Ed's Review Dot Com

New Artists Alliance,

Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, Ben Feldman, Dane Cook, Tom Cavanagh, Grant Bowler, Sally Pressman, Fernanda Romero, Dominic Bogart

As this movie begins, the base commander is holding a press conference to explain a 400 day mission that a select group of astronauts are about undertake in a buried mock up of a space ship underground. To assess the effects of being trapped in a tiny cylinder simulating deep space with no chance to get out, the group sets out to complete the mission. But it’s a difficult mental and physical experience and it brings a number of surprises. To fully test the crew a series of surprise tests is thrown at them in the way of mock failures and they are tested on their ability to cope and solve solutions sometimes without the help of mission control. But when they suddenly lose connection with the outside, tension grows as they wonder if this is really a test, or is it something much more catastrophic.

This, like any concept film, has its lovers and its haters. I really enjoyed the film, but did not get sucked into the tale, but took it much more cerebral in thinking about the effects of what they were portraying. The haters hate this movie because it offers no resolution, and I don’t mean a cliff-hanger ending. What I mean is that we’re not told what really happened. There are major issues between some of the characters that could be just a dream, or just mental health issues, or it could be a simulation for real, and the ending could have happened or been an elaborate setup. Expecting a resolution you get none, and you have to think your way through it. I think I know what I believe, but I’m not sure that I am right, but I have worked my way through the film, and appreciate the attempt to make this open ended and to allow you to interpret. There have been a few good films like this. Now, I must admit, usually I hate movies that don’t have a point, and just end. Sometimes it drives me crazy. But this time I found it much better that it allowed you to figure out what you will. It presents what it shows, and no interpretation follows. There is a lot of clues, such as the very ending frames of the picture, but those can be interpreted a number of different ways. The haters blame the writer and director for being lazy and not resolving the film, or give us enough clues to know what he intended. But perhaps these folks are being lazy in waiting for someone to tell them a story with a nice surprise ending that wraps it all up. To be honest I enjoyed the experience of not knowing what it really was. I also enjoyed reading the 3 or 4 or more major theories on what it all means. It’s an interactive movie that you have homework to do after it’s over. The story is not in the actors, nor is it in the presentation or the dialog. It’s not in the sets. It’s all there for you to absorb, but the point of the story is in your mind, and there’s time for you to work it out after it’s over. I’m ready to watch this one again.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Legendary Pictures,

Perdita Weeks, Ben Feldman, Edwin Hodge, François Civil,

Scarlet (Perdita Weeks) is following in her father’s footsteps searching out relics of ancient human history. In the middle east she finds a key piece of information to lead her to a precious stone in the catacombs under the streets of Paris. She meets up with her friend George (Ben Feldman) and connives to bring him along with some local guys she finds who know they way into the catacombs. Papillon (François Civil) is the leader of a group who have been down in the catacombs many times before. But things get very complicated as an ancient evil is present in this undiscovered are of the ruins that is the gateway between earth and hell.

This was a scary movie. But I do have to admit that the times I jumped were from the soundtrack and the sound system, not from the suspense of this kind of silly horror fest. Granted it has lots of scary scenes….in a world full of bones, but as they go through the same corridors time and time again, it starts to look really familiar. Truthfully, it was kind of fun to get the adrenaline rush of loud sounds making you jump, and people pay huge prices to walk through the haunted mazes this time of year for that, and this is full of that kind of jump in your face scares. But the story is pretty weak and falls into silliness time and time again. After an hour and a half of struggling through the maze of this underground horror tunnel we are hit with a sudden and quite unfulfilled ending that makes us wonder what just happened. The cast is likeable enough, but they don’t have enough experience to pull this off, and it shows. Additionally, there’s not much of a budget going, and this is another example of a film that was released to theaters prior to being shown to the critics which is always a bad sign. I expect the audience here is the teen set who like the easy jumps and screams and doesn’t mind the lack of substance to the story. They took on a really deep and difficult subject and blew it off with trivial explanations of what is going on. It’s just not that great of a film to deserve your big bucks at the theater, and I was really happy I took this in at the matinee to save myself a few bills. I can’t highly recommend this except for the exact audience for which this is intended. Otherwise, wait for it on video.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog