Welcome back to Movie Recaps. Today I will show you a Russian
sci-fi film from 2020, called Invasion. Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care.
It's been 3 years since the aliens arrived on Earth unnoticed. The planet is securing
it's defenses, with USA, Russia and China leading the way. A new satellite is being deployed in the
orbit around Earth meant to monitor deep space, so that no alien object can approach the planet
unnoticed again. As the satellite opens, a strange alien ship can be seen, moving it's tentacle like
parts. Suddenly, a shuttle deploys from it, heads to Earth and enters the atmosphere. Meanwhile,
somewhere in the ocean, a fishing boat can be seen, with fishermen working and chatting.
One of them looks out over the water and sees the alien shuttle drop. He doesn't share what
he saw with the others. Next, the shuttle can be seen as it moves underwater like a submarine.
Four months later, Yulya is seen jogging with her dog. As they come into an apartment complex,
the dog escapes and doesn't come back for her calls. She tells the men that are with
her to help find him. Later, as she's sitting in robotics class, her friend asks her about some
new information from the lab. She tells him that if she shares any information, her guards will
have to shoot him on the spot. After the class, Yulya's friend tries to express his love for her,
but she knowingly stops him, saying that he'll be safer if they remain friends.
Her guards escort them to her fathers car. Her father, general Lebedev, talks to Yulya's friend,
calling him Google. The kid brags that he works at Rostelekom and they drop him off there.
He enters the building and when security asks for his ID, it shows that he's just an intern.
Meanwhile, Yulya and her dad are still driving and he jokes with her about breaking her out and
smuggling her to another country, where she could lay low. She doesn't want him to get suspended.
They arrive in a research laboratory of the Russian ministry of defense, where a robot
is seen tearing through the doors and smashing a car. Yulya's dad talks to a scientist at the lab,
asking about it. The scientist explains that it's some kind of biotechnology.
The robot is being controlled by a human, talking with them over com. The general comments that it's
a Russian-extraterrestrial coproduction. The scientist then explains that Yulya is the key
to understanding how all of it works. Meanwhile, somewhere in the facility, Yulya is taking part
in an experiment. The main scientist interrogates her about her encounter with the extraterrestrial
spacecraft and monitors her reactions, not just her answers. When he asks her about her friend
that died in the encounter, her heart rate spikes and then again when he asks why she helped the
alien. They ask her about her boyfriend Artyom and she gets upset, not wanting to answer. Suddenly,
the boyfriend is brought into the lab. He starts talking to her and she get incredibly upset,
telling the scientist to stop the experiment and get her out. He apologizes for killing her,
as she tries to reap through her restraints. As he keeps talking, the scientist encourages him
and suddenly there's a giant surge of power. Her father runs into the lab and gets her out
of the pool, while Artyom is being escorted asking why he's locked up, when she is free.
Later, Yulya and her father talk and she begs him to let her be alone for a moment, without
her guards or anyone else around her. He agrees and leaves, then meets with a soldier, Ivan,
telling him that he'll have to pull a night shift and to change in some regular clothes. That night,
Yulya is drinking at a bar. She spots Ivan and buys him a drink to let him know she's onto him,
so he joins her at the bar. She offers him a drink before they leave, but a second man appears saying
they have to go. The man introduces himself as Hakon and says Yulya needs to come with him, even
though she doesn't want to. Ivan and Hakon start fighting, but Yulya hits the soldier over the
head, knocking him out. Her and Hakon leave the bar and call the alien spaceship, Sol. It tracks
where they are and finds them a ride, leading them to a car with two passengers. It takes over the
digitalized car and starts driving it. Sol talks to them over the com and Ivan catches up to them.
The car manages to push Ivan away and drives off, being careful not to hurt people on the road.
Ivan catches up to them again with a motorcycle and calls general Lebedev to inform him of the
situation. The general tells him to follow them, but starts evacuating the laboratory of the
ministry of defense, under the explanation that the aliens have come back to Earth.
Back in the car, Hakon tells Yulya that she's in danger because they went to far with the
experiments, so they have to fly away immediately. The car is speeding and almost hits a pedestrian,
but instantly stops in front of him, telling the other passengers to get out.
Hakon and Yulya continue riding in the car, Ivan pursues after them and shoots one of the wheels.
He causes a car accident, but Sol tracks him from above and manages to save him.
Ivan calls the general to tell him he lost them. Sol drives Hakon and Yulya to a remote place in
the middle of the woods. She reluctantly walks in, but she's suddenly greeted by her dog that's
there. Yulya tells Hakon that she thought he was dead. It seems that he was the alien she helped in
the previous encounter. He says that the previous time everything went wrong. They go inside the
house and they talk about how he's been living on Earth. He tells her that he has adapted to life
on the planet. Someone knocks on the door and when Yulya opens it, she sees it's Google. She's angry,
even though that was what he tried to tell her before. Hakon tells her that he was supposed
to leave after the first encounter, but he violated the protocol and stayed on Sol,
close to Earth. They kiss and make love, as Sol is seen changing its form. It turns into Ra. The
next morning, Yulya calls her dad and tells him that she's with Hakon. She tells him that
she has to leave, because she doesn't belong on Earth anymore and asks him not to tell.
Nevertheless, the general orders his men to track her signal. Yulya walks back in the house,
where Hakon is waiting for her with breakfast. Meanwhile, a tactical unit has surrounded the
house with Hakon and Yulya inside and is ready to storm it. General Lebedev tells
them to stand down, but Ra intercepts the call and changes the general's command to shoot to kill.
The unit enters the house, Hakon fights a few of the soldiers off,
then the two of them escape. His ship is activated and waiting for them at the river.
Hakon jumps in, but the unit follows them and shoots Yulya as she is getting into the ship.
Hakon flies away. Suddenly an order comes in to launch a missile at them, but Hakon eliminates the
missile mid air. The ship is still damaged though and it falls through the sky and into the river.
Hakon tries to reach Sol, but Ra tells him that Yulya needs to be eliminated before
it can repair he's ship. He declines and Ra tells him that he needs to be eliminated too.
The general and Ivan try to catch up to them, receiving different kinds of miscommunication
that Ra has intercepted. They find out that space defense is after the ship, with the general
confused as to who gave that order. Helicopters are seen charging toward the river, switching to
combat mode and shooting at the ship. Back in the facility, Artyom tricks his guard and manages to
get inside the robot, steal it and run away in it. He gets to a bridge on the river and hears that
there is a unit after the ship, ready to shoot them down. The ship glides through the water,
but gets shot by two helicopters. It flies out of the water and falls through the air,
with water following it. Eventually it crashes on the ground. The helicopters are in position,
getting the kill order from Ra, when Artyom in the robot suit jumps at one of them and
rips it to shreds. On the ground, the general gets to the ship and goes to check for Yulya,
but her and Hakon have already escaped. He carries her to an ambulance, when they find Artyom,
who sees that she's hurt and tells them he'll get a doctor for her. But Hakon tells him that all she
needs is water. Artyom flags down a car and they steal it, leaving its owner behind this time.
While they're driving Hakon explains how powerful Sol is and how it can control human technology.
Artyom asks what it wants and he tells him that it only wants to eliminate Yulya.
In the meantime, Yulya's father goes to the ministry of defense, where a special meeting
has been summoned. He storms the meeting asking why such orders were placed when they were chasing
the ship. The vice-premier tells him that he is out of line and gets ordered to sit down.
Then he asks the space defense to explain their actions. They say the orders came from
the general. A recording is played where the general's voice can be heard giving the order.
The vice-premier orders the news to be played in the meeting, where the devastation in Moscow
from the chase is apparent. The media is blaming Yulya for what happened and play
a deep fake video of her, making her sound like a terrorist, that's on the side of the aliens,
threatening the city. They reveal that not only the video, but the entire news program is fake,
being broadcast from someplace else and not a TV station. The general tells them that
the aliens are the ones doing it. He asks for retaliation, to which the vice-premier says he
needs evidence so he can confirm such action. General Lebedev asks for special protocols to
be put in place in the meantime, saying that only analogue technology should be used for
all of their communication. The vice-premier agrees and preparations begin for the switch.
Simultaneously, Hakon, Yulya and Artyom get to a store to get water for her. Hakon goes inside to
buy it. When he finds the right kind of water and goes to the register, the phones of all the people
start ringing. Everyone in the store is talking about Yulya and a possible terror attack. All
of the people start getting the same message about her, that they need to find her and eliminate her.
As Hakon returns to the car, a woman in the adjacent car recognizes Yulya and informs a
police patrol that's in her vicinity about her. Artyom drives away as the police start chasing
them. Ivan gets the same message, while escorting the ship back to the ministry of defense.
The fake message tells him the attack caused by Yulya has injured his son. All digital media gets
swamped by Ra with the same information about Yulya, making her public enemy number one.
Google gets a visit from a police officer asking about Yulya. His grandmother sends the officer
away and when they close the door asks where he hid his friends. They were in the closet.
The next moment, Artyom and Hakon submerge Yulya in water. Hakon tells him that she's no longer
human. He says pain is changing her, making her extremely, if not dangerously powerful.
Ra has calculated that her death might save everyone else from her power and that's why it
wants to destroy her. Later, Google and Artyom get Hakon drunk intentionally and decide to take him
to the ministry of defense. Artyom gives Google no choice on the matter. Once they arrive, they're
greeted by Yulya's father ready to kill them. Google breaks and tells him where his daughter is.
He confronts Hakon and asks him to tell him the coordinates of Ra, which is known solely to him,
and tells him that he has to decide between her and his people. Ivan tries to get in touch with
his wife, but he can't. He sees the news about Yulya, as the general walks in telling his men
to prepare an observatory and the satellite with the coordinates he got from Hakon.
The general tells Ivan to get Yulya, but bring her to him directly, without informing anyone
else. The observatory locates Ra, so the general contacts the vice-premier about the next step.
They decide to engage with it violently but need to destroy a satellite, so that it doesn't catch
up to what they're doing and create different problems. The military sends Google to Rostelekom
to take down their satellite. Once the satellite is down, they will only have a few seconds before
it reboots. They will destroy Ra with a super secret weapon that the vice-premier pretends they
don't even have, even though they do. The general convinces him that they have no other choice.
Meanwhile, Yulya wakes up in the tub. Her wounds are gone.
She gets ready to leave Google's grandmother's apartment, when Ivan shows up at the door.
He's driving her someplace, but she doesn't know that he thinks she's to blame for the attacks.
He confronts her with the information, threatening her that if his son dies, so will she. The general
gives the order to launch the special missile and destroy the satellite as well. They wait
for the missile to destroy Ra and rejoice when it's done. But, the general isn't convinced. He
wants a full report and a visual confirmation to make sure the alien spaceship is destroyed.
In the meantime, people gather on the streets and demand for Yulya's prosecution.
Ivan is driving her through the crowd. He still doesn't believe her, but he eventually takes her
to the ministry to her father and the others. Ivan is disappointed with the general and quits on the
spot. Hakon uses a phone to communicate with Ra. It tells him that it is ready for retribution,
since it doesn't believe humans are worthy of anything. Ra tells Hakon that he can fly back,
but he declines, still believing in mankind. The powerful spaceship starts a process of destruction
on the planet seen from everywhere, including the tower of the Ministry of defense. Ra is angry at
the humans for trying to use its technology to create weapons like Yulya. It creates a massive
water dome around the area of Moscow where she is and starts flooding the inside of the walls.
The military tries everything, but they can't destroy the dome. They start evacuating people,
only to tell them that their only hope if to go as high up as they can and remain on the roofs of
the buildings. The general tells Hakon to grab Yulya and get her to the chopper on the roof.
So, he gets her and Artyom there and inside of the helicopter, but remains in the dome.
Hakon comes back to the general and asks for his shuttle, telling him that he can try and
destroy Ra if he can hit it with the shuttle. The general, realizing it's a one way ticket,
wants to go instead, but that's not possible since only Hakon can operate it manually.
The general evacuates his men, but remains behind to help Hakon navigate toward Ra.
The helicopter with Yulya and Artyom looses altitude and has to land,
but it starts falling and the two of them jump out in the water. They are pulled on one of the roofs
with the other people in the disaster area. The water keeps getting higher and Yulya can't accept
that all the people can get hurt because of her, so she surrenders. She asks Artyom to kill her,
and the others around them hear her. Meanwhile, the general manages to get Hakon as close to Ra
as he possibly can, until the water comes inside the building and floods it. Back at the roof,
Yulya is begging to die, wanting to end all the suffering she's caused. Ivan is there and he sees
her, going after her with a gun. Artyom tries to protect her, but gets shot instead. The water
starts closing in on them, but Ivan has lost his nerve. The water overtakes them. Hakon is getting
closer and closer to Ra, eventually speeding the ship towards it. Under the water, Yulya's bracelet
activates and sends streams of water toward Ra, as Hakon gets closer to it too. Yulya pulls Ra
out of the water and military helicopters start shooting at it as they see it. Yulya keeps pushing
the ship out and the military drops a missile on it, destroying it. Suddenly the water starts
receding and people start coming up for air. The general is still alive as well. Hakon's ship gets
pushed back in the remaining water, as Ra is dying. He appears on the roof next to Yulya.
The alien threat has been destroyed and the day saved yet again.
In the final moments, the general attends a fake funeral for his daughter. And later,
a helicopter flies over Kamchatka. One person leaves the plane and walks off with the dog.
It's the general tracking a specific location and when he gets there, he finds Yulya and Hakon. They
embrace and wonder where to go next. Yulya touches the water and a spaceship appears from below.