Acting is okay. Direction and cinematography is quite good. The plot is everything you've ever seen before + non sensical. I'm not mad at this film - just disappointed.
The biggest sin is that this movie is a "good guy vs bad guy" film, rather than an exploration of human civilisation two generations apart in a dystopian world. Main character realises that (wow what a shocker) that her side are actually the bad guys! Painfully obvious story without any layers or dimensions. Gibson, the main antagonist, is painted as an evil authoritarian with no angles, whilst Blake, our protag, is stone faced nobody that doesn't do anything but have the plot move her forward. Talking about the characters...
We don't see the characters so much to develop. Our main protagonist never smiles. We never see a moment of what makes her happy. Her stone face stoic attitude is boring and doesn't change once in the entire run time. The relationship between herself and her dad feel shallower than the mud plains the entire film is based on because we don't see them interact in any genuine father-daughter chemistry. Even in the flashbacks, she's dead pan serious, as is her dad.
The mud plains make for a very pretty set piece. However, if the entire film takes place on said mud plains, it becomes visual noise. The environment could easily become a character in a plot like this - but it isn't. Forget about all the plot holes for now - why are people living on a tidal plane anyways? It's further exacerbated by the endless fog that permeates the screen. The third act has more fog than it has story beats.
The plot holes. Positive reviews say ita forgivable but it really isn't. There's meant to be some level of believability to make the story stand on its own legs:
1. Landing ships without landing capabilities? These are interstellar travelling humans and they can't land a ship? The entire film would be over if they landed anywhere but the sea and sent communication back.
2. Landing into a body of water; and your ship sinks instead of floats. Space pods can land on water and float. Our great pods in this film sink...
3. They mention data monitoring and communication buoys relaying information of earth. These things can't/don't even collect information outside of the weather...
This is a sci fi film for the first 10 minutes. Then it isn't anymore - so this isn't really for sci fi fans.
I'd like to spend more time reviewing this film but that would mean putting more effort into this than the writers did in trying to make a cohesive and compelling story.
Trust me when I say I really wanted this to be good. The premise is deeply interesting and the it starts off with a bang.
Unfortunately it ends in a whimper.
The biggest sin is that this movie is a "good guy vs bad guy" film, rather than an exploration of human civilisation two generations apart in a dystopian world. Main character realises that (wow what a shocker) that her side are actually the bad guys! Painfully obvious story without any layers or dimensions. Gibson, the main antagonist, is painted as an evil authoritarian with no angles, whilst Blake, our protag, is stone faced nobody that doesn't do anything but have the plot move her forward. Talking about the characters...
We don't see the characters so much to develop. Our main protagonist never smiles. We never see a moment of what makes her happy. Her stone face stoic attitude is boring and doesn't change once in the entire run time. The relationship between herself and her dad feel shallower than the mud plains the entire film is based on because we don't see them interact in any genuine father-daughter chemistry. Even in the flashbacks, she's dead pan serious, as is her dad.
The mud plains make for a very pretty set piece. However, if the entire film takes place on said mud plains, it becomes visual noise. The environment could easily become a character in a plot like this - but it isn't. Forget about all the plot holes for now - why are people living on a tidal plane anyways? It's further exacerbated by the endless fog that permeates the screen. The third act has more fog than it has story beats.
The plot holes. Positive reviews say ita forgivable but it really isn't. There's meant to be some level of believability to make the story stand on its own legs:
1. Landing ships without landing capabilities? These are interstellar travelling humans and they can't land a ship? The entire film would be over if they landed anywhere but the sea and sent communication back.
2. Landing into a body of water; and your ship sinks instead of floats. Space pods can land on water and float. Our great pods in this film sink...
3. They mention data monitoring and communication buoys relaying information of earth. These things can't/don't even collect information outside of the weather...
This is a sci fi film for the first 10 minutes. Then it isn't anymore - so this isn't really for sci fi fans.
I'd like to spend more time reviewing this film but that would mean putting more effort into this than the writers did in trying to make a cohesive and compelling story.
Trust me when I say I really wanted this to be good. The premise is deeply interesting and the it starts off with a bang.
Unfortunately it ends in a whimper.