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#661 – Kalki 2898 A.D.
Kalki 2898 A.D. (2024)
Film review #661
Director: Nag Ashwin
SYNOPSIS: In the year 2898 A.D., a post-apocalyptic Earth is ruled by the supreme ruler Yaskin from The Complex: the last surviving city on Earth. Ashwatthama, who has been cursed to wander the Earth as an immortal for six thousand years, meets a young girl named Raia, who escapes being taken to The Complex. She unknowingly brings him the gem from his forehead that was taken all those years ago, and when he places it back where it belongs, finds out that a woman is bearing the prophesised Kalki, who will bring about a new age. The two then seek out to find this woman and protect her from Yaskin’s evil forces…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Kalki 2898 A.D. is a 2024 Indian sci-fi epic. As a starting point, the film is heavily based around the rich Hindu scriptures and religious texts, featuring various figures and events. It’s not wholly necessary to know about them in order to get into this film, as you can get the general gist of the characters and the backstory, but it definitely feels overwhelming at the beginning of the film if you know next to nothing about it (like me). Essentially, the film is set in the year 2898, in a post-apocalyptic wasteland that you’ve seen in many times before, so that part is at least familiar. Ashwatthama, an immortal who has been cursed by Kirshna to wander Earth for six thousand years after attempting to kill the princess Uttawa’s child, and his divine gem is taken from him. Having to watch humanity’s decline over that period, Ashwatthama is reunited with his divine gem by a chance encounter with a young girl named Raia, he learns that the prophesised child Kalki, is to be born to a pregnant woman, and heads out to protect her, as Kalki is destined to usher in a new age for humanity. If I had to compare it to Western cinema releases, I would say it’s a mix of Mad Max, Marvel’s Avengers, and The Lord of the Rings. It’s made to be an epic, featuring a large cast of characters, large scale structures, locations, battles, the works. Clocking in at nearly three hours, it’s a fairly standard runtime for Indian cinema, but definitely the kind of runtime reserved for the aforementioned epics in Western cinema. The world is established fairly well, alongside the situation of the people living there. Again, it might be fairly typical if you’re used to western cinema, but it is something less undertaken in Indian films, and I think the incorporation of Hindu scripture helps with that transition.
The problem with the film is that there are too many disparate characters that the film introduces, and spends the first half of the film wandering about the world as the characters bump into each other rather aimlessly. As mentioned, the world is established decently enough, but there’s not too much direction with regards to what we are supposed to be doing there. The second half of the film brings things together more, towards a finale filled with epic battles and a showdown with the villain. The epic battle between two opposing forces really does feel like something you would see in Lord of the Rings or some such, leading me to feel that the film just imitated a typical Hollywood-style climax. Even worse, the film describes itself at the end as continuing in the “Kalki Cinematic Universe,” which just reinforces the point that it’s trying to mold itself into a very specific format, and not trying to be self-contained. The trouble with trying to square up to Hollywood blockbusters is that it never looks or feels on par with the; inviting the comparisons, but all the worse for it. The CG is noticeably rough at points, and the large-scale shots don’t quite look convincing enough. The characters never really come into their own either, as they’re often spaced out and large amounts of time passes in between seeing them, and take too long in establishing where there place is in the film. The big example of this is Bhairava, a bounty hunter is a scoundrel and a villain right up until the last scene of the film, where he suddenly flips.
Kalki 2898 A.D. is an ambitious cinematic attempt that synthesises Western cinema epics with traditional Hindu foundations. Having the biggest budget of any Indian film at the time of release, it aims high, but a muddled story, awkward pacing, and disparate characters fail to really bring everything together, and elevate it to the level of its ambition. Might be more interesting to someone who appreciates the incorporation of Hindu scripture and figures, but will probably draw comparisons with more successful films to Western viewers.
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#660 – A Guide to Dating at the End of the World (2022)
A Guide to Dating at the End of the World (2022)
Film review #660
Director: Samuel Gay
SYNOPSIS: After her friend tries once again to set her up with another guy, Alex proclaims to everyone that she would not go out with John if he were the last man on Earth. Unfortunately for her, this hypothetical actually comes true, as she awakens the next day to find that everyone has disappeared…except for John. The pair must work together to figure out what is going on, and find a way to return to their normal lives, and maybe learn something along the way…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: A Guide to Dating at the End of the World is a 2022 Australian romance/comedy/sci-fi film. The film centres around Alex, a woman who is constantly being set up with men by her friends (or attempted to anyway). The latest one is John, who she claims she would not go out with him if he were the last man on Earth. As luck would have it, a side effect of the large hadron collider being switched on sends Alex out-of-sync with reality, and the only person left in the world. That is, until she runs into John, and the two must work through their differences. With a silly premise and a low budget, there’s very little in this film to take seriously. That said, there are some good points. I really liked Alex’s character and her flippant, no nonsense approach to everything. She has a certain edge to her that isn’t just a typical “unfeeling, emotionless person who eventually finds love” as you might usually see in a romance film.
John, on the other hand, never really grows into a likable character for me. He starts off being quite obnoxious and weird, and basically stays that way throughout the film, even when it is revealed he was being to stubborn is because he was reading a stupid self-help dating book that said to never take no for an answer, it still doesn’t really reflect on his character well, and still feels like an excuse. When the film tries to develop some sort of romance between them, it never really feels genuine or in keeping with their characters: Alex’s character just completely loses that edge which is integral to her, and John just seems to have the emotional range of a house brick, which leads to very little chemistry, and a very real sense that their actions are just written for the purposes of the script, without any real consideration for their characters.
The film has some nice shots of an empty Australian city, and a few Australian-centric jokes that probably won’t land if you’re not familiar with the country. There’s no point in taking anything too seriously in this film: the science is non-existent, and every idea is absurd, but overall, I think it feels a bit fresh thanks to its lead, and has some nice moments, but the film really struggles to square it’s script and idea with the characters, leading to a profound disconnect between what we see and what is intended, and a very lacklustre sense of chemistry which is pivotal in a romance comedy film.
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#659 – Riddler’s Moon (1998)
Riddler’s Moon (1998)
Film review #659
Director: Don McBrearty
SYNOPSIS: The farmers of Indiana have been plagued by a mysterious plague in their soil that poisons their animals and prevents any crops growing. When Elias, the son of one of the farmer’s, has a vision about a bountiful crop being planted in one of their fields, his Mother is reluctant to believe it, but sure enough, Elias’ vision comes true, and it leads them down a path that requires their faith to see through…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Riddler’s Moon is a 1998 TV sci-fi film. Set in rural Indiana, where a mysterious soil epidemic has meant crops cannot grow, the son of one of the farmers has a vision of a bountiful crop in one of the fields. He tries to convince his Mother, Victoria Riddler (Katherine Mulgrew) to plant their and trust him. despite her scepticisms, she follows her sons vision and the field yields a huge crop, but the residents of the town are suspicious of this newfound bounty, and wondering why she can grow crops and they can’t. The premise of the film is very much a Field of Dreams set-up, with a farmer fulfilling a vision for reasons they are unaware of, and requiring them to trust it to be rewarded. It certainly does not have the emotional highs of Field of Dreams, but for a made-for-TV movie, it is well grounded, and the drama is gripping enough to keep things going for its duration.
The setting of rural Indiana is nicely set-up and brought to life, although the film was shot entirely in Luxembourg. The residents of the town are brought to life and have a certain familiarity to them which again helps the setting seem authentic. The main criticism I have of this film is that it is often very vague about what it building up to: it’s established that it has something to do with aliens coming to visit, but even at the end, we don’t really get a pay-off, rather just a narration that the aliens rejuvenated the fields and left, offering no insight into how or why this whole set-up occurred. Part of that ambiguity is fine, but some of it is so vague that it doesn’t really offer any kind of conclusion. Part of this might be that the film went through a lot of rewrites and adjustments, including inputs from different network executives, so perhaps the end product was just a case of a compromise that satisfies no one. There was also the point at which the townsfolk simply change their minds and help out the Riddlers, after spending most of the movie suspicious that they are the only ones who can grow crops: it just didn’t seem like there was a pivotal moment which caused them to change their minds. Despite these flaws and an overwhelming sense of vagueness probably derived form its multiple rewrites, Riddler’s Moon has some solid drama and performances, with enough heart and charm to make it watchable, particularly for a TV movie. It’s not quite Field of Dreams, but pulls off the emotional moments when it counts.
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#658 – Paradise Hills (2019)
Paradise Hills (2019)
Film review #658
Director: Alice Waddington
SYNOPSIS: Uma wakes up in a strange room with no memory of how she got there. It turns out she is on an island called Paradise, where she has been sent by her parents to become a more obedient and refined member of society. Trapped there with a host of other women, she plots her escape, while attempting to uncover the mysteries of the island…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Paradise Hills is a 2019 film. The film centres around Uma, a young woman who wakes up on a mysterious island known as Paradise. She, along with the other women there, have been sent their because they have been disobedient and unrefined, and are to be treated to become better members of the elite upper class of society. Uma makes friends with some of the other ‘inhabitants’ and uncovers the dark truths of the island as she plots her escape. The premise is simple enough to follow, and we are immediately thrown into this strange world that feels full and expertly crafted: the highlight of the film is the sets, design and costumes that ooze complexity and elegance, yet have a certain strangeness about them, obviously leaning into an Alice in Wonderland aesthetic. We don’t really get too much of a glimpse of the world outside of this island: we only know that there is an extreme class divide between the rich and poor, although we only ever see the rich side of things. This is not really an issue though, as it is enough to go on for the most part. The main issue with this film is the story never really goes anywhere: it sets the scene and some bits and pieces, but is too poorly paced in exposing viewers to new secrets of the island and raising the stakes at the appropriate times.
Uma builds a relationship with the other inhabitants of the island, whose motivations and personalities are well defined. The trouble is that these relationships never really cohere into something strong and worthwhile which the film wants them too. Uma’s relationship with Amarna becomes a promising cornerstone of the film and the glimpse of hope amidst the gloom of the island’s machinations, but it never approaches a critical mass where it becomes something substantial. hen Amarna disappears halfway through the film, that cornerstone also disappears, and the film becomes even more lost. There is something that is meant to be substantial about someone leaving and having their absence felt, but it’s not really dealt with in the story.
The film takes a sharp turn at the ending, as all the loose ends are complicated even further with even more threads in the finale, and a confrontation with the Duchess (Milia Jovovich), who turns out to be a half…plant? I don’t know, it didn’t really make any sense or fit in with the film in any way. Also, the relationships with the characters Uma bonds with essentially amount to nothing, and a character introduced in the last twenty minutes instead becomes the focus and solution to everything: it just so often feels like the most important aspects that the film built up really matter. The film really needed a better script to bring everything together, and Alice Waddington in her directorial debut unfortunately is not able to wield the loose ends she has been handed. Paradise Hills has a strong look and feel, while offering some interesting characters, but lacks almost any direction in the plot, or any notion of how to tie anything together. This culminates in an ending that leaves you wondering just what any of what was built up mattered.
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#657 – Alienated (2021)
Alienated (2021)
Film review #657
Director: Darryl Anka
SYNOPSIS: A scientist who is struggling with his latest experiment with quantum teleportation has a chance encounter with a UFO. When he sees a flyer for an artist’s exhibit featuring an image that looks suspiciously like the UFO he saw, he goes to the exhibition to meet her. Unbeknownst to him, however, the artist is actually an alien who came down from the ship…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Alienated is a 2021 sci-fi romance film. David Bennett is a physicist who hit a dead-end with his latest experiment on quantum teleportation, and also dealing with his dad’s hoarding, which threatens his eviction. When out for a walk, he sees a UFO in the sky. Later, he comes across a flyer for an artist’s exhibition which features the shape of the UFO he saw. At the exhibit, he finds the artist, a quirky young woman named Jordan Waters. The setup is embarrassingly simple: A scientist who only believes in rationality and objective truth, and a quirky artist who values creativity and expression. Combined, they make the very typical odd couple in this sci-fi romance. I suppose the twist is that Jordan is actually an alien from the UFO that David saw, but I don’t think her being an alien really influences the story that much anyway: she seems perfectly adapted to Earth, and is not really a fish-out-of-water character, only having a few forced moments of her being ignorant about earth’s customs, which feel like they’re forced upon her character through the script than a reflection on her character. She is also pursued by Ray Watts, a conspiracy theorist who believes aliens walk among us, and sees the UFO too. This sub-plot doesn’t really connect to or alter the central romance plot in any way, it’s just to add in a little bit of threat I suppose. The film really limps along with no real development between the characters, or overcoming obstacles, it’s just a bit dull, and fails to go into any real depths.
A romance film such as this has to hinge on the chemistry between the main characters: this does not have that. As mentioned, the two are polar opposites in the most cliched way ever, offering very little room for individuality or something to organically develop. The acting is really poor, and for some reason every line is delivered in the exact same tone and volume, equalising all of the delivery in such a way there is absolutely no room for expression, quiet or loud moments; it just feels like reciting lines over and over with no personal input. Likewise, there’s no real scenes where David and Jordan’s relationship really develops, or we see them naturally being together; it’s just stilted dialogue all the way through. Grace Lacey as Jordan fills her role reasonably well, but there’s no real opportunity for her to be the free spirit she is supposed to be. David’s relationship with his Father provides another sub-plot that again barely ties to the main story, but does offer at least an emotional moment or two. It should also be noted that David’s Father has the worse fake Irish accent ever, and it is overwhelmingly distracting in every scene he is in.
In terms of everything else, the effects are fairly bland and uninteresting: the sci-fi elements don’t really add anything at all to the plot to make it interesting. Jordan has this power to alter her luck or something, which she uses when she is being pursued by the conspiracy theorist, but again it just doesn’t figure into anything, and it seems weird to establish a reality-altering ability and not have it figure into anything. Everything is also shot really close up a lot of the time, which is probably to hide the small sets, and barely establishes the setting a lot of the time. The close ups would make sense if the characters had an emotional reaction to anything, but they just don’t. Alienated takes a very cliché setup and fails to generate any kind of chemistry or emotional response. The sci-fi element barely figures into the plot, and again adds very little. Jordan is a somewhat likable character, but she’s left with very little to work with in terms of a poor story, weak chemistry, and just an overall undercooked production.
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#656 – From Beyond (1986)
From Beyond (1986)
Film review #656
Director: Stuart Gordon
SYNOPSIS: Two scientists have developed a machine that allows access to a new dimension of reality beyond normal perceptions. testing it on himself, Dr. Edward Pretorius is exposed to a world beyond imagination, and becomes addicted to the experience. When the machine explodes and Pretorius seemingly dies, his assistant, Crawford Tillinghast, is arrested for murder. Seeking an answer to what truly happened, psychologist Dr. Katherine McMichaels returns to the scene to see whether Tillinghast’s wild claims are true…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: From Beyond is a 1986 horror film based on H.P. Lovecraft’s story of the same name. two scientists invent a machine called the resonator that provides access to a dimension beyond human perception, when one of them is driven mad by the pleasures and sensations he experiences from beyond, the machine explodes and Pretorius is seemingly killed, his assistant, Crawford Tillinghast is arrested and committed to a psychiatric ward. Psychologist Dr. Katherine McMichaels attempts to get to the bottom of what happened, and whether Crawford is telling the truth about the events, by returning to the laboratory with him and recreating the experiments. What follows is a bit of a threadbare story, as the characters fumble about with the machine a bit and try to understand what it does. The real focus of this film is the body horror, and the gruesome special effects that increase in intensity and complexity as the film progresses. Make no mistake, this film is just an indulgence in sex, special effects, and the slimiest, twisted body horror that could be gotten away with. It’s weird, it’s over-the-top, and it’s exactly what it needs to be.
Lovecraft’s stories are notoriously difficult to adapt, owing to a rich lore and otherworldliness that is tough to bring to the screen. From Beyond takes a very non-pretentious approach and, as mentioned, focuses on body horror to showcase a realm beyond human experience. There’s definitely great effort gone into getting the practical effects looking as gross and as visceral as possible. Sure, it still looks like a low-budget film, but the aesthetic is still arresting, and shots never linger long enough for you to nitpick the details, which is smart. Honestly, for what it is, I think this is a pretty good film for cheap shlock: it doesn’t try to be something it isn’t, and still manages to pull off something memorable and creepy. Honestly worth a look if you’re into these types of films, but not much depth or content for a wider audience to grasp onto.
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#655 – High-Rise (2016)
High-Rise (2016)
Film review #655
Director: Ben Wheatley
SYNOPSIS: Dr. Robert Laing moves into a brand new tower block, where the richest residents live at the top, and the poorest below. Seeing a world of decadence and excess, he eventually joins in on the social structure created by the building, but the social hierarchy is threatened as order breaks down…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: High-Rise is a 2016 dystopian film based on the 1975 novel of the same name by J.G. Ballard. Set at the time of the original novel, the film focuses on neurologist Dr. Robert Laing as he moves into a state-of-the-art tower block on the outskirts of London, where the upper class residents live on the higher floors, while the poorer residents live below, with all amenities and services provided inside, so that leaving the block is hardly necessary. Wanting to live a quiet life, Robert tries to keep to himself, but eventually finds himself embroiled in the tower’s lavish lifestyle, and when the hierarchical order starts to break down, he must find a way to survive. A lot of this film focuses on style: it goes to great lengths to highlight the decadent lifestyle of the rich that goes on, to the detriment of those living below. There’s barely ten minutes that go by in this film without a new party scene kicking off. The setting is illustrated fairly well, and you get a good sense of the differences between the floors, and the points of contest that everyone has, reflecting society as a whole condensed into this single tower block, which echoes the intent of Ballard’s dystopian novel. While the film certainly captures the feeling of the 1970s of which it is set, with the ubiquitous tower blocks of the time providing the basis of its dystopian critique, it does perhaps lack the bite that Ballard’s original story did of the time with the contemporary setting. However, its contrast between social classes is still sharp enough.
The biggest problem with this film is the plot: while there undoubtedly is one, it is often obscured or unintelligible behind the overwhelming decadence and stimulation on screen, with all the shouting and partying, it’s difficult to get into the nuances concerning the different characters and their relations. The main beats of the lower class rebelling against the upper is fairly evident, but anything beyond that fails to establish itself. It may be argued that part of this is that the breakdown of society, along with the breakdown of the main characters mental state, are illustrated by this incoherence, but you can certainly show that while still making a story that’s simple to follow. As such, it never really grips you at any point, and there’s nothing really at stake for any of the characters, as this revolution never really seems out of necessity; it’s not like these people are trapped in the tower block, they could have left at any time. While the film focuses on its style and aesthetics, it somehow fails to showcase any human response or emotions in any of the characters. Again, you could argue that the absence of humanity in the conditions of the tower is part of the plot, but it fails to offer anything in place of that.
Overall, High-Rise revels in style and decadence to establish an environment in which humanity is lost amidst an all too familiar class struggle. Any sense of narrative or characters is lost amidst the constant party scenes and anarchy, meaning there is very little narrative to progress, and the mish-mash of sex and violence never coheres into anything graspable or meaningful. A mess, but a mess with a bit of flair.
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#654 – Landscape with Invisible Hand (2023)
Landscape with Invisible Hand (2023)
Film review #653
Director: Corey Finley
SYNOPSIS: In the year 2036, an alien race called the Vuvv has caused mass unemployment and homelessness across the planet, as their advanced technology has rendered most human jobs obsolete. Adam meets a new girl at his school named Chloe, who has just moved there and is living out of the family’s car since they have no money. As Adam and Chloe start to get close. They decide to make money by broadcasting their relationship to the Vuvv, who have a fascination with human romance. They start to earn money to live as their broadcast becomes popular, but the strain on their relationship starts to affect their broadcast, leading to an uncomfortable confrontation with the Vuvv…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Landscape with Invisible Hand is a 2023 sci-fi film based on the novel of the same name by M.T. Anderson. Set in the year 2036, when an alien race named the Vuvv have made most human jobs obsolete with their advanced technology, leading to mass unemployment and homelessness. High school couple Adam and Chloe decide to try and make money by live broadcasting their relationship by using headsets that show their point of view, as the aliens have nothing like romance in their culture, and see it as a bit of a novelty. As time goes on however, the pressure of their personal lives being on show puts a strain on the pairs relationship. This premise of the film is a fairly solid one, is simple to grasp, and opens up its world to a satirical look at the human cost to a ‘peaceful’ alien invasion. You can easily fill a film with this plot and explore its implications, which the film does…but it doesn’t stop there sadly. This plot essentially takes up the first third of the film, but evolves into something else entirely, as the film takes a three-act structure and almost completely changes the focus of the plot: when Adam and Chloe’s relationship suffers because of having to broadcast everything, they are sued for ‘faking’ their relationship; leading to a compromise where a Vuvv moves in with them to try and experience ‘real’ family life that they have seen in Tv shows. Then after that, we get Adam’s arc as an artist come to the forefront, as the Vuvv want to exhibit and reproduce his art, again without any idea of what actually means in human culture. These ideas are good enough, but together in the same film, they form a mish-mash of ideas and themes that start and stop, without either the depth required to fully explore them, or a resolution before the film moves onto the next thing. Nothing really adds up; it’s just an exploration of the world and its themes that fails to progress towards anything. This culminates in the film just ending with nothing having been accomplished: nobody really learns anything, the world hasn’t changed for better or worse, it just…goes on, I suppose.
As mentioned, the film takes a satirical tone, poking fun at typical sci-fi concepts and how banal this alien conquest has been brought about not by conquest or military might, but by businesses and capitalism seeing an opportunity to make profit. The banality of this conquest seeps down into every facet of the film, with the characters muddling along with their daily lives, just with giant alien ships floating above them occasionally. It keeps a lighthearted and quirky tone throughout, but still has powerful moments that emphasise the situation humanity is now living under. For example, the opening scene concludes with Adam and Chloe’s teacher shooting and killing himself because his job has been taken over by Vuvv technology. Moments like this are powerful, but are quickly forgotten about as the film bounces along and whips up another mix of ideas and perspectives to try and congeal them into a structured critique.
The characters are a mixed bunch, but are mostly portrayed well. Nothing in the script really hits a strong emotional high, and as mentioned, it’s kept satirical and quirky, which hinders something a bit deeper developing without a tighter, cohesive story. Landscape with Invisible Hand has an understanding of it’s subject and what it wants to do, but that aim is often lost amidst it trying to do far too much, without brining unfinished ideas and relationships forward as the film progresses. As such, it is a jumble of ideas that occasionally hits the mark, but too often spreads itself too thin.
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#653 – Elysium (2013)
Elysium (2013)
Film review #653
Director: Neil Blomkamp
SYNOPSIS: In a future where the rich and wealthy have escaped an overpopulated and polluted earth to live on a luxurious space station orbiting the planet, Max da Costa is attempting to survive on the surface. When an accident at work leaves him exposed to lethal radiation and only a few days to live, Max decides to team up with an old criminal acquaintance to infiltrate Elysium and access the medical facilities there…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Elysium is a 2013 sci-fi film. Set in the year 2154, where the earth is overpopulated and polluted, Max Da Costa (Matt Damon) is exposed to lethal radiation at a job, and is given only a few days to live. With the only way to cure himself on board the space station Elysium, where the rich and powerful live in luxury, he teams up with a hacker and an old friend in order to find a way up there and cure himself. The plot of the film is, at its core, very predictable: all of the pieces and characters motives fit together and progress in the exact way you expect. Not entirely a bad thing, as it makes the film flow nicely, but you can’t help but feel there’s something more that could have been done with it. As it is though, it’s all fairly self-contained and entertaining enough, with the film being tied together with some strong action scenes and energetic fights. The concept of a divide between the poor on the planet and the rich in the space station above is a fairly simple one to grasp, and doesn’t need any real explanations to grasp it as the underpinning of the story.
If the film looks or seems familiar in any way, then perhaps you’re remembering the 2009 film District 9. This is not coincidental, as Neil Blomkamp directed both films, and clearly brings a shared vision of a ruined earth for both films. Even one of the villains in Elysium, Kruger, is played by the lead actor from District 9 (Sharlto Copley). The two are different films, but there’s a lot of similarities that inevitably draw comparison. Whereas District 9 dived deep into it’s themes and explore issues of discrimination amidst an alien invasion, Elysium really struggles to get it’s theme of extreme class divide in the same way. Even Blomkamp himself admits he didn’t get it across in the way he intended to. As mentioned, the film’s action and energy is decent, and the plot flows nicely; it’s just that any further depth into it’s themes never really grab the viewer’s attention.
The imagery of a dilapidated earth are rendered well, with plenty of dirt and grime that highlights the conditions on the planet. In contrast, Elysium has a more utopian aesthetic, combined with the more futuristic setting of the rotating space station. Max as a character feels deeply underdeveloped, as his only motive is to get to Elysium to cure himself, and lacks any other thoughts on what is going on around him. It makes sense, sure, that he is only focused on staying alive, but it does leave a hole at the centre of the film that ties the main character to the various machinations around him. Overall, Elysium is a perfectly serviceable action film with a clearly defined story and setting. In terms of bringing the themes behind the story. the film fails to do so in any meaningful way, and draws inevitable comparisons to the director’s former work, which did it much better in District 9. Not a bad film by any means, but clearly doesn’t fulfil the vision laid out for it.
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#652 – Color Out of Space (2019)
Color Out of Space (2019)
Film review #652
Director: Richard Stanley
SYNOPSIS: Nathan Gardner moves his family to a remote farm after his Wife’s cancer surgery. One night, a strange meteorite crashes near their home, exhibiting a strange colour. Over the coming days, the family begin to experience strange events that leave them bemused and suffering as their reality slowly unravels…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Color Out of Space is a 2019 film based on H.P. Lovecraft’s The Color Out of Space. Retold in a modern setting, the film follows Nathan Gardner (Nicholas Cage) moving his family to his late Father’s farm after his Wife’s successful surgery. A meteorite crashes near the house and starts to affect everything around it, leaving the family to try and survive the psychological nightmare they are in. As the minds of the family members unravel due to the warping of reality around them, we are subjected to a host of horrors and strange events, combining gruesome body horror reminiscent of The Thing with the psychological unravelling of the inhabitants of the house. With both of these themes swirling around, there is a lot going on in the film that assaults the senses from multiple directions. I did feel that the film didn’t really flow and progress in a natural way as reality slowly degraded, but you could argue that was the point. The film doesn’t really lead anywhere, and the characters are mostly left to be subjected to the meteorite’s bizarre influences, which again, you can argue is the point. The otherworldly use of colour is pretty cool at points, but I can’t help but feel it had a lot more potential in wrapping itself round the events that happen throughout.
Another thing which might either help or hinder your enjoyment of this film is the acting: the characters all have their own quibbles and quirks that come out when things get weird, but there’s no real character arcs to get stuck into. Nicholas Cage brings his typical unhinged acting into his role as his character slowly unravels, and you might find this distracting or appropriate considering the weirdness that’s going on. The family rarely act like a family given their disparate characters, and it doesn’t really come together on that point. There’s hints about the past of some of the characters and their trauma, but it’s never fleshed out or dealt with. The other characters, such as hydrologist Ward and squatter Ezra (Tommy Chong) are quite nebulous and only really serve exposition or an outsider narrative view.
There’s definitely an attempt put in to capture the weirdness and otherworldly aspect of a Lovecraft story. Color Out of Space does its own interpretation, blending psychological horror with physical gore that is made very well, and showed off just enough to capture the imagination. It is unsettling, and it aims to be unsettling, so I think it works in this respect. This does lead to a lack of coherence in the plot, as there’s little direction or progression, and the acting is all over the place. I personally found this very hard to get into, but appreciated some of the effects; it’s just a shame they didn’t cohere around a cleaner narrative.
