dmitri. Dmitri can’t believe it as the two Rocket Reds battle it out in the Moscow sky. They shoot missiles at each other and they duck every single one of them. They are equal and can’t get the best of each other. Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress arrive and realise what’s happening. Unfortunately for them, Kilowog notices them and he shifts his focus towards the two unexpected visitors. He projects force fields at Silver Sorceress, but she’s able to counter it with her own force fields. Blue Jay shrinks and gets in Kilowog’s eye, forcing him to blink. He uses his tiny stature to bother Kilowog, which unfortunately gets him angrier and angrier. As Dmitri and Josef battle it out, a loose missile crashes on Kilowog, angering the beast. He gets into a rage and he grabs Josef who was passing by and tears him in half, revealing his internal wiring, he’s been an android controlled by Kilowog all along. He decides to get the job done himself. He starts to fly and he throws Dmitri away with such force that even his rocket booster are unable to slow him down. For the short amount of time they had to regroup, Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress argue that they should go inside so Kilowog doesn’t see them, but they don’t have the time to think, as he’s coming back for them. Silver Sorceress opens a portal to the only place she can think of; Angor, home.
Dmitri, the only remaining Rocket Red, chases Kilowog in the sky and he’s able to hit him with a rocket. Dmitri shoots rockets at him, downing the alien. He lands near him and Dmitri takes off Kilowog’s Green Lantern Ring that give him all his powers. Dmitri asks him what he’s doing. Kilowog helped the Soviets for so long and now he wants to destroy them, which feels counterintuitive. Kilowog says he’s not a bad guy, he just wanted revenge for being kept prisoner and chained for so long. In his home world, Kilowog was a hero. He chose the Soviets because he agreed with communism and the culture, but they never trusted him. He spent all those years building himself an army. As Dmitri turns around to look at Josef’s corpse, Kilowog takes back his Green Lantern Ring. Kilowog warns Rocket Red that the world isn’t ready. There are threats for more dangerous than him out there and Planet Earth, as it is now is not ready for them. He gives Rocket Red a mission. Be warned that something is coming and the Earth will regret not listening to him. He knocks Dmitri down and connects with Dmitri’s mind. He shows him what’s going to happen. A group of monsters Rocket Red can’t identify will attack Earth and he won’t be able to stop them alone, he will be defeated. Kilowog drops Dmitri to the floor and flies away.
When Dmitri wakes up, Gorbachev is next to him and the only thing that Dmitri can say is: we’re not ready.
Post-Credit Scene: Time passes differently on Angor, where minutes are years on Planet Earth, which is why it feels like Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress never left. They try to hide from the Extremists, but Dreamslayer feels their presence and he captures them. He enters in Silver Sorceress’ mind and tortures her. He finds something interesting and gives the information to Doctor Diehard. Dreamslayer says he could get them there. It looks like they’re going on Earth.
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