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#689 – Pulse (2006)
Pulse (2006)
Film review #689
Director: Jim Sonzero
SYNOPSIS: A group of college students are trying to come to terms with why their friend Josh ended his own life, when they start getting messages from him from beyond the grave. They learn he was working on some sort of project that seems to have unleashed horrors that are draining people of their will to live, and must find a way to stop the epidemic.
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Pulse is a 2006 sci-fi horror film and a remake of the 2001 Japanese film of the same name. The film sees people drained of their will to live by weird creatures that live in computers, and one such person is Josh, a college student who ends his own life. His girlfriend Mattie and their friends try to understand why he did it, when they start receiving messages from his computer. Mattie learns that his landlady sold the computer to a man named Dex, who discovers on the computer that Josh was working on a project that has drawn the attention of mysterious being, that seem to be draining people of their will to live. While there’s something interesting about a wireless signal that brings with it strange entities, the script is a mess and fails to really get a grasp of the concept. I’ve not seen the original 2001 film this is based off (yet) but it has to be better than this. The whole idea of “hacking into frequencies we didn’t even know about” is just a really silly premise, and while the film obviously isn’t focused on the sci-fi element, it still needs some sort of backbone for the horrors to abide by, and the rules just aren’t made clear. There’s an element of the plot that people who have encountered these monsters are appearing on some webcam footage on people’s computers or something, but it never plays a part in the story or is dealt with in any way; it just seems to be of consequence. There’s just so much in this film which doesn’t matter.
As a horror film, the film presents very few actual scares, and doesn’t really create any kind of atmosphere as Mattie is wandering about all over the place, interacting with characters which are ill-defined and serve no real purpose. they learn that some sort of red tape helps keep the monsters keeps the monsters out; assumingly it blocks radio signals or something, but it’s never explained. An encounter with the beings also gives people some sort of infectious disease which causes them to turn to dust or something alongside sapping their will to live, which is again just confusing and a bit silly. The film moves to a finale in which society breaks down, planes fall from the sky etc. and Mattie and Dex have to upload a virus at the computer centre, which surprisingly doesn’t work, making that whole plot a bit meaningless. They escape to an area with no mobile phone signal so they can rest, only for Mattie to realise that she has her mobile phone with her and that they can get through the phone? Shouldn’t that have been obvious? Why would she still have her phone with her? For a psychological horror film, going the whole post-apocalypse route for the finale really feels out of place, and overshadows any of the more nuanced elements of the film (not that there were many). The rather plain effects are obscured behind grainy webcam footage mostly, and the creatures themselves are a bit plain. The most annoying part of the production is that there’s a blue colour filter over almost the entire film, which is massively distracting and wholly unnecessary. Pulse fails to engage on any level at all: the script is weak, the horror element is limited to a few jumpscares, the characters are bland, and the pivot to a different tone in the finale leaves very little impression by the end. I can only help the original is better.
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#688 – The Arrival (1996)
The Arrival (1996)
Film review #688
Director: David Twohy
SYNOPSIS: Zane Zaminsky, a radio astronomer at SETI, discovers a signal originating from a distant star, but when he reports his discovery to his superior, he quietly buries it and takes Zane off his job. Suspecting there is more to this than meets the eye, he continues to investigate on his own, unearthing a shocking discovery…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: The Arrival is a 1996 sci-fi film. Zane Zaminsky (Charlie Sheen) is a radio astronomer working for SETI who discovers a radio signal originating from the Wolf 366 star fourteen light years away from earth. he takes the signal to his superior, who later destroys the tape and tells Zane he no longer has a job due to budget cuts. Zane however, doesn’t give up, and builds his own satellite array to record the signal, with the help of a neighbourhood boy. As he continues to be impeded at every turn, he begins to suspect that there is a wider conspiracy at large, and he continues to pursue the truth. The plot of the film is fairly interesting, and while nothing overly special, does have a bit of mystery and suspense to keep things moving along. A couple of twists round out the film to change things up a little, but the finale is a bit lacklustre that doesn’t resolve anything in any significant way. The first half of the film builds up some interesting mystery, but the second half of the film revealing the aliens and their plan is a bit underwhelming: this is common occurrence in thrillers though, where the mystery is more interesting than the reveal. Also, a lot of the issues that Zane faces could have been resolved if he had backed up his evidence on more than more tape.
A big issue is that any character that isn’t Charlie Sheen’s barely has a character arc and goes in and out of the story for long periods of time so that they aren’t involved for good portions of it. Sheen is perhaps not the most convincing of scientists, but is right at home in 1996 with the spiky hair and facial hair. Looking back on it, this film came out a month before Independence Day, and a year before Contact, based on Sagan’s novel. between the two films, the former being a blockbuster experience, the other being a smart slice of speculative fiction, there isn’t much room for The Arrival to stand out nowadays. The CG aliens are okay, but nothing special, and again, Independence Day really surpassed anything this film did in terms of effects. This is a decent thriller that keeps itself going and provides a few interesting twists, but lack of a real conclusion and wasted character potential makes it stumble on the way.
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#687 – Gamer (2009)
Gamer (2009)
Film review #687
Director: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
SYNOPSIS: In the near-future, prisoners take part in a deathmatch where they are controlled by gamers. Once such prisoner is close to reaching the thirty win-streak needed to secure a full pardon and release, but the billionaire creator of the technology used to control people has designs to expand it’s use, and a resistance group that aims to stop him attempt to co-opt Kable to help them…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Gamer is a 2009 sci-fi film. Set in the near0-future, where billionaire Ken Castle has invented a nanotechnology that allows people to become controllable by others, making them avatars in a real-life video game. Of course, this technology is eventually (inevitably) used for prisoners, where gamers can control death-row inmates in a deathmatch scenario, making them fight for their freedom. One such prisoner, Kable, only a few wins away from the thirty he needs to be released. However, he is dragged into a conflict with Castle and the hacker group who are trying to stop him from expanding his nanotechnology to have full control over every human that has the nanotechnology installed in their brain. The film’s premise is very simple: it’s a remix of films like The Running Man with all the cheesy characters and silliness you would expect. The film opens up trying to explain the mechanics of the whole nanotechnology and how gamers use it to control other people as avatars, but it quickly gets overwhelming fast, and it feels unnecessary for the most part: Gamer works as a mindless entertainment film full of explosions, shoot-outs and silly characters; the moment it tries to say something deeper, it is immediately lost amid the loud noises, visuals and quick-cuts that stop anything connecting substantially.
There’s a lot of characters and different angles in the film that makes it difficult for any one of them to stand or develop into anything more significant. Gerard Butler is…Gerard Butler as Kable; he’s the same as in every film he is in. he has a wife and child he is trying to reunite with after he is released, but also teams up with the hacker group to take down castle, and it is all a bit much. The action scenes have plenty of shooting and explosions, but as mentioned the constant camera-switching and not holding a shot for longer than two seconds means that everything is just so fleeting and nothing sticks, thus you’ll be hard-pressed to remember anything of substance once the credits roll. It’s got some recognisable faces including Ludacris and Terry Crews, but beyond that nothing special about the cast. It’s difficult to say if the film is meant to have a particular message, I think it tries to comment on corporate-sponsored violence and giving billionaires control of your bodies is probably a bad thing, but again anything of depth is lost as the film zips about haphazardly. It’s also difficult to have a message against corporate violence when violence is the only solution to anything in this film. Overall, I would say that Gamer delivers some decent action, but is way too poorly structured and haphazard in its attempt to do anything else. It doesn’t do anything that other films do much better.
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#686 – Glasshouse (2021)
Glasshouse (2021)
Film review #686
Director: Kelsey Egan
SYNOPSIS: As a airborne disease known as The Shred has permeated Earth’s atmosphere and wiped people’s memories, a small family have taken refuge in a glass house. Their ritualistic existence is interrupted when a stranger arrives and is brought into the house…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Glasshouse is a 2016 South African sci-fi film. It is set in a world where an airborne disease known only as The Shred causes people to lose their memories. In a glass house protected from the outside a family of women with, but their somewhat idyllic existence is shattered when an injured man is brought into the home, and their lives begin to unravel. The premise is simple enough to get, but it is extremely slow going: the plot unfolds at a snail’s pace as the new arrival starts to upset the balance between the residents. There’s some intrigue, mystery and drama here, but my main issue is that this is one of those films I just don’t like: where one person shows up and just gaslights and manipulates everyone else and we can only look on as everyone falls for it. You can certainly make these kinds of films work, but the way Glasshouse goes about it leaves a lot to be desired: it uses a lot of very typical beats to drive things forward, including just using sex as a manipulative tool, which honestly just feels like it has been done so many times before, and there’s nothing else to really make it stand out.
The plot revolves a lot around memory and remembering, but this evolves to such a point that the characters can no longer trust their memory, or if they have been exposed to The Shred. This invites a host of inconsistencies that are never really addressed; it eventually becomes a case of dismissing these plot holes and questions as just a case of bad memory, and this carries on into the conclusion that offers very little. The characters are fairly well defined and play their roles well, but the character of Luca (the man who is brought into the house) just remains an inscrutable mystery regarding his motives. It seems because he is immune to The Shred that he turns up to the house from time to time when no one remembers who he is to just manipulate everyone and continue the cycle of causing trauma and making them forget. The film tries to tie it up at the end, but it just doesn’t work: any time there’s an attempt to tie things up or be poetic, it just falls a bit flat. With all that said, the film does linger a bit after watching it with all the mystery it raises; it’s just that it thinking about it never leads anywhere. I’m sure Glasshouse has an audience for it’s drama and ambiguity, but the slow pacing, tired plot devices, and gaping plot holes combined with an inability to construct any depth means that the whole experience is a struggle.
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#685 – Go Goa Gone (2013)
Go Goa Gone (2013)
Film review #685
Director: Raj and D.K.
SYNOPSIS: Three guys take a break to Goa, and get invited to a rave party on a secluded island, hosted by the Russian mafia. Unfortunately, a drug distributed at the party turns everyone into a zombie, and the few people that didn’t take it must find their way off the island…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Go Goa Gone is a 2013 zombie film. Yes, you’ve probably seen a million different zombie films, but have you seen one from India yet? The film centres around two guys, Luv and Hardik, who join their friend Bunny on a trip to the resort in Goa. They are invited to a private party on a secluded island organised by the Russian mafia, who distribute a new experimental drug to the partygoers. The morning after, they boys wake up to see that everyone that took the drug is know a mindless zombie, and must find a way to get off the island alongside Luna, Hardik’s love interest, and Boris, a member of the Russian Mafia who is actually from India.
Go Goa Gone has a fairly standard setup for zombie films, with the survivors fighting to escape the zombie hordes. The film goes for a blend of action and comedy that is high energy, slick, and funny in equal measure; typically, it is able to pull of a stylish and entertaining experience throughout the film so that you’ll remain engrossed until the end credits. Each of the characters brings a little something different, and the action is over-the-top and silly. While the film is well paced so there’s always something interesting, it does run out of steam plot-wise around the half way mark, as the gang just wait for a boat to drift back to shore so they can escape, thus leaving them to go around in circles a bit without any real development in the story. It’s not to much of an issue though, it’s still at least entertaining.
While the effects are not incredible, they do at least get the job done, and the quick editing means you’re not lingering on the CG long enough to really criticise it. The humour is fairly sharp, and produces a good few funny moments to laugh at. There’s a fair amount of little things which add up to make Go Goa Gore at least a fun and entertaining film to sit through. It struggles to do anything more significant or complex, but there’s definitely far, far worse zombie films out there.
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#684 – Phuntroo (2016)
Phuntroo (2016)
Film review #684
Director: Sujay Duhake
SYNOPSIS: An engineering student looking to win the university’s science competition is rejected by a fellow student, and decides to get over her by building an A.I. hologram of her…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Phuntroo is a 2016 Indian sci-fi film. Vira is one of a group of engineering students that are looking to compete in the college’s science competition. Vira is also in love with fellow student Ananya, and when she rejects him, he takes the healthy step of creating a hologram version instead. The plot of the film is a bit of a mess: you’ve got this overarching plot concerning a science competition like an episode of an eighties cartoon, but there’s also a mystery surrounding the death of one of the professors that never really figures into the plot until the very end. The main issue with the film is that the main cast is just an unlikeable bunch. The young men do very little other than complain about not being able to pick up girls, and constantly talk about them in a derogatory way. Imagine if you took the main cast of the Big Bang Theory and made them even more unlikable, you’d get what Phuntroo offers. By far the worst character is the lead, Vira, who decides that he is love with fellow student Anaya, and is mad that she isn’t being rational about being in love with him. He is just so unlikeable, and nowhere in the film does he seem to realise that he is being a jerk, nor does he ever face any real consequences for his actions.
Vira’s response to a justified rejection seems to be to create an A.I. hologram of the woman who rejects him, who is named Phuntroo. Again, he’s not really selling himself as sympathetic. This is supposed to be the main element of the film, but the hologram only appears halfway into the movie, and doesn’t have the time to develop into anything significant. It does the whole “A.I. going out of control and trying to take over shtick,” but it just goes nowhere and doesn’t change the film’s dynamic in any real way. The production is fine, but the script is lacklustre, the characters are horrid, and a few of the ‘jokes’ are plain inappropriate. The ending also just seems to wrap up everything neatly even though none of the characters really grow or learn anything, particularly Vira, who really doesn’t deserve anything. Phuntroo is not worth a watch in any way, it’s no fun, it’s not funny, the story is shallow, and the characters are atrocious.
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#683 – The Pod Generation (2023)
The Pod Generation (2023)
Film review #683
Director: Sophie Barthes
SYNOPSIS: In the near future, a young couple decide to undertake a pregnancy using an artificial womb. Adjusting to the pregnancy, they find that even with a womb that they can leave on it’s own, pregnancy still creates a number of problems to overcome…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: The Pod Generation is a 2023 sci-fi film. Set in the near-future of New York, a young couple decide to have a child, but do so using an artificial womb that they can carry around, which presents it’s own issues and quirks. The film has a mild comedic tone as it pokes fun at over-intrusive artificial intelligence and marketing speak. Throughout the film, various issues arise that provide mild inconveniences to the main characters, and…that’s it really. Throughout the entire film, all the issues that arise are resolved simply or simply glossed over; there is next to no conflict to explore the themes of the film. You’ll quickly notice how completely opposite the couple are: Rachel (Emilia Clarke) to adopt new technology, while Alvy (Chiwetel Ejiofor) prefers nature and the natural world that is easily forgotten in this future. They seem completely incompatible as a couple, yet any disagreement barely comes to anything. Throughout the runtime, there’s nothing that really builds up and becomes the main focal point or issue that ties things together, and it really feels like the film wanders around lost and without purpose. There’s a constant feeling that the film is poking fun at the marketing ploys of companies that try and constantly over-empathise and humanise themselves, but never provides any robust challenge to them: it just shrugs it’s shoulders and moves on. By the time the film ends, I think the final note is that none of the silly trivial moments of pregnancy matter when it’s over and you’re holding your baby, but translating that to the whole of the film makes every issue it raised pointless as well.
While the film has a good cast, nice sets and design, nothing really sticks as the film goes round and round, and while characters change their outlooks on things, it never sticks or changes the dynamic of the film. I just felt like the whole film was toothless: it needed something to happen or to make a statement in order to make everything stick; but it just never comes. Maybe they don’t want to frighten away more casual moviegoers with a more prevalent sci-fi warning I’m not sure, but The Pod Generation never reaches any kind of intellectual or comedic high to make a lasting impact, and wastes a good idea and cast with a very meandering script.
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#682 – Chappie (2015)
Chappie (2015)
Film review #682
Director: Neill Blomkamp
SYNOPSIS: The developer of a mass-produced robotic police force has been secretly developing a full conscious artificial intelligence. He tests it out on a robot due for destruction, but is kidnapped along with his test subject by a small-time gang who want to use the robot themselves to rob money they owe to a bigger gang. Thus Chappie has to learn to grow up influenced by both his creator and gang members who want him to use him as a tool for crime…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Chappie is a 2015 sci-fi film directed by Neill Blomkamp. being a Blomkamp film, it should come as no surprise that it is set in the near-future in Johannesburg, where crime is rife. Robotic police officers produced by the company Tetravaal help maintain order, but the creator of the robots, Deon Wilson, is interested in other things: creating an artificial intelligence with a consciousness. While testing it on a defunct robot though, he is kidnapped along with the robot by a small-time gang who want to use it to carry out a heist and pay a much larger gang. The plot of the story touches on familiar ideas around A.I., things which you’ve probably seen before in films such as Short Circuit and RoboCop, although given the typical Blomkamp cinematic edge which adds in an element of loudness and chaos. While the story touches on the points you would expect it to, it doesn’t really provide any depth or originality and the film slides away from attempting to give any answers to the questions it raises as it goes on. Chappie himself is probably the highlight of the film: he is animated and spirited, and the CG is well done to give him life, but again he doesn’t really find any of the answers he is looking for as the film pivots away from dealing with the difficult questions.
There is a lot going on in this film: between the different people wanting to use Chappie alongside the robot himself, there’s little focus and everything is spread a little thin. Hugh Jackman’s character Vincent provides a antagonist role that doesn’t seem necessary, as he tries to get funding for his bipedal mech in place of Deon’s robots. The finale essentially just pivots to a direct confrontation between the mech and Chappie, and puts everything else set up throughout the film to the side. Even the events after it don’t connect to the film’s themes, and a bunch of new elements to consider don’t get any development before the film abruptly ends. The trailer of the film has an almost exclusive focus on setting up Vincent as the antagonist against Chappie, and really portrays the film as almost entirely action-based, which is wholly misleading; perhaps marketing didn’t think that a film about A.I. would be as interesting: but truthfully, it is more interesting than another film about CG robots fighting each other which the trailer suggests.
Chappie as a film has a very fragmented story that is tenuously held together by it’s robotic lead. The film sets up questions surrounding artificial intelligence but never provides a satisfying resolution, choosing to throw more plot elements in at the end instead and not really deal with them. The whole villain arc is again a big distraction that doesn’t really serve the film’s purpose to any degree. That said, it’s a technically competent film with good effects, and if you’re a Blomkamp fan, then you’ll appreciate him doing what he is known for; it’s just that his unique style doesn’t really allow a more interesting spin on the themes that are the backbone of so many other films.
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#681 – Next (2007)
Next (2007)
Film review #681
Director: Lee Tamahori
SYNOPSIS: A small-time Las Vegas showman is being hunted by the FBI to assist in locating a nuclear weapon that is set to be exploded somewhere in the U.S.. To do this, they want to utilise the showman’s unique ability: being able to see two minutes into the future. he, however, is not interested, and is more concerned with trying to find the woman that he sees in the future, and the only person that appears further away from those two minutes…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Next is a 2007 sci-fi film loosely based on the short story “The Golden Man” by Philip K. Dick. It centres around Cris Johnson (Nicholas Cage) who is a small-time performer in Las Vegas using his secret power to see two minutes into the future. He is being hunted by the FBI to help them locate a terrorist cell that has smuggled a nuclear weapon onto U.S. soil. The plot is very simple to grasp as you can tell, but it was not always like that: originally based on Philip K. Dick’s story “The Golden Man,” the film delved more into the authoritarian themes of the novel, but following a rewrite it was very much streamlined into a typical action film with nothing to grasp at underneath that Hollywood veneer. the film starts off showing the interesting premise and sets out the stakes, and then just…goes nowhere with it. The plot holes are numerous and nothing is explained or established: How do the FBI know about Cris? Why does Cris only see beyond two minutes into the future when he sees Elizabeth (Jessica Biel)? Who are these terrorists? What’s there motivation? Who is leading them? Nothing connects to anything, and you’re left with a patchwork of sci-fi and/or thriller setups with a good few of those patches missing.
With Nicholas Cage in the lead role, the film very much feels like a typical Nicholas Cage movie. It’s difficult to say if he is the right person for the role: it certainly fits right in with the silliness of the rest of Cage’s filmography, but the issue is that he just doesn’t have any real chemistry with Jessica Biel: it just comes across as very awkward and unbelievable. Some of this may be the script not giving her any kind of character arc, and as mentioned, we are never given any kind of answer to why Cris can only see her further in the future than two minutes. There’s also the sense that Cris is never really in any peril: his powers are never challenged in any real way, even in the finale, which just involves him quickly fixing any issues that arise. It’s entertaining enough, but there’s no real stakes involved, and Cris barely breaks a sweat. The final twist, essentially undoes a good chunk of the movie, and while this could have been an interesting take, it fails to really bring about a significant change in the characters or anything. Next is pure nonsense thanks to awkward performances, next to no rationale or setup for anything or anyone, and there being so many things which seem to be missing with regards to character’s motivations or explanations for anything regarding the protagonist’s powers. It’s entertaining as far as there’s enough action to draw your attention, but the stakes are never raised too high thanks to Cris’s powers being so omnipotent. It’s a bit of fun, just don’t think too hard about it.
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#680 – Transcendence (2014)
Transcendence (2014)
Film review #680
Director: Wally Pfister
SYNOPSIS: Artificial Intelligence researcher Will Caster is shot by an anti-technology terror group. Given only a month to live, his wife Evelyn makes a desperate attempt with the A.I. they have been working on to upload Will’s consciousness when he dies. When they succeed, the A.I. Will asks to be connected to the internet, and starts to rapidly evolve with access to an unlimited amount of data and information…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Transcendence is a 2014 sci-fi film. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) and his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) are at the forefront of a project to develop a genuine Artificial Intelligence, which draws the attention of an anti-technology group. Will is shot with a polonium-laced bullet, which gives him severe radiation poisoning and a month or so to live. In desperation, his wife plans to upload his consciousness to their A.I. project, despite hesitations from their friend Max (Paul Bettany). The upload succeeds and Will, now a fully fledged A.I., wants to be connected to the internet and expand his horizons. The story of the film is your typical cautionary tale of Artificial Intelligence going too far too fast, coupled with a romance drama between the husband and wife leads. The thing which stands out for me is that the film never really sets out one side or the other as the heroes or villains of the story, and as such you’re constantly oscillating between who is wrong or right. This is a double-edged sword: on one hand, as a viewer you’re never quite settled into who plays what typical role, and have to remain open to all of the different viewpoints that do not cleanly resolve themselves into right or wrong actions. On the other, this makes the film very muddled with a lack of direction or purpose. While it is possible to pull of the former, this film ultimately falls into the latter; the lack of direction and flow means that the film doesn’t really build up to anything, and any kind of pacing is constantly thrown off by big leaps of time passing and different characters changing their positions with little warning.
While the focus is on the perils of artificial intelligence and all it entails, the film doesn’t really offer any new ideas or viewpoints that make it stand out from the very familiar sci-fi set-up. There just seems to be something missing with the relationship between Will and Evelyn that isn’t properly explored to service as a basis for the film to develop either; baby which I mean you could forgive the more typical stuff if it had a unique personal drama and characters, but that’s sorely lacking too. By the time the film enters its climax after nearly two hours, the film has turned to very typical sci-fi shlock (and I like typical sci-fi shlock) with nanomachines controlling people and such, and a rather awkward confrontation that doesn’t really provide much of a resolution. All this stuff just distracts from the characters and makes the plot feel very generic. This film has a good, recognisable cast, but it just feels like they don’t really have any material to work with, and their inclusion feels like a waste. Director Wally Pfister’s directorial debut has made a film with some style and clearly taking inspiration from Christopher Nolan, whom he has previously worked under, but a really washy script that doesn’t grip any of it’s idea or characters well enough to develop them into something profound or impactful by the time of the climax takes the two hour runtime feel like a lot of waste. Transcendence has some expertise behind it and exhibits some style, but even the weak ideas that are explored are drowned out by typical sci-fi tropes that prevent either some profound position on the subject matter, or a meaningful relationship between the characters to emerge, resulting in a less than profound experience.
