Titanium - Penal Planet XT-59 - Blu-ray

Movie: In the distant future, humans have colonized other planets. This includes XT-59, where the inhabitants live under a totalitarian surveillance system. Those who don't follow the rules are banished to the planet's dangerous swamps, where quite a few deadly creatures live. Those who survive the journey through the swamps are allowed to enjoy their freedom on the island of happiness. Kristi (Anna Chipovskaya) is one of the outcasts sent to the swamps with a group of other condemned. Since they include a criminal named Polar Wolf, Yust Van Borg (Vinnie Jones), her chances of survival are actually not bad. After all, Yust has been to the swamps before and has not been killed by the creatures. Still, Kristi decides to join the lone wolf, Ervin Kann (Evgeniy Mironov), rather than the polar wolf. What she doesn't suspect is that the government of XT-59 has a very special interest in Ervin not surviving the journey through the swamps. And so they are quickly threatened not only by the gruesome creatures that lurk there, but also from a completely different side.

Titanium - Penal Planet XT-59 is a sci-fi thriller from Russia, in which you can definitely see a certain system criticism. But this is packed into a too conventional script to really leave an impression. Elaborate special effects are also used rather discreetly. At the beginning there are some nice shots of the planet XT-59 and its futuristic city. But in the swamps themselves, the CGI tentacles of the deadly monsters are used rather rarely. Primarily, the action takes place in a barren, yet somehow fascinating landscape, where tension and action are also kept in check.

However, even if the dialogue is extremely flat at times and the acting leaves something to be desired in many scenes, the story offers some interesting aspects that make the film well worth watching in combination with the atmospheric look. The sci-fi flick may be far from being a really good representative of its genre. But unlike some other B-movie cucumber, there are amidst the numerous weaknesses also always some points of light that manage to pull the whole ultimately just out of the swamp of irrelevance.

Who wants to get a lot of action, great effects, first-class actors and profound or clever dialogues offered, should give Titanium - Penal Planet XT-59 a wide berth. But if you want to see a solid sci-fi B-movie with some good ideas and atmospheric visuals, you can definitely risk a look here. Overall, there is for it - with deductions - definitely still a: worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The image of the Blu-ray is absolutely clean and has an extremely atmospheric color scheme. The high level of image sharpness allows even minor details to be seen well, and the matching of contrasts also leaves a positive impression. The DTS-HD 5.1 MA mix is rather restrained in many moments, but this helps to build tension. Then, in some scenes, very effective sound effects are used, providing a powerful surround feel. Good!

Extras: As a bonus, the Blu-ray has a very short, but quite worth seeing Making of (about 8:39 min.) to offer in addition to the trailer.

Conclusion: Titanium - Penal Planet XT-59 is certainly not a milestone of the SciFi genre, but a sometimes still very entertaining flick with some successful moments of suspense. The Blu-ray presents the search for the island of happiness in appealing picture and sound quality. The bonus material, however, is a bit meager with a short making of. Who likes films like Pitch Black, which can risk here but definitely a look. Recommended

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp