Most of the English 'voices' were dubbed by Native speakers in post but, for an actor experienced in ADR/dubbing booths, lip-syncing to the Russian actors shouldn't have been too hard.
No, the trouble arises with the very words the Russians and their English colleagues were uttering; I get the distinct feeling that a great screenplay had been written but, with the decision to film a Russian movie in English, someone ran the script through Google Translate or a cheap Russian translator. (Not an English one, as they would surely have spotted 'the problem'.)
And the problem, when you get right down to it, is that NO ONE SPEAKS ENGLISH THE WAY THESE CHARACTERS DO. It is jarring. Constantly. Because words are being constantly uttered, badly, in every single scene.
That being said (sic), some of the dubbing was actually ever so slightly off and the script and film editing did need a little more care and attention, as did some of the fight choreography.
Weirdly though, I still actually enjoyed the movie. The titular character and her father have a nice interplay, the grown Abigail is pleasing to the eye and I assume is acting quite well, (given the bad script she has to read,) and most of the rest of the cast are decent enough too. (The villain and the absent minded old-man were a little off-putting but i'll put that down, again, to the script.)
The sets, costumes, sound design, lighting and camerawork are excellent and, of course, the CGI is breath-taking. (Something the Russians seem to be able to do for minimal budgets these days, take note Hollywood.)
If there any scenes removed that give a fuller back-story to the world and history outside the walls, these should be put back for the eventual DVD release but, in its present state, i'd say it is not as bad as has been made out elsewhere but does have room for improvement. 6/10
No, the trouble arises with the very words the Russians and their English colleagues were uttering; I get the distinct feeling that a great screenplay had been written but, with the decision to film a Russian movie in English, someone ran the script through Google Translate or a cheap Russian translator. (Not an English one, as they would surely have spotted 'the problem'.)
And the problem, when you get right down to it, is that NO ONE SPEAKS ENGLISH THE WAY THESE CHARACTERS DO. It is jarring. Constantly. Because words are being constantly uttered, badly, in every single scene.
That being said (sic), some of the dubbing was actually ever so slightly off and the script and film editing did need a little more care and attention, as did some of the fight choreography.
Weirdly though, I still actually enjoyed the movie. The titular character and her father have a nice interplay, the grown Abigail is pleasing to the eye and I assume is acting quite well, (given the bad script she has to read,) and most of the rest of the cast are decent enough too. (The villain and the absent minded old-man were a little off-putting but i'll put that down, again, to the script.)
The sets, costumes, sound design, lighting and camerawork are excellent and, of course, the CGI is breath-taking. (Something the Russians seem to be able to do for minimal budgets these days, take note Hollywood.)
If there any scenes removed that give a fuller back-story to the world and history outside the walls, these should be put back for the eventual DVD release but, in its present state, i'd say it is not as bad as has been made out elsewhere but does have room for improvement. 6/10