Sputnik
IFC Midnight | Release Date (Streaming): August 14, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
9
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzAug 13, 2020
Luckily, the performances and characterizations add heft, and the very Russian vibe of soulful heaviness sets it apart from its American cousins. Read full review
75
UproxxVince ManciniAug 14, 2020
Mostly, everything in it seems designed to build and maintain suspense that carries us from scene to scene, a task it more than accomplishes. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 12, 2020
The clever and nicely gory Sputnik comes from Russia with love, slime, and an impressive lesson in efficient, low-cost pulp filmmaking. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 17, 2020
The new Russian horror film Sputnik whipsaws between suggested horror and schlock so furiously that it turns inconsistency into a virtue. It’s a creepy chamber drama that morphs regularly into an effects-laden ick-fest. But transformation is in the film’s DNA. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternAug 13, 2020
All the same, strong performances, strikingly spare production design and somber cinematography convey a sense of something important going on. That’s no small achievement in what proves to be a creature feature with flair. Read full review
70
Film ThreatAlex SavelievAug 13, 2020
Despite all the flaws, Sputnik has one chief thing going for it: it holds your attention, from the first (and arguably best) twenty minutes, to the last (and arguably worst) twenty. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshAug 13, 2020
The film swerves from sci-fi to horror to psychological thriller to melodrama, but in a way, it works. It’s clear Abramenko wants to serve a full-course meal of a movie, and in stretching the dynamic range of emotion he hits on moments that are at times operatic and at others somewhat soapy. But in doing so, brings a new layer of story that makes Sputnik feel epic. Read full review
70
The New York TimesGlenn KennyAug 13, 2020
While Sputnik doesn’t make its substantial borrowings from other sci-fi pictures entirely new, it does juice them up enough to yield a genuinely scary and satisfying experience. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleAug 13, 2020
In an era where so many horror films are anchored in the aesthetics of Eighties American cinema, Sputnik establishes itself as an especially polished work of retro-futurism. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 2, 2020
But we still get a pretty entertaining thriller out of what’s here, no matter how the finale sets up and how the picture resolves itself. Read full review
60
The GuardianCath ClarkeSep 8, 2020
A smart and satisfying movie, although the crashy-bashy deafening score is so loud you can probably hear it in space. Read full review
60
EmpireIan FreerAug 14, 2020
In a concrete Russian military facility, no-one can hear you scream. Sputnik offers obvious time-honoured sci-fi/horror shenanigans with a few fun tweaks to the formula. Read full review
60
VarietyTomris LafflyAug 12, 2020
Abramenko maintains the film’s finite appeal throughout, mostly thanks to a familiar aura and a charismatic lead performance by Oksana Akinshina, a fine surrogate for the tough-as-nails heroine Ellen Ripley. Read full review
60
Rolling StoneDavid FearAug 12, 2020
You’ve seen this before. Think of it as a potent dose of sci-fi/horror Methadone to keep the withdrawals at bay. Read full review
58
IndieWireEric KohnAug 13, 2020
It’s an efficient, effects-driven ride with snippets of real ideas, but never quite willing to take them out of this world. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeAug 14, 2020
Oleg Malovichko and Andrei Zolotarev's script neither brings it to life nor quite has us rooting for its destruction. Read full review
50
Screen DailyWendy IdeAug 13, 2020
Atmosphere alone is not enough. Abramenko fails to generate much in the way of empathy with the characters, resulting in tension being diffused by the fact that it’s hard to care very much for their outcomes. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChuck BowenAug 9, 2020
Sputnik’s third act is a rush of formulaic action meant, perhaps, to compensate for the interminably repetitive and impersonal second act, which is mostly concerned with reinforcing a set of foregone conclusions. Read full review
40
CineVueChristopher MachellAug 14, 2020
No amount of tight corridors and shots of CCTV monitors ever make protagonist Tatyana feel in peril: this, far more than derivative monsters and confusing themes, is Sputnik’s fatal error. Read full review
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