Reviews

I was just going to let this pass by, untill reading an interview with the director. Which drove me to this.

First the good. Slow burning but not too slow, good cinematography, decent acting. The robots J1 and J2 are excellent. Character development in the first 2/3rd's is good. The last 3rd let's it down, the shock ending is anything but a shock and simply burns the first parts down. I think the Toby Jones scene finished it for me in retrospect. Nothing to do with his performance which is great work as always, but it demonstrates the lack of closure the film winds up at by pulling the same tired twist as other, better works.

Hint. When being interviewed about your tripe filled film that ends with a tried and tested one, don't tell us you burned all the usual tropes in your search for originality.

A pity, as the emotional nuances provided by the bots ARE really good, it deserved a more eloquent ending to match the set up, which is done well. A solid 7.5.

Johana (Denise Richards), a woman with no past, is hiding from a UN Agent Bowie (Randy Couture) a head of secret space program. On her run she meets Martin (Bren Foster), and with help of Bowie's ex-colleague Lance they both help Martin to find his half alien daughter. One of the most important parts of the movie is a demonstration of a real meditation which the main protagonist uses to tune in to a higher frequency, and enables him to use telepathy and more.

Truly this looks like a materpiece to behold....

Cover me boys Im going in. Will report back. If im not abducted or whatever.

I enjoyed this, having put it on as a "have a laugh at the car crash movie" option, and being pleasantly surprised. The main protagonist (Kyle Gallner) carries it, which given the obvious lack of budget, and the performance of most of the supporting cast, is a miracle. I exclude Azura Skye from that as her performance is great. The rest? The 3 stooges school of acting.

Special effects are mostly absent, and there are a few moments where you REALLY feel that micro budget effects wise. Raised eyebrows doth not a monster make as was famously said by...well someone should have said it.

But as a whole it works, with some interesting ideas and plot twists. TBF it deals with some minor plot devices as if they are huge and drops a few that SHOULD have been huge in with little explanation. But the pay off is usually worth it.

I too could see this being a cult hit, theres enough and better than most cannon to revisit it with a larger budget.

Pleasantly surprising, as long as your expectations are lowish.

Before I start this a couple of caveats.

Not the highest budget film recently. So keep expectations lowish. Dialogue- Oh dear. Beyond cheesy into incompetence territory But still- I liked it. Why?

Atmosphere. With what appears to be a budget based on a 12 year olds pocket money, dialogue that at times just seems like random words put together and the principal actors obviously hamming it up in parts - it kinda works.

Okay theres no Oscar nomination in the offing, but with a set that seems to consist of 1 room and 1 corridor, plus a couple of outside shots in the wood nearest the production companies HQ...it still pulls off suspension of disbelief.

Manages to convey a kind of Hellraiser/Cuthlu mythos sort of vibe despite its shortcomings. Then it pulls off the ultimate movie trick of setting you up for a sequel but still giving enough closure where you can accept the ending as is.

Dont get me wrong, its no classic. But worth your time from the very conscious uber violent creature kill scenes to the OTT ending.

AND its got Aid .Edmondson

Im pretty tolerant of bad cinema. I prefer to be positive rather than negative. But THIS...was just awful. From the poor mans (and I do mean skint mans) Trinity of "the lead" character, to the total disinterest of her boss and goons, to the nightclub scene with no patrons....

I went into it with no preconceptions, I WANTED to like it, lets face it the synopsis covers every base going. Gang thug meets social worker and gains dark powers, man this HAS to rock. There HAD to be some good in there.. I lasted half an hour.

Avoid