Sadly another great concept that was ruined by terrible execution and surprisingly really bad acting.
So this is one of those movies where the difference between the Metacritic score and the IMDb's audience score is staggering. I thought maybe it's one of those movies where the critics got it wrong again, but honestly, after seeing it I can kinda get why it's so low. (Though it is way too low and harsh in my opinion) Anyway, let me start by saying that this movie has all the ingredients for an amazing movie with a great concept, characters, emotional story, and a great ending (Director's Cut Ending specifically). So where did it go wrong exactly?
First of all, the first thing you're gonna notice that's wrong with this movie is the acting, and specifically the main character's mom acting. And pretty much most of the cast as the movie goes on. This is one of the main reasons why this movie gets such a low rating from me. The mediocre dialogue and the comedic deliveries make this movie age so badly and make it one of those over-the-top goofy 2000s movies that you laugh at the bad acting and the unintentionally funny serious moments. Even though the concept alone can make a movie or a TV show a timeless classic.
The other big problem is that the director just doesn't know how to handle the dark and edgy stuff in this movie carefully so as to not come off as if a 14-year-old boy directed and wrote this movie. This movie is surprisingly really dark and adult, but all the edgy stuff are just handled really clumsily with some terrible written dialogue at times.
The movie doesn't really do a proper job of making you care about the characters and the characterization lacks severely. So what happens when they try to do melodrama and have an emotional scene? Yeah, it becomes a really hilarious scene where you're thinking "Now cue the sad music" and then immediately the sad music plays to force you into feeling bad or sad and all that. But that only works if you actually care about the characters and these things aren't executed in such a goofy and corny manner. It's like someone with no directorial experience watched a movie and said "Yeah, sure, I can do that" and tried to emulate the movie he watched.
The movie is also boring at times, especially in the middle, and you just want it to end and keep checking the time to see how much there's left. Again, a better director and editor could've made this movie way more watchable. Though it's disingenuous to say the editing is bad here because the overall editing for the concept of this movie is pretty good, but the pacing needs better editing.
Again, the movie deals with dark and heavy subjects too, and pretty much every dark subject you can think of is in here. And the movie itself tries to take these stuff seriously too, but fails in that department too, and some of the dialogue they wrote for those sound so much like PSA commercials and so fake that makes you laugh instead of having the intended effect.
Again, the concept and the premise of this movie are amazing and I can see what they were going for. In the hands of a much more capable writer and a better director, this movie would've easily been a 9/10 for me and one of the best sci-fi films I would have watched. But unfortunately, the execution and the acting are so bad that they make this movie age badly and turn it into a 2000s schlock.
The ending is also really dark and sad and I love the ending surprisingly! I'm just a little disappointed that this ending and this concept weren't in a much better movie. Because it's one of those endings that can leave you effed up for days, but since you don't really care about the characters and don't really have an emotional connection to them, you're just gonna acknowledge that at least the ending was good and be more sad for the fact you really wanted to like this movie.
I usually don't really write reviews for every movie I watch, especially the older movies. Even for a lot of movies that I gave a 9/10, I didn't really have much to say. But I usually have a lot to say about the movie I hated. A movie has to be so good or so bad or disappointing for me to write a review for. And this is one of the "disappointing" ones. The concept of this movie was so good that it made me so frustrated that this wasn't done in a better movie with a better writer and director, that I just Had to write a review about it.
And it's not like this concept is a mind-blowingly new and original concept that hadn't been done before or in the past 20 years we didn't have multiple movies and shows with this concept. But the story itself and the characters seriously had the potential and deserved a much better movie. I love tragic stories and this is probably one of the most tragic and sad stories in a movie, but it doesn't feel that way because the movie itself, the dialogue, the acting, the editing and the direction was so goofy and corny and unintentionally funny, that it doesn't feel as tragic and emotional as it should be. This movie is more tragic for the fact that it wasn't a better movie.
So this is one of those movies where the difference between the Metacritic score and the IMDb's audience score is staggering. I thought maybe it's one of those movies where the critics got it wrong again, but honestly, after seeing it I can kinda get why it's so low. (Though it is way too low and harsh in my opinion) Anyway, let me start by saying that this movie has all the ingredients for an amazing movie with a great concept, characters, emotional story, and a great ending (Director's Cut Ending specifically). So where did it go wrong exactly?
First of all, the first thing you're gonna notice that's wrong with this movie is the acting, and specifically the main character's mom acting. And pretty much most of the cast as the movie goes on. This is one of the main reasons why this movie gets such a low rating from me. The mediocre dialogue and the comedic deliveries make this movie age so badly and make it one of those over-the-top goofy 2000s movies that you laugh at the bad acting and the unintentionally funny serious moments. Even though the concept alone can make a movie or a TV show a timeless classic.
The other big problem is that the director just doesn't know how to handle the dark and edgy stuff in this movie carefully so as to not come off as if a 14-year-old boy directed and wrote this movie. This movie is surprisingly really dark and adult, but all the edgy stuff are just handled really clumsily with some terrible written dialogue at times.
The movie doesn't really do a proper job of making you care about the characters and the characterization lacks severely. So what happens when they try to do melodrama and have an emotional scene? Yeah, it becomes a really hilarious scene where you're thinking "Now cue the sad music" and then immediately the sad music plays to force you into feeling bad or sad and all that. But that only works if you actually care about the characters and these things aren't executed in such a goofy and corny manner. It's like someone with no directorial experience watched a movie and said "Yeah, sure, I can do that" and tried to emulate the movie he watched.
The movie is also boring at times, especially in the middle, and you just want it to end and keep checking the time to see how much there's left. Again, a better director and editor could've made this movie way more watchable. Though it's disingenuous to say the editing is bad here because the overall editing for the concept of this movie is pretty good, but the pacing needs better editing.
Again, the movie deals with dark and heavy subjects too, and pretty much every dark subject you can think of is in here. And the movie itself tries to take these stuff seriously too, but fails in that department too, and some of the dialogue they wrote for those sound so much like PSA commercials and so fake that makes you laugh instead of having the intended effect.
Again, the concept and the premise of this movie are amazing and I can see what they were going for. In the hands of a much more capable writer and a better director, this movie would've easily been a 9/10 for me and one of the best sci-fi films I would have watched. But unfortunately, the execution and the acting are so bad that they make this movie age badly and turn it into a 2000s schlock.
The ending is also really dark and sad and I love the ending surprisingly! I'm just a little disappointed that this ending and this concept weren't in a much better movie. Because it's one of those endings that can leave you effed up for days, but since you don't really care about the characters and don't really have an emotional connection to them, you're just gonna acknowledge that at least the ending was good and be more sad for the fact you really wanted to like this movie.
I usually don't really write reviews for every movie I watch, especially the older movies. Even for a lot of movies that I gave a 9/10, I didn't really have much to say. But I usually have a lot to say about the movie I hated. A movie has to be so good or so bad or disappointing for me to write a review for. And this is one of the "disappointing" ones. The concept of this movie was so good that it made me so frustrated that this wasn't done in a better movie with a better writer and director, that I just Had to write a review about it.
And it's not like this concept is a mind-blowingly new and original concept that hadn't been done before or in the past 20 years we didn't have multiple movies and shows with this concept. But the story itself and the characters seriously had the potential and deserved a much better movie. I love tragic stories and this is probably one of the most tragic and sad stories in a movie, but it doesn't feel that way because the movie itself, the dialogue, the acting, the editing and the direction was so goofy and corny and unintentionally funny, that it doesn't feel as tragic and emotional as it should be. This movie is more tragic for the fact that it wasn't a better movie.