Screens! Aargh! There’s the bane of modern life, for many in the older generations (guilty, as charged), and the source of a new challenge to parents (as they must battle their offspring over “limiting screen time”). Well, according to this new thriller set in the not too distant future, the “screen reliance” will only strengthen. That’s because, in this story’s plot, they can literally be the deciding factor between life and death. By legal execution. Yes, this is a science fiction-tinged tale of crime and really quick punishment. And with this “ice cold” tech advance, there’s little room on the legal system’s “hard drive” for even a gigabyte of MERCY.
Before the mystery really kicks in, we’re treated to a brief prologue explaining this radically new and improved (?) world of 2029. It seems that crime was overwhelming the “city of angels” with entire “ever-expanding” blocks cordoned off as “red zones”, packed with the dregs (addicts, career criminals) of society. To stem the tide, the court system is given an extreme “overhaul” for those accused of capital crime (mainly murder). Every device (phones, security cameras, monitors) are linked to the “cloud” so that when a suspected assailant is observed, the police scoop them up, and whisk them to the monolith Mercy building in downtown LA. They are strapped to a chair in front of a huge screen that lets them interact with an AI judge (and no jury of their peers). They are given 90 minutes to reduce the probability of guilt icon to 92%. If that number can’t be reached, the prisoner is given a lethal shock through that chair. As the backstory ends, the main action shifts to a large empty room where a groggy Chris Raven (Chris Pratt) awakens in that dreaded chair. He is then told by digital Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson) that he is accused of killing his wife Nicole (Annabelle Wallis). Raven is stunned, since he has no memory of that or of being arrested. Oh, and he’s a cop, the police detective that brought in the first person to be tried and found guilty by Mercy (which has reduced the murder rat, so far, to 68%). Things don’t look promising for him as he sees various screen grabs of him getting into a heated argument with her before “falling off the wagon” and being violently subdued (hence the poor recall) at a local “watering hole”. That ninety-minute clock is ticking fast, so Raven gets “up to speed” by contacting his AA sponsor Rob (Chris Sullivan) and his angry teen daughter Britt (Kylie Rogers), who discovered her mom’s body. With help on those mean streets from his current LAPD partner Jaq (Kali Reis) can Raven untangle this twisty “frame job” before his “trial time” runs out, and he is roasted and toasted by “ole’ Sparkey’?
Though he’s “the guy in the chair”, Pratt ably holds our interest, communicating the plight of Raven though his vocal intonations and facial expressions (no body language to read here). Plus, he’s not cruising by with his engaging charm, giving us the dramatic heft missing with much of his post-Starlord roles in direct-to-streaming shows. He can even keep us in doubt as to Raven’s guilt (most of the time). Now “the lady on the big monitor screen” (accented in black naturally), is the terrific Ferguson who we just saw reacting to screens in A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE. Here’s she’s almost as limited as Pratt, since the AI judge is incapable of expressing any emotion (to a point). Yet, she intimidates with her strict adherence to protocols (and her programming), and stubbornness with Raven (raising the guilt percentage ruthlessly), though she almost smiles when called “your honor”. Sullivan embodies the caring sponsor/pal who wants to help, but thinks Raven is guilty. Ditto for Rogers, though she’s full of rage and tears. And much of that is true for Reis, who will fly into the fire for her partner, despite her pessimistic persona. There’s also some strong supporting work from Kenneth Choi as raven’s former partner and BFF, along with Jeff Pierre as a slippery stranger with a link to Raven’s wife.
Now, here’s a nifty idea on the police procedural/crime “whodunit”. Perhaps it may be the only months away dystopian future that recalls MINORITY REPORT, ROBOCOP, and the various incarnations of JUDGE DREDD (comics and films) that makes the plot seem fresh. That cynical take on tomorrow’s lawmen even provides a knowing satirical wink at the current political climate. The use of the various screens is pretty inventive as we watch Raven furiously figuring out a way to exonerate himself while tracking down the killer. Director Timur Bekmambetov juggles the various images (much like his last computer thriller PROFILE), with some reality TV-like dust-ups and some nifty gadgets (there are single-sized police copter/drones). Unfortunately he tosses these elements aside in the last twenty or so minutes to indulge in some “destruction porn” out of the FAST & FURIOUS franchise, with a dash of THE BLUES BROTHERS (I image Michael Bay telling him to “reign it in” a bit). Any semblance of subtlety and drama is replaced by near non-stop carnage and urban mayhem. It’s quite exhausting, and a real shame since there are some interesting concepts and commentary for much of MERCY.
Director James Cameron is back with a third installment of his AVATAR franchise, which continues to deliver astounding visual effects and world-creation at the highest level. In the first film, a human expedition looking for resources to extract is sent to world called Pandora, a place with an un-breathable atmosphere and inhabited by tall, blue, technologically less-advanced people, dispatches a Marine, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), in the form of an avatar that looks like the forest-living Na’vi people, to learn more about them. But after falling in love with a Na’vi warrior woman, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), Jake switches sides and leads a rebellion against the humans. The second film takes place some 15 years later, as Jake, wife Neytiri and their kids hide out from the human among some beach-dwelling peoples, pursued by Jake’s nemesis and fellow Marine, Quaritch (Stephen Lang). This third one, AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, takes place shortly after that second film.
The main reason to see AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, are the spectacular visual effects and it’s breathtaking world-building. The 3D visual effects are immersive and beautiful, with one breathtaking vista after another. AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH continues to astonish with innovative visual effects that combine motion-capture and digital effects, like the first film, and now including 3D like the second one, but the effects are even more fully integrated, allowing one to entirely be enveloped by its imaginary world. The impressive effects even continue in the scenes with regular non-CGI or motion-capture actor, creating a seamlessly believable world.
Since the outstanding visual effects are the major reason to see this film, the best way to do that is in a theater, on a big screen with 3D capability. If you watch it on a small screen at home or on a phone, you will be missing out most of the reason to see it at all.
The reason why that matters so much is, despite all that visual effect artistry and technical dazzle, the characters and story do not reach that same high level, remaining familiar figures from a classic hero’s tale, with the addition of a historical tale of a colonial or corporate power moving in on a less-technological indigenous one. These indigenous people are aided greatly by that fellow who switched sides, which sets up a David and Goliath / underdog tale.
Action is plentiful and looks great but the story adds more and more characters without expanding on the ones already there. The main characters remain underdeveloped, being either noble good guys or evil bad ones. The story focuses on battles and those breathtaking new vistas but that can hold audience interest forever.
The effects are 3D but the characters remain 2D. It is not the fault of the cast, but the writer. The characters are written to be simple: Worthington’s Jake is noble and brave, Saldana’s Neytiri is emotional and protective, Stephen Lang as Jake’s enemy is relentless, while Giovanni Ribisi’s corporate boss is greedy and heartless. If the story is familiar, the audience has to care about the people in the story to maintain interest, and that means making them more real, more rounded and full-developed.
This story introduces new peoples on Pandora, with peaceful trading peoples who travel through the air in ships attached to blip-like floating creatures. There is another, less peaceful group too, the raiders/pirates known as the Ash People, who prey on the traders and others less warlike folk.
Quaritch, now also using an avatar body, sets out to make contact the war-like Ash People, with the aim of forming an alliance. He hits it off with the Ash People’s fierce, fearless, blood-thirsty queen Varang (a splendid Oona Chaplin, granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin), and a deal is struck.
Meanwhile, Jake struggles with getting the Na’vi and water-based Metkayina Clan to consider using human weapons that he retrieved from the water after the last battle, rather than just bows and arrows. Jake and Neytiri, in addition to their own kids, have adopted two more: Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), the Na’vi child of the avatar of the scientist played by Sigourney Weaver in the first AVATAR, and a human boy nicknamed Spider (Jack Champion), the biological son of Jake’s enemy Quaritch, who needs a special mask to breath the air, a mask that has to be continually replenished to keep him alive.
Stephen Lang’s Quaritch and Oona Chaplin’s Ash queen are by far the most interesting in this one, but if left undeveloped, will just join the crowd of cookie-cutter characters. The story is packed with action and battles and so full of twists (and new characters) that there isn’t much time to do much with this growing cast of characters anyway. But failing to develop the characters beyond the two-dimensional means that maintaining interest in the familiar tropes of this tale will become increasingly challenging.
Reportedly, director/writer James Cameron has two more of these visual effects extravaganzas in the planning stage but unless he starts creating depth to this characters to sustain this hero tale, he is likely to see waning audience interest, something already underway. It can’t just be pretty pictures.
AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH opens in theaters on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025.
Director Guillermo del Toro’s FRANKENSTEIN does a startling thing: it goes back to the original Gothic novel written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in 1818, “Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus.” While there have been seeming endless numbers of screen versions of the Frankenstein story, generally in some form all are based in James Whale’s classic 1931 film and its sequel, THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Whale’s film has thrilled countless film fans and inspired many future filmmakers, including Guillermo del Toro. but the story the 1931 movie tells departs greatly from Mary Shelley’s terrifying but more philosophical novel about the hubris of a man playing God.
Now, to be clear, del Toro’s FRANKENSTEIN is not a faithful screen adaptation of the novel, but something more based on it. or in parts even, “inspired by” it. In truth, the director of Oscar-winning films PAN’S LABYRINTH and THE SHAPE OF WATER makes this story his own, stamping it with his own unique signature style, using the parts of the original novel that suit his purpose in building his own creation. That creation includes plenty of references to various Frankenstein versions.
Still, this return to Shelley’s Gothic tale makes the film much more strikingly unusual, in a gripping way that other Frankensteins iterations have not. And the director takes full advantage of that fresh approach to what could otherwise be overly familiar.
Like the book, the film starts at the end of the story, with Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) in an Arctic wasteland. He tells his tale, in this case, to the captain of a ship searching for the North Pole. How the doctor got there and why is part of his story. But del Toro then does something else startling in this film: after we see and hear Dr. Frankenstein’s story, the director turns things around and allows the Creature (Jacob Elordi) to tell his version. Yes, the Creature in this one, like the original novel, is intelligent and articulate, although not at first.
FRANKENSTEIN is Guillermo del Toro’s dream project, long planned. The film has the director’s distinct style and many of the same themes that run through other del Toro films, such as man as the real monster, sympathy for the creature, father and son issues, and good versus evil. Visually, the film is very much in the director’s bold style, color-drenched, creepy, and filled with striking cinematic images. The dramatic creation moment, when the creature comes to life, takes place in a huge, strange, foreboding building, one that looks like it was built as some kind of waterworks or water-driven factory, but with echoes of James Whale’s 1931 film. The reference to the link between water and life is inescapable, while the imposing structure itself, visually, is dramatically gothic.
Instead of the frenetic Dr. Frankenstein of James Whale’s classic, Oscar Isaac plays the doctor obsessed with building a man as a brooding, cold, dark, and even heartless fellow, with a huge ego and few ethics constrains. The social commentary on unlimited ambition and power is there.
Mia Goth plays Elizabeth, but in this telling she is not the fiancee of Victor but his younger, sunnier brother William (Felix Kammerer). Elizabeth is both beautiful and intelligent, with a keen interest in science and nature. She is very close to her wealthy uncle (Christoph Waltz), who offers to fund Victor’s experiments in reanimating dead tissue with the aim of creating life. The uncle gives no reason for this decision but hints that he does have an agenda in mind.
Although inspired by the novel, del Toro still references various versions of the the Frankenstein story, in movies and even comics. including the 1931 classic film that so riveted the director as a young child. Those references are sprinkled throughout the film, and it even has a glancing reference to ROCKY HORROR, a kind of Frankenstein tale, in the early appearance of the Creature himself but without the camp.
The cast all turn in fine performances, although the story and its vivid telling is the really strength of the film. Oscar Isaac plays Dr. Frankenstein as a very dark, hard character, an unlikable person who becomes less appealing as we see what he does. The story begins with his childhood to help us understand the character, in a brooding, gothic tale in a world of with funeral black and winter white, splashed with dramatic touches of blood red. The doctor makes himself the hero of his own story but we will hear another version next. The Creature is like a newborn in a grown body at first but grows up quickly, with his innocence turning to resentment and more toward his “father.”
The director caused some uproar by casting handsome Jacob Elordi as the Frankenstein;s creation, but it is worth noting that in the original novel the creation has more the appearance of a man, albeit a large one, than Karloff’s monster. Del Toro doesn’t quite do that, as the creature is a patchwork of sewn-together skin but, like in the book and others versions, of monstrous strength, if not size.
Speaking of monsters, director del Toro makes it clear at the very start of the film who the “monster” is, and it is not the creature. The creation here has more the enormous strength than size, which allows us to see him as a young man, even a big child at the start, the son of the doctor who built him.
Art direction is one of the real stars of this film. The visual side is eye-popping and very effective in creating a sense of awe and terror. The set, costumes and visual effects are all bold, often color-drenched and sometimes massive, a Gothic look on steroids which feels perfect for this film.
One of the most striking sequences is the one where the Creature is brought to life, a process that involves lightning like the 1931 classic film, but taking place in a weird, water-themed building of tile and smooth spouts, ducts, and channels, set on the edge of a cliff plunging into the sea.
Although Guillermo del Toro’s FRANKENSTEIN is not a faithful adaptation of the original novel, going back to that groundbreaking book, and some of its themes, does open the door for some other filmmaker to do that full adaptation. Hopefully that will happen, but until then we have this wonderfully creative new retelling of Mary Shelley’s classic novel.
Did you think there’s no room at the multiplex for SF/fantasy tent poles during the “ultra-serious” end of the year awards season? Well, the “mouse house” thinks moviegoers still have a taste for at least a couple of big franchise flicks. We’re only two months away from a third trek to Pandora in AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, but they’re releasing another follow-up, which now cements another trilogy, though this series started long before James Cameron’s blockbusters. Can it possibly be 43 years since that initial entry (which was a modest hit during that great “geek” movie Summer of 1982)? And it’s now been fifteen years since the middle flick (or the first “sequel”). Disney thinks it’s time to boot up the ole’ “mainframe” and take another plunge into the digital dimension with TRON: ARES.
The opening moments transport us into the original with an “archival” video interview with Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), the founder of the tech “dominator” ENCOM. From there, we plunge through “cyber-history” as various TV news people get us “up to speed”. Sam took over from his pop, Kevin, and the company changed hands again as the Kim sisters took ENCOM into the modern age. But the upstart Dillinger Systems is “nipping at their heels” as Ed Dillinger’s grandson Julian (Evan Peters) ruthlessly “steers the ship”. The “talking heads” then segue to a glowing data-filled metropolis where a digital knight in black and red armor named Ares (Jared Leto) destroys all the warriors that challenge him. Soon, he’s joined by his “second-in-command” Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith) as they gather their squad. Cut to the “real world” as Julian makes a big presentation to a group of potential “buyers” at his company’s HQ. Two massive mobile cannons become large-scale digital printers as they build a solid living Ares and his “battle vehicles”. After a demonstration of Ares’ abilities, Julian touts him as the perfect soldier. As the ‘clients” leave, his mother Elisabeth (Gillian Anderson) reminds him that these “products” will only function outside the mainframe for 29 minutes before they disintegrate into dust. Julian insists he’ll find a way to fix that. Meanwhile, Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has already found it. In a remote “off the grid” mountain in Alaska, she has located her late sister Tess’ “tent/research lab”. After countless hours combing through the outdated software and notebooks, Eve retrieves Kevin Flynn’s “Permanence Code,” which will give all digital creations stability indefinitely. But through Ares and his troops, Julian hacks into the ENCOM database and learns of Eve’s discovery. When she returns to the West Coast, he sends Ares and Athena after her. But as the duo dissolves, Eve is zapped into their cyber-home world. Can Eve, with the aid of a more enlightened Ares, keep the code away from Julian? And can she somehow return to this dimension?
Leto commands the often hyperbolic storyline as a modern cyber-punk Pinocchio with a dash of the friendlier Terminator and a splash of Star Trek’s Data. Yes, he’s a fearsome fighter, but a “glitch” in his system causes him to question his creator. So, is he sentient or has he acquired a touch of humanity, even empathy? In our world, Leto’s Ares is a wide-eyed newcomer who relishes every rush of discovery, while in the mainframe, he’s the ultimate digital bodyguard. And who wouldn’t want to protect the ethereal Lee as Eve? She radiates an intelligence muted with a consuming grief as she still misses her “lil’ sis” while fiercely clinging to Flynn’s legacy. And yes, we get to see Bridges as the “master” of his cyber-kingdom. Bridges plays him as an ultra-cool guru exuding gravitas just like classic movie “wizard” like Gandalf and Obi-Wan Kenobi. He brings some much needed warmth to the often cold tech. And bringing the villainy is Peters as the snarling tech bro Julian (if he had a ‘stash he’d be twirling it). Sure, he’s over the top, but the sense of fun Peters is having is most infectious. Ditto for the ferocious and very intimidating (and somewhat sultry) Turner-Smith, whose Athena is almost a spurned lover to Ares as he embraces that outer world. She defies you to look away during her intense pursuit. It’s always a pleasure to see Anderson in a SF project, though she’s relegated to wringing her hands over Julian’s antics as she tries to be the “good angel” on his shoulder (which he ignores). And there’s some sporadic comic relief by Hasan Minhaj as head of ENCOM PR (and cheerleader) and Arturo Castro as Eve’s over-excited and needy aide, Seth.
Well, there’s no questioning the beauty and dazzling visuals that bring this update to neon-soaked life. Director Joachim Ronning keeps the camera moving in a million or so different directions to immerse us in this fantasy light show (that makes great use of the music from Nine Inch Nails). It’s a shame that a bit more time couldn’t have been used to bring greater depth to the plot and the principals. It’s a given that Ares will turn on his creator (it’s hammered home by home video footage of teenage Eve holding Shelly’s Frankenstein novel). And Ronning makes excellent use of the IMAX format (the ads tout it as being shot in it), but the big finale showdown on the city streets feels like a rehash of giant monster/robot battles (though seeing a police car sheared in two by the “light cycles” and their “razor trail” is pretty cool). Lots of creativity went into all the nifty gadgets, but the human element and connection feel like an afterthought. Ah, but those fans of the 1982 and 2010 flicks will get their arcade-style thrills, but casual viewers may wonder why another dive into the concept after seeing TRON: ARES.
Okay “Marvel maniacs”, are you ready for a deep deep dive into another franchise? After all, it’s been nearly three months since the blockbuster “mash-up” DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE. Of course you are, but hold up, true believer. This isn’t the beloved MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). Rather, we’re back in the “Sony Spider-verse”. So Tom Holland is off polishing his web-shooters (not a metaphor), as we get another “spin-off” from Spidey’s long-running comics series. And, unfortunately, this isn’t another romp in the surprisingly fun animated epics. No, this is the second live-action flick this year, after the “so bad it may be good” MADAME WEB, and while Kraven sharpens his claws for his December attack. And, sorry that vapid vamp MORBIUS is not returning, although this film’s focus has had better luck with two previous outings in 2018 and 2021. Now, with this third entry, Sony promises that this is the “finale of the trilogy”. Hence the full title VENOM: THE LAST DANCE. But that all depends on those all-mighty box office returns, so…
This time the story begins on the symbiote home world (or universe, perhaps) as its ruler/king Knull sends out several reptile/spider-like “hunters” to locate the “codex”, an energy portal that grants him access to all worlds, which Knull will conquer. So, who has the codex? None other than Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and his own BFF symbiote entity. When we last saw him (them) during the end credits of SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME, he was getting blotto in a bar on our Earth (#616). Brock and V then pop back to his homebase, where his black-ooze buddy dispatches some baddies. Ah, but it turns out that morphing into Venom sends out a homing beacon to Knull’s hunters. Also, an elite group of special ops soldiers led by Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is also trying to capture Eddie. He and his “inner voice” escape and set their sights on the “Big Apple”. We soon learn that Strickland is working with a team of scientists headed by Dr. Teddy Payne (Juno Temple) who operate out of a secret symbiote research lab deep below the soon-to-be demolished Area 51. In order to evade their “radar”, Eddie hitches a ride with the groovy Moon family in a van driven by daddy Martin (Rhys Ifans) and mom Nova (Alanna Ubach), who want their kids (Hala Finley and Dash McCloud) to take in 51 before it’s gone. They drop Eddie off in Vegas where a reunion with an old friend leads to a battle atop the casino canyons which spills into the desert and that iconic military locale, as Venom must make its “last stand”…with some unexpected support.
As with the previous two flicks, everything’s resting on Eddie B, the “host with the most” who is given a world-weary gravitas by Hardy. Again, he’s a bit baffled by his fate, and has a “push/pull” relationship with the toothy ebony puddle. He’s convincingly hungover in the opening sequence, but his hangdog grousing becomes a tad tiresome, even as he’s a “symbiote straight-man”. It’s odd that Brock is so often “one-note” since Hardy worked on the script (as he did with the last one), and too often sounds like his “cycle-poppa” from BIKERIDERS. Most of the supporting cast get little to do, perhaps to leave more time for the CGI chaos. The very talented Ms. Temple (so good in the streaming shows “Ted Lasso” and “The Offer”) does her best to bring nuance to the standard “don’t destroy my discovery” scientist from countless 50’s sci-fi flicks, but too often she’s shouting while doing a “deer in headlights” expression. Much of the same can be said for the equally gifted Ejiofor, who’s another “late show” cliched “kill this thing!” soldier, who is there to bark orders while spouting exposition. The biggest misuse of talent may be Ifans as the “Earth papa” who offers support to Eddie while having to deal with a corny “moonbeam” stereotype (ditto for Ubach). There is a nice “Lasso” reunion with Cristo Fernandez as a really patient “booze-slinger”.
This film marks the feature directing debut of actress/writer Kelly Marcel, who wrote the last two Venom flicks and teamed up with Hardy on the script for this one. She is adept at keeping the plot moving at a brisk pace for the first act or so, but the requirements of an action/effects “tentpole”, sends any character development and humor far into the background. There’s also some irritating “fan service” as a supporting character from the first films is clumsily “shoe-horned” into the big finale in Nevada. This one’s an improvement over CARNAGE as they make great use of the dusty locales. And we’re not stuck in those near-pitch black alleyways as the tenements crumble. Plus there’s a few nifty visual tricks as the symbiote bonds with various wildlife (be warned, his equine form is fleeting). But, by the time we get back to 51, the script desperation kicks in as we get an “Avengers-team” of “Venom-lites” to dash up and fill the screen with fire and pixels. As the smoke clears, we’re feeling as tired as Eddie Brock appears. This is one alien that should “phone home” since it has truly worn out its welcome (along with the moviegoers patience). But since the Spidey series is so strong. it’s a given that he’ll be back to bare his teeth and wiggle that serpent-like tongue despite the promise in the title of VENOM: THE LAST DANCE. I can almost hear that growling gravelly voice (I could only “get” two thirds of its quips) chuckling…
1.5 Out of 4
VENOM: THE LAST DANCE is now playing in theatres everywhere
A scene from THE BECOMERS. Courtesy of Dark Star Pictures
Start with the classic, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. Flip the perspective to that of the aliens who take over human bodies. Then tell the story from the ETs’ point of view in a darkly comedic package. Now you know what you’ll be getting in THE BECOMERS.
The film is narrated in a dreamy, romantic tone by a male voice (Russell Mael), rhapsodizing about its great love for its partner who has also come to Earth, both landing somewhere in the Metro Chicago area. We don’t know what they look like, since they must take over a human’s body, killing the original occupant in the process. The result is a new mind in an old body, with the only visible difference being bright colorful lights emanating from their eyes. Their goal is to blend into that person’s life without being noticed, which is complicated by not acquiring their individual memories or general knowledge. That need for on-the-job training makes it hard to maintain stability in any given flesh bag long enough to find each other.
The host’s age and gender don’t matter to the visitors. They mask their ocular glow with colored contact lenses or dark sunglasses. Most of the comedy comes from trying to cope with what they don’t know in convincing others they are who they seemingly were. Some of the personae come with surprising complexities. And bits of gore, here and there. As Deadpool said through the fourth wall in his first feature, it’s a love story despite all the mayhem about to ensue.
We don’t sense malice in the visitors, but also are kept in the dark about who they really are and why they’re here for most of the running time. Spearheading an invasion, or escaping from some personal danger back home? Among the cast, Molly Plunk gets most of the screen time as the narrator’s temporary host. Writer/director Zach Clark gets admirable mileage from an obviously small budget and a cast of relative unknowns. He also maintains a droll tenor by having most of the gory stuff occur off-camera. I imagine that was a creative choice, not just a way to save money on fake blood and viscera.
Disclosing more would spoil your viewing. I’ve provided the mind-set for optimal enjoyment. The rest is up to you. Now that UFO sightings have been formally acknowledged, this may have become essential preparatory viewing. Insert your own low, eerie moan here.
THE BECOMERS opens in select theaters on Friday, Aug. 23, and on Video on Demand Tuesday, Sept. 24.
After a weekend with some original (though nostalgic) content at the multiplex, we’re back with a new installment of a very popular SF-thriller franchise that’s now six years old. It’s the third follow-up, though not a continuation of the last one from 2020. That’s because this is not a sequel, but rather a prequel, giving us the “backstory” to the event of the original. And since there are no characters from that flick, this could be considered a “spin-off”. Not to worry as this is no confusing “hybrid” unlike a similar action blockbuster (which didn’t “bust many blocks” at the box office) from a few weeks ago, FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA. While that one certainly tested many theatre sound systems, the decibel level should be much lower when in use for A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE. Shhhh…
The setting for this cinematic “flashback” shifts to the Big Apple, although the opening scenes take place a few miles away, in the NYC suburbs at a hospice facility. A senior nurse, Rueben (Alex Wolff) conducts a group therapy session for several of the terminal residents. But one of them is not “into it”. That’s Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) who has no filter (“This place is s*#t”) and would rather just wait for the end with her beloved cat Frodo. Rueben thinks he can get her out of her “funk”. He’s organized a field trip into Manhattan for a (short) theatrical presentation. Sam strikes a deal that she’ll come along if, and only if, they grab some pizza in the city. On the bus ride there she observes several fighter jets zooming overhead. Finally, they arrive for a (oh no) puppet show. When Sam and Frodo duck out to grab a snack at a nearby bodega, sirens are heard. They run into Rueben as he tries to hustle everyone back on the bus as per the loud warning messages from several rapid military vehicles (no pizza). The trip is cut short as objects from the sky (maybe bombs or meteors) explode onto the street. Sam’s knocked down during the chaos and awakens back inside the theatre. The city is under attack, overrun by huge spider-like sightless creatures that destroy anyone that makes a sound. Helicopters using loudspeakers (agitating the monsters) blare out a message that all survivors should make their way, silently, to the south dock area where boats will ferry them to safety since the aliens can’t swim. As the throngs march quietly through the streets, Sam goes against “the tide” to Harlem for her favorite pizza. On her journey, she and Frodo become part of a trio when a lost British law student named Eric (Joseph Quinn) joins them, much to Sam’s chagrin. Does she have the strength to evade the invaders? And can she and Erik make it to the boats in time?
The script brings a great challenge to the cast as they must communicate and express their emotions mainly through their eyes and body language, harkening back to the early days of silent cinema. And the compelling Ms. Nyong’o is more than up to the challenge, though she’s also terrific in the opening, pre-attack sequences as she verbally tosses snarky spears at nearly everyone around her (and then there are the eye-rolls as she discovers the type of show she’s agreed to see). Yes, she conveys the wide-eyed fear and panic, while never letting us forget that Sam is also pushing through agonizing pain as cancer ravages her body. Later, there’s her frustration as this “dufus in a suit” just won’t be on his way, which finally melts into admiration and real, and probably final, human connection. As her unlikely sidekick. Quinn also must temper the terror with his need to forge that connection and dissolve Sam’s “steel wall” of negativity. Plus he proves to be an unorthodox action hero as he ventures into the scary empty city in search of the meds that will ease Sam’s suffering (and discovers the monsters’ secret lair). Wolff is very good as the “by the book” official who secretly is amused by the defiant Sam. Kudos also to the impressive supporting work of Djimon Hounsou as the powerful father figure who’s the big “carryover” character in another part of the series. The scene where he must do the unthinkable to protect his son (while hoping that he’s not seeing it) is heartwrenching.
Aside from the new central characters in this entry, a big “player” behind the scenes has stepped away from the director’s chair. John Krasinski was busy with a more pleasant vision of the Big Apple full of friendly beasties in IF, so he’s handed over the helming reigns to Michael Sarnoski (PIG), though they teamed up on the script. Sarnoski captures that feeling of doom and dread, especially as we get several hints early on (jets in formation) that all Hell was soon “break loose”. When it does the city blocks are covered in white ash, almost as though a sudden blizzard has stopped everything (and reminding us of that fateful September morning in 2001). And while there are grand, epic “set pieces” of the aliens scurrying up buildings, Sarnoski really focuses on the folks at ground level. This is best highlighted in a mass exodus street scene in which the smallest noises alert the beasts who zip through the crowds, picking off the marchers with swift efficiency. It’s nightmare imagery, building on the hopelessness hinted at as the bridges to the city are taken out hinting that the feds think that our greatest metropolis is a “loss”. Yet amidst the carnage we’re really drawn into the dynamic of Sam and Erik as she finally finds something to live for just as everything seems to be over for humanity (and her rejoining it). Sure, it’s an “end of the globe” spectacle (with splendid CGI effects of the insect-like “rippers”) much like the variations of I AM LEGEND, but it’s the blossoming friendship that offers a glimmer of joy and hope in the truly original origin story at the center of A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE.
3 Out of 4
A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE is now playing in theatres everywhere
KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES continues the “Planet of the Apes” science fiction saga that was rebooted from 1968’s THE PLANET OF THE APES with Charleton Heston into a trilogy that started with RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. The last two films in that trilogy, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, directed by Matt Reeves and starring the great motion-capture actor Andy Serkis as lead ape Caesar, reached soaring, almost Shakespearean, storytelling heights, while also wowing audiences with the realism of its technically advanced motion-capture acting and special effects.
That’s a hard act to follow, but KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES does not even try to match the heights reached in the last two “Apes” movies, instead offering more of a coming-of-age and hero’s journey adventure tale set several hundred years after the last of that previous trilogy.
Gone are both director Matt Reeves and the great Andy Serkis, but KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES still delivers an entertaining action-adventure tale in the “Planet of the Apes” world.
Wes Ball, who helmed the MAZE RUNNER trilogy, directs and the story features all new characters. The film is filled with excellent world-building for the apes’ post-human environment or vine-covered human-built ruins, and even more impressive and technically advanced motion-capture,. Unlike the 1968 original, the actors do not wear masks or make-up but gear for advanced motion-capture technology, which films and translates the actors’ performance, their facial expressions and movements, on to digitally-created apes, with even more incredible detail and subtle effect than in previous films using mo-cap. From a technical aspect, this film is incredible.
KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES returns us to once again explore the world where enhanced apes and diminished humans battle for the dominance. In the previous trilogy, a lab-created virus gone wrong gives apes the power of speech and enhanced intelligence, while it kills off humans and leaves the remaining humans without speech and mentally diminished. In that trilogy, it was the human’s world that the apes lived in, but now things are reversed and it is the apes’ world that humans inhabit.
KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is a coming-of-age story, in which a young ape goes on an unexpected adventure of discovery, revealing long-forgotten history and hidden secrets. In this future time, Caesar (the ape leader of the previous films) is a distant, barely-remembered figure. This world is filled with little villages of apes – chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans – who have formed their own clans, and are going about their peaceful low-tech lives in the vine-covered shadow the remains of the human built environment. Humans themselves are are largely absent, a rarely seen wild animal – mute, feral and dim-witted – who are so scarce they are almost mythic. In the village of the Eagle Clan, they are called “echos.”
After a brief scene of the funeral of Caesar, we leap forward several hundred years. Noa (Owen Teague) is a young chimpanzee in the leafy village of the Eagle Clan, the son of the clan leader who is also the trainer and guardian of the clan’s eagles, which help them with hunting. Noa and his friends Anaya (Travis Jeffery) and Soona (Lydia Peckham), are approaching their coming-of-age ceremony, where they will get their own eagle, but first they must climb steep cliffs to steal the eagle eggs from the precariously perched nests. Noa is a brave and skilled climber, but his jokester friend Anaya less so, yet both boys are encouraged by enthusiastic adventure girl Soona. Noa is bold but he is also the one who reminds the others to remember the rules – the laws – of their traditional village, laws based on the teaching of Caesar. Noa has high standards for himself, and tries hard to please his somewhat intimidating father.
As the young apes eagerly await the ceremony that marks their entry into adulthood, tragedy strikes, Their village is attacked by a strange group of apes, who often invoke the name “Caesar” during their brutal attack. The attack propels Noa onto a journey, one which leads to new discoveries that upend his view of the world.
Along the way, Noa encounters a quirky, erudite and talkative orangutan named Raka (a delightful Peter Macon), who is the last of group devoted to keeping the memory and teachings of Caesar alive. Raka tells Noa many surprising things and also shows kindness to a human woman who has been following Noa, dubbing her Nova. As Noa’s journey continues, we eventually learn that the attackers were followers of a gorilla named Proximus (Kevin Durand), who styles himself the new Caesar and the king of the apes.
Further description risks spoilers, but there are twists and surprises ahead, an upending Noa’s idea of the world, and a pointing to a new direction for the series, leaving a door open to, possibly, another trilogy.
Although Caesar is a distant figure, almost a legend, his presence dominates throughout the film. There are some impressive action sequences, starting with the one where the young friends are trying to steal eggs from eagles’ nests. The feel of the film is more like the director’s MAZZ RUNNER series but it works for this hero’s tale adventure. Still, the journey part gets off the a rather slow start and things drag a bit before a turn when the travelers encounter more apes, and the film again sags a bit later on before launching into its final, thrilling action sequence.
Character development is not as complex as in the last two Apes films, but that is not surprising for a hero’s journey adventure tale. However, the acting is very good and further advances in the mo-cap technology make the detail and nuances of expression on the digital apes’ faces breathtaking at times.
The cast is very good, starting with Owen Teague as Noa. Andy Serkis, who very much invented mo-cap acting, starting with his role as Gollum in the LORD OF THE RINGS movies, actually coached Teague for this role, and also worked with some of the other actors as well. All the actors had to participate in training in ape movements, although these apes, as they advance in language, also tend more to walk upright like humans as they rapidly evolve.
The amazingly convincing translation from the actors face to that of a digital ape is more impressive than if they were playing some kind of made-up alien, as we all know well what apes look like, making the risk of either images that ring false or enter the “uncanny valley” a higher possibility. But the technical work is outstanding, and one of the joys of the film.
Acting is strong throughout, with nice work particularly from Kevin Durand as the smooth-talking, self-styled king Proximus, and the very entertaining Peter Macon, who adds a needed droll humor.
But the standout in this adventure film is the technical side, which is a joy. While not reaching the heights of the previous trilogy, the sequel/reboot KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES delivers enough satisfying adventure entertainment on its own, with new characters and an open door to new directions set it up well for a new trilogy, creating a little intrigue but not leaving things unfinished
THE KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES opens Friday, May 10, in theaters
If you were perhaps underwhelmed by the first DUNE movie, DUNE: PART 2 brings the real pay-off for the hype of the first. DUNE: PART 2 is a true movie epic, with big name cast led by Timothée Chalamet, great special effects battles and a fight for freedom with a tense, stirring tale with competing ambitions more in the vein of “Game of Thrones” than Marvel’s straightforward good versus evil battles, with a religious prophecy mixed with space-spanning political ambitions in a fight for independence and over valuable resources. The first movie was needed to set the stage for this epic struggle but it was mere prologue compared to this massive, immersive tale that is part coming of age, part fight for freedom by an oppressed indigenous people, the power of belief, a master plan for power, and a struggle for control of an empire, all brilliantly pulled off in grand entertainment. A struggle for self-determination on a resource-rich land, a struggle for control in a grand chess game of power, along with personal dreams and the power of belief, has the ring of the contemporary world and human history, as well as enduring themes of literature.
Oscar-winning French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, whose past successes include BLADERUNNER 2049, again directs, and truly makes this one a thrilling epic. In addition to stunning visual effects, masterful direction, great storytelling, DUNE 2 has an impressive cast of international stars, including Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling, Austin Butler, Léa Seydoux, and Josh Brolin.
Nearly all good science fiction tales are commentary on human society, despite being set of distant planets and battles in outer space. Not everyone is a fan of science fiction, and no matter how good the story, and the novel “Dune” also added the challenge of blending in medieval-like aspect of fantasy tales, with nobles, wizards and court-intrigue. But for those of us who enjoy science fiction’s ‘what-if” speculations, like this writer, or the space-set fantasy novels that followed Frank Herbert’s genre-bending novel, DUNE 2 is that rare movie that truly captures the imagination and message of a classic science fiction world, and experience that is magical and thrilling both.
DUNE 2 picks up where the first film left off, although it opens with a little recap to refresh the memory, on the desert planet of Arrakis, called Dune by the native population, the Fremen. Young Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) are all that remain of their family after the invading brutal House of Harkonnen, led by bloated, floating, evil Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) and his nephew Beast Rabban (Dave Bautista), wiped out both the fighting forces and other members of the House of Atreides, including Paul’s father, Duke Leto Atreides.
Although it was the House of Harkonnen that attacked, it was the Emperor (Christopher Walken) who was behind it, advised by his Bene Gesserit priestess-advisor Reverend Mother Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling). The Emperor removed control of the valuable planet Arrakis, the lucrative source of the “spice” essential for interstellar travel, from the House of Harkonnen with hopes it would spark a war that would wipe out the House of Atreides, a secret plot revealed in the first film. With the Atreides seemingly eliminated, the Harkonnen, led on planet by Dave Bautista’s hot-tempered Beast Rabban, set out to subdue the troublesome Freemen and re-start the lucrative “spice” mining industry.
Escaping from their Harkonnen captors, with the help of the special psychic skills of Paul’s mother, a member of the powerful, witch-like order of the Bene Gesserit, Paul and Jessica flee into the desert. Two connect with the indigenous Fremen people, meeting Fremen leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) and beautiful rebel warrior Chani (Zendaya). Aided in part by a prophesy about a messiah that Paul seems to fit, young aristocrat Paul and his mother Jessica join the Fremen in their fight for freedom, setting the epic on its way.
But that prophesy is also part of a chess game set in motion by the shadowy Bene Gesserit. They have blended in with the Fremen, whispering about a savior from off-planet among the Freemen until a religious belief takes hold. When Paul appears, he shows all the foretold signs and, despite his denial of being the Mahdi, the belief grows among the Fremen along with a powerful following.
Previous attempts to bring Frank Herbert’s bestselling science fiction novel “Dune” to the big screen have not met with success, despite the novel being an enormous, genre-changing hit when it was first published in the mid-1960s and into the 1970s. But that has changed with this film, partly because of advances in F/X but also due to this director and fine cast, and the decision to treat the story as the human epic tale it really is. Although set in a future time and place far, far away, the story is grounded in human struggle, greed and ambitions, against a backdrop of the power of religious belief and filled with battles over precious resources and for freedom.
DUNE 2 works on every level, with fabulous special effects, a twisty tense story grounded both in human history and the present, and an epic hero tale on a grand scale, with excellent action performances and pulse pounding action. Director Denis Villeneuve brings to bear the same skill he showed in his previous science fiction tale BLADERUNNER 2049, and his skill with difficult human storytelling he showed in films like Incendies
Art direction helps craft the worlds along with world-class F/X. The Harkonnen world is often in black-and-white, suggesting increasingly the films of Nazi power and even the military parades of the Soviet Union. At other times, it is the coliseum-packing gladiator battles, with Austin Butler, shedding his Elvis charm (and most of his hair) as a crazed, violent young member of the famously-vicious Harkonnen. Location shooting in Jordan helped create the desert planet of Arrakis, called Dune by the native Fremen, and the sandworms are huge, impressive and plentiful.
Even if you didn’t care for the first one, DUNE: PART 2 is an epic delight well worth a trip to the theater, hopefully to see in on the biggest screen possible.
In the sci-fi action extravaganza THE CREATOR, a mash-up of hero-quest movies from STAR WARS to BLADE RUNNER, the hero played by John David Washington battles a host of daunting foes and powerful weapons to save a little girl. Only she isn’t a little girl – but a human-like AI android that was built with a massive power, to neutralize any weapon humans might possess in a AI-versus-human war. Which means the human hero in this big, splashy special effects movie is helping an AI robot that looks like a child defeat humankind. Yet audiences cheer at the end of this sci-fi action adventure, seemingly unconscious of what they are cheering. What?
It’s a disturbing experience. I am not the only critic to note that THE CREATOR is pretty much a propaganda film, manipulating its audience with classic mythic hero tropes to tell a tale of AI triumphing over humanity. Sure, some will argue it’s just entertainment and close their eyes to the subtext, and even cheer at the end (as the audience I saw it with did) without thinking about what that end means. But you have to wonder who financed this opus, and what they intend by calling the androids “AI” and portraying them as harmless things, even though labeling these robots that way is both inaccurate and misleading. The false connection between harmless robots and AI is a message that will sink into the subconscious unbidden. With real-world IT industry leaders warning real-world leaders about the dangers of AI, and even the possibility of an existential threat to humankind, maybe that message and a heroic yarn about “good” AI defeating “bad” people isn’t want we need. Add in that this story casts Americans as the “bad guys” who want to get rid of AI versus a fictional nation called “New Asia” who defends AI, and it’s really stirring up the proverbial hornet’s nest.
Directed by Gareth Edwards, and written by Edwards and Chris Weitz, the story almost sounds like it was written by AI. It recycles tropes and story-lines from a plethora of sources, including familiar heroic movies and series like STAR WARS and BLADE RUNNER, as mentioned above, but also METROPOLIS, CHILDREN OF MEN, THE MANDOLORIAN, THE LAST OF US, EX MACHINA and even APOCALPSE NOW, among others. It is a messy mishmash but all that mess draws on the classic roots of all hero myths which speaks deeply to the human psyche. Throw in a child (or what looks like a child) for the hero to protect and save, and you have really powerful stuff. Except this isn’t a child – it’s an artificial bio machine with incredible power, a power that grows as it grows, and something to be used defeated humanity.
After a run of sci-fi movies like EX MACHINA, HER, THE MATRIX and THE TERMINATOR that pitted mankind against some kind of intelligent robot-like adversary, this movie turns things around to cast the humans as the villains and the machines as the good guys. And then encourages audiences to cheer that.
THE CREATOR starts out in a more conventional hero-tale way, which is what you see in the movie trailer.
In an old newsreel style prelude, we see a world where human-like robots (called sometimes call simulants but mostly called AI) are fully integrated into human society. That suddenly changes when a newly deployed military AI, intended for defense, decides people are the threat and drops a nuclear bomb on Los Angeles. Flash forward to years later, and the U.S. has outlawed AI (again, meaning the androids) and they have been nearly eliminated. The last remaining AI have taken shelter in a country called New Asia. But the American military has built a super weapon, a big airship, to defeat these last AI, and finally end the threat to mankind’s existence.
John David Washington plays Joshua, an uncover American operative embedded in the new country of New Asia trying to find a brilliant scientist who is developing a new kind of AI robot that can destroy the U.S.’s most powerful weapon in the war against AI. But a clumsy attempt at an invasion blows Joshua’s cover and, worse, separates him from his pregnant wife, Maya (Gemma Chan), a robotist, and maybe kills her.
Years later, the U.S. tries a second invasion (there is supposed to be a coalition of nations but we only see American forces), and Joshua is sent in again, under the command of Colonel Howell (Allison Janney), to find and destroy a new AI weapon with the power to destroy all human weapons.
But soon after, THE CREATOR flips the script, and makes the humans the bad guys and the androids into the good guys. We go from a movie that echoes disaster films about people defending Earth from alien or robot attack, to APOCALYPSE NOW with American soldiers from this futuristic world now threatening unarmed women and children in what looks like a village in 1960s Vietnam, even threatening to shoot a puppy. Throwing in an American versus Asia thing makes it extra unsettling, but especially given current real-world tensions. Nothing like stirring the pot.
At this point, Joshua is now in a pretty dark place personally, still mourning his lost wife and unborn child and even borderline suicidal. He takes the mission to defend humankind against the new threat but his heart isn’t in it. He’s really more interested getting back to New Asia to try to find his wife, whom is he hopes may still be alive, than in finding the weapon he is supposed to destroy, his assigned mission.
When Joshua does locate this powerful AI weapon, it turns out to be in the form of an adorable little girl. Well, not a girl but a girl-like android – a pretty clever form of “protective coloring” if you think about it. Almost as soon as Joshua sees the adorable little girl robot (Madeleine Yuna Voyles), who appears to be about the same age his own child would have been, he’s pretty much a goner. Instead of destroying the cute android as instructed, he takes along the AI he dubs Alphie, protecting and hiding her/it, maybe intending to keep others from capturing her/it and maybe intending to take her/it back to his team. Maybe.
The little girl AI is irresistibly cute and we fall under her spell as quickly as Joshua does. But this is not like EX MACHINA where the creation’s true nature is eventually revealed. Here Alphie remains sweetly charming, even as she disables any weapon aimed at her (by adopting a Buddhist prayer pose), clearing the path for her and Joshua.
That the movie’s androids are always called “AI” instead of robots or androids is significant, indicating the movie has a message about AI rather than being just an ordinary robot movie, There has to be an intention behind that. The usually-gentle human-like robots in this movie harken back to classic science fiction novels (including Isaac Asimov’s), where loyal servant robots, which had programming that prevents them from harming humans, are mistreated by people and have fight for their rights.
In the real world, AI do not have programming to prevent them from harming people – that is science fiction. These fictional androids are following fictional Asimov’s Rules of Robots – something real-world experts in the AI field say is not possible to “program” into real AI. Nor are real AI being “mistreated” (although misused may be another matter, but that is misuse is aimed at people, not AI). So the peaceful “AI” robots in this movie are something far different from actual AI that people are concerned about in the real world. Clearly the makers of this film want you to forget that detail.
So why would you want to mislead people by suggesting that real AI is or could be programmed to be harmless? It’s a question you might want to ask yourself if you choose watch this movie.
Once we get to New Asia, we hear a recurring refrain from humans there, one repeated several times in the movie, that the AI robots have “never been anything but kind to me” – unlike other people. We are clearly supposed to see the AI as better, kinder, than humans.
In fact, there is a kind of “diversity” theme here, with the AI robots presented as just another form of people. We see them as police and soldiers, but also as subsistence fisherman and even Buddhist monks.
Why robots would be monks? It makes no sense, but the whole thing is designed as a distraction from why people in the real world might be worried (and should be) about AI – and it’s not because they might replace monks.
Oddly, although you see more people than androids in New Asia when the film starts, as the film progresses we see fewer people. By it’s end, we see mostly AI, with only an occasional human if any at all. Dialog about how modern human replaced Neanderthals seems a chilling commentary on that, although the movie completely misrepresents how that happened. A character in the film states that modern humans replaced Neanderthals because people were “meaner,” but was more likely because of a more advanced culture and more creative, adaptive brains (not bigger ones). This was perhaps due to a genetic difference that gave modern humans more neurons in the frontal lobe of the brain, which would give an advantage in cognition, as recent research suggests. (Yeah, OK, I know, let’s not have real science in the science fiction.) Instead, that remark about people being mean sends the audience a message about who to root for, and it isn’t us.
Still, there are a couple of good points to this disturbing, manipulative movie, although not enough to rescue it from its mashup script or creepy message. The actors do a good job in this unfortunate film, with John David Washington playing his mournful, nearly suicidal hero well, and young Madeleine Yuna Voyles being very appealing as the child android. Alison Janney is impressive playing a relentless and ruthless American commander, who is supposed to be Washington’s despondent character Joshua’s boss although Joshua often ignores her or thwarts her in his sad, unstoppable quest for his lost wife. Washington’s performances are strong enough that one could even see how this broken man might ignore what is he is really doing to humanity, to embrace a child-like creation that makes him think of his lost child and grasp at straws to see his beloved wife again.
The other bright spot is that the movie has big-budget polish and impressive visual effects, despite a relatively modest budget (by the standards for this kind of FX movie) of $8 million, compared to other special effects adventure or superhero movies with budgets more like the annual budgets of small nations. How these film-makers did that is something that others might look into.
Still those few points are not enough to redeem this coldly manipulative propaganda film, with its chilling message for mankind. Yes, there will be audiences determined to see this sci-fi drama as mere entertainment, and resent any suggestions to the contrary. But the subtext is there, and subtext seeps into brains. Adding that East-West conflict theme is even more troubling, as this film will surely be seen by Asian audiences too, which might whip up a hostility that is good for no one.
