 If you were born some time before the year 2000, then chances are (unless you were still a baby), you might remember the whole big stink about the Y2K virus. To keep it real simple, it was the concept that computers, worldwide, would cease to operate properly, because old dating code, using two digits, could only go up to "99." So, when "00" flipped back over, it might be mistaken for 1900, and thus, potentially, things might crash, in more ways than one. It was a big deal that most rational people overlooked, but caused panic in others.
However, when midnight hit here in Southern Ontario, Canada, nothing happened, and it was easy to know nothing would happen, if it didn't happen in Australia several hours earlier. It was one of time's biggest pranks on humanity, and pretty silly to look back on and think about. But 'Y2K' here tries to answer the "what-if" question, had the Y2K virus been real. It does so in a comedic fashion that doesn't take itself seriously, which is great and all, but the overall execution here was honestly pretty brutal. As the film gets going, it plays out a bit more like your average teen comedy of the era, all too complete with call-backs to things from the late 90s that may be off by a year or two. We're introduced to teen best friends, Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny (Julian Dennison) who discuss what they wanna do for New Years Eve. At a store, the pair watch as Eli's crush, Laura (Rachel Zegler), and her friends swipe some alcohol for a party they're going to at Laura's boyfriend, "Soccer" Chris' (The Kid Laroi) house. Deciding to crash said party, Eli and Danny go, in the hopes that not only Eli might get his chance to kiss Laura at midnight, and that Danny can gain some popularity, which he somehow manages by dancing and signing along to Sisquo's 'Thong Song,' and it's pretty damn cringey. But just as things are looking up (for Danny, at least), midnight hits, the power goes out, and things go off the rails - not in a cool, badass, horror way, but in a stupid, juvenile, high school project way. Somehow, basically immediately, computers around Chris' house start getting super intelligent and running around killing the party people, panic ensues, and the viewer is left with the question of "how is that supposed to happen?" The film suggests computerized objects latching onto potentially more dangerous objects and assimilating. Think of wires coming out of some place on your PC and grabbing a lighter and a can of hairspray - it's gonna use it as a weapon (and this happens). But I guess one must remember that this is a comedy, too. The problem with this being a comedy is that it kinda just... isn't one. It seems that every time the movie tries to be funny, with the exception of maybe a faint snicker because things get so ridiculous, things just fall flat. The teen comedy side of it is just too typical (It's essentially 'Superbad' in the beginning), the horror isn't at all freaky, and the special effects here feel so much more from the late 80s, they look that cheesy. Oh, and I forgot the best part - Fred Durst shows up to play himself as if to desperately ask us "I still matter, right?" I generally like a good horror comedy, but this just didn't hit at all for me. It may end up being a bit more fun for anyone watching who was born after the turn of the century, but even that's a stretch. It came and went from theatres in the blink of an eye, and it's very easy to see why. This one isn't even really "throw-your-brain-out-the-window" fun, and there's wasted potential here. There are a few competitors for this title, but this might be the worst movie I saw in 2024. 1/5
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 As far as this Sony-verse goes, it's no secret at this point that the only movies in the handful of life-action superhero/supervillain adaptations worth a damn are the 'Venom' movies. While perhaps not necessarily THE story of Venom we all know and love, they did okay with what they had to work with, made it their own concept, and the character of Eddie Brock/Venom is a hell of a lot closer than he was in 'Spidey 3.' So, surely, noted as being the final 'Venom' movie, this should be going out with a bang, right?
I think there's a lot to this that fans will appreciate, but I also think that of the three, this was probably the weakest, when it should have been the strongest. It picks up from the stinger of 'Spider-Man: No Way Home,' in which Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) finds himself in the MCU, chatting with a bartender, only to be sent back to the Sony-verse, leaving behind a trace of Symbiote material (which is in the MCU's hands now). Back home, the pair are on the run after the events of the previous film, which killed off Det. Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham), leaves them the primary suspect. In an attempt to start a new life, however, Eddie and Venom decide to head to New York City. On the way, however, the pair are attacked by an alien creature known as a Xenophage, sent by Symbiote creator, Knull (Andy Serkis). Long ago, his Symbiotes overthrew him, and trapped him in a prison to prevent him from taking over the universe with his power. In order to get free of said prison, Knull sends these Xenophages to Earth to retrieve a Codex, which will be able to free him, and allow him to carry out his plans. The Codex is formed is a Symbiote's host dies, and the Symbiote is able to resurrect him, which we saw happen in the first film. As long as Venom is in full form over Eddie, the Codex acts like a beacon for the Xenophages, so throughout the film, Venom does a lot of hiding away. So now, they're not only on the run from a deadly alien creature, but the law as well. It gets even better, when Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) enters the picture, overseeing an operation called "Imperium", at (where else?) Area 51, in which the Symbiotes who have fallen to Earth get studied. While Strickland is very much of the mind that these Symbiotes have landed for some sort of alien invasion, researchers Dr. Teddy Payne (Juno Temple) and Sadie "Christmas" (Clark Backo) have different opinions, and resort to a whole "don't judge a book by its cover" side-plot when it comes to the Symbiotes. And I'm gonna go ahead and suggest that the B story here sort of takes a front seat to things. Everything going on in this lab is far more fascinating than Eddie/Venom just... running and hiding for the most part. Eddie/Venom still delivers when we see them together, although at times it gets a bit too silly. I mean, for the first time since 2007, I feel like we have a Symbiote who literally dances himself into humiliation, and it's pretty cringe-worthy. That said, there are a few just as solid scenes to this, like the Symbiote horse, and the pair finally saying "we are Venom!" before devouring a bunch of thugs like the "Lethal Protector" we all know and love. But it really does feel like they're on the run from a non-threat. While the Xenophages provide some stiff competition, Knull, himself, is one of the laziest-written villains I've eve seen in my life. If you've come to see Knull in all his glory, I'm afraid you're SOL, because he's barely here, and when he is, he's just sitting there with his head down, looking gothic. So just to be clear, first threat, Riot, second threat, Carnage, third threat (though admittedly tough), Xenophage, NOT Knull. Anyway, it's fine for a third film, but I'd say easily the weakest of the three, trying to do too much, and amounting to too little. And what's super curious about this being a supposed "finale" - there's a stinger! 2/5  When it comes to a variety of sub-genres, I tend to usually take things for what they are, and try to have fun with things while keeping an eye out for any sort of original ideas and/or concepts. It can be fun no matter how many times its repeated, like zombie horror, but it can also get really lame, really fast, and that (at least speaking for myself) is where the AI horror sub-genre fits for me these days. Films about how artificial intelligence will one day ultimately reveal the folly of mankind by becoming self-aware and, therefore, dangerous.
Interestingly enough, it probably should mean more to people now than ever before, but the sad, cold, hard truth of the matter is that a lot of this cautionary stuff is just too late. We use new tech to make our lives more convenient, including a fancy computer that was once used for actual phone calls, ironically called a "phone," plus our home computers, all with algorithms that are keeping track of our interests, so it can cater all those irritating ads we complain about to us. The real moral of any of these is to stay protected and safe, so please, Google how to do these things... using Firefox! This is a tale that's really no different, and therefore, lacks in any real scares or shocks. We all pretty much know how things will go down, we just don't know what the body count will be (if any). Here, a full home installation of an AI called "AIA" (Havana Rose Liu) comes to a family of five through the father/husband, Curtis' (John Cho) computer engineering company for testing, and as one would probably predict, things run pretty solid for the family until the AI gets a little out of hand. Among the problems the family faces that they ask AIA for include teenage Iris (Lukita Maxwell) having boyfriend problems; the younger Preston (Wyatt Lindner), who has an anxiety disorder, and bully trouble; and the youngest, Cal (Isaac Bae), who has a medical condition with his breathing. As it always goes with these movies, AIA basically ends up becoming a family hero, but soon begins to overwhelm them with how far "she" will go in order to help. When you get right down to things, almost anyone reading this has seen this same movie before in some way, shape or form. It's all just old news, and it's no real surprise that its theatrical run was barely even a thing, debuting and bombing hard at #9. Granted, all of the advertising wasn't there for this, but it kinda goes to show where peoples' invested interests aren't. Yours truly included. This also didn't exactly do well, critically, and it's one case in which I can mostly agree with them. About the only real thing I can give this movie is the idea of different AIs being helpful to their owners, ultimately resulting in a sort of accidental war between people. I might also venture to say that the film dares the viewer with the thought of having such a powerful AI working just for you. Would you use it to keep your house clean and study a new skill? Or would you use it to your full advantage, get all dark-side with it and smite your enemies?... well, not smite, but at least exact revenge of some sort. It's right up there with asking "what superpower do you want?" Other than a few interesting ideas and updates to the concept, there's not a whole hell of a lot else to say about it. The best way to describe the movie is a word like "fine." It's kinda bland, we've seen scarier AI movies, and it's yet another step in warning us about the dangers of AI that we're most definitely gonna ignore because, again, we're kinda too late. It's not quite at movie level yet, but make no mistake, it's there. I guess it's just a "me" thing, but it's just the kind of thing that doesn't freak me out... I mean, unless there's a real Terminator war one day. 2/5  I liked this entry to the series, but I do feel like 'A Quiet Place' is another name in movies in which nothing can quite live up to the original - a trait similarly held by series like 'Jurassic Park' and 'The Matrix'. That first film can totally stand on its own as a modern classic, and may even be historical in its own way, but from then on, it's largely a collection of cash-in projects. Thankfully, sometimes there's a bit more heart put into some, and it applies here (for me) as at least being better than the second, which felt almost too 'Walking Dead' at times.
It's also another movie that seems to have audiences incredibly split, which are the types of movies I love to review as, admittedly, nothing sways me one way or the other. In other words, I go into the film with neither high, nor low expectations, can (hopefully) enjoy the film for what it is, and, in my reviews, not sound like I'm picking a side to sound like either a "one-percenter" or the latest passenger of a popular bandwagon. So, without further adieu, let's get into this 'Quiet Place' prequel. Our protagonist here is Samira (Lupita Nyong'o), who kicks off the film with her understandable pessimism, as she's living in a hospice, stricken with terminal cancer, and her only joy in life is her service cat, Frodo (Nico... that's right, animals get credited too). Despite the way her life is, however, they make her pretty hard to like in the beginning. She's not terrible or anything, just a bit of a brat about things. That said, that's also part of what I liked about this movie; her development throughout. One day, one of the nurses, Reuben (Alex Wolff) convinces her to attend a marionette show in Manhattan, which was, in my opinion, a very well done scene that not only shows that Sam's not such a rough person to deal with, but if you really dig into it, it could be seen as largely symbolic for what's about to happen, be it to her with her terminal cancer or the more grounded fact that they're all about to be invaded by those sound-seeking alien creatures we've come to know from the last couple of movies. The film then picks up, and carries us through a lot of intensity as this invasion is going on. She soon meets Henri (Djimon Hounsou) who comes across as the guy in charge of a group who are meant to be hidden and quiet until someone can rescue them. Eventually this, of course, leads the now cooped up Sam to set out on her own for Harlem, along with her cat, and it's all survival horror/thriller/action from there. By the way, cat-lovers, just to be a jerk, I will not spoil Frodo's fate. It truly adds to the intensity of things, and that's what these films do best. I think if I have to end up giving one thing to all three of these movies across the board, it's that they provide a really good atmosphere of intensity and suspense. We never know when something's gonna happen, and when it's unexpected it's more satisfying for us horror fans. The whole concept of these movies, about having to stay quiet in order to survive is kind of a stroke of genius. Sure, the idea of surviving by being silent is nothing new, but I'm hard-pressed to think of that concept as a full-length feature before the first of these. My final thoughts on the film are nothing short of it adding to a solid series of good, suspenseful horror. Although I have my nitpicks about the second film, I'd say this is a solid series all the way through for the average viewer. I stick to my guns on the first one being more of a modern classic, and nothing that follows in the series will probably top it. But at least this didn't just get worse and worse as it went on. If you liked the first tqo, definitely give this one a shot as well. 4/5  For a while now, I have heard a lot of people talking about this movie saying things like "don't expect what you're used to" and "don't expect 'Fury Road' quality". As we know from my 'Fury Road' review, that one is, hands down my favourite chapter in the batch, so I went in expecting something a bit less, even though the character Furiosa was one of the best parts of 'Fury Road'. Sure enough, what I got was pretty much what I expected after doing a bit of a marathon of the previous films. This one is just executed a little differently.
Considering the fact that the film is called 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga', I can't say I'm entirely surprised that the film was divided into chapters, covering the origin story of Furiosa, including where she really came from, her relationship with Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) of 'Fury Road' villain fame, and of course, how she got to be just as bad ass as she was in the previous film. Here, however, Charlize Theron makes no appearance, and a younger Furiosa is played primarily by Anya Taylor-Joy, who, I gotta say, does a pretty great job here, showing more of her acting flexibility. It all starts when a group of raiders from the Biker Horde come across the Green Place of Many Mothers, capturing a young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) for their leader, Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), as a sort of disgusting prize, in that the girl is pure and "untouched." Her Mother, Mary (Charlee Fraser) makes an attempt to to rescue Furiosa from this guy, but ultimately fails, and her final act to her daughter is to give her a peach pit and sot of pass the torch along for Furiosa to one day find a new Green Place to start over. Dementus soon adopts the unwilling Furiosa as his daughter, whom he gives the name "Little D," in hopes that she will eventually lead him to this fabled Green Place. From here, Furiosa sort of just goes along for the ride as Dementus seeks power over the main hubs of essentials in the area, namely Gas Town (where all the fuel is held) and the Citadel (where all the water is held, and as seen in 'Fury Road'). When Furiosa reaches the Citadel, that's kind of whee we see things start to overlap, and from there, the story goes on with Furiosa's origin. I think for me, the biggest thing this movie actually has going for it is Chris Hemsworth's performance. I mean, as I watched the trailers for this, I would point out that it felt like Hemsworth was just playing Thor again without actually portraying Thor. But quite honestly, he was a fun villain to watch while never letting the viewer forget how brutal he could be. It's further interesting that they had him overshadow a guy like Immortan Joe; a man with many wives who wants a non-mutant kid, and will simply dispose of the mothers if a mutant is birthed. I think it was a "three strikes and you're out" deal. In the long run, the film is fine, and there's not much for me to really criticize, feeling that anything I would attack would be nothing but a nitpick on my part. For example, I do think the film runs a little longer than it needed to, and it tried too hard to play on something like 'Dune', trying to be more epic than it really needs to be. 'Mad Max' movies were no more than two hours and provided some fairly solid action-packed rides. This was more substance over style, and while that sounds like a great thing, it didn't feel so "Mad Maxish." Again, however, call it nit-picky on my part. There's really nothing at all wrong with this movie, and it does a good job with what it attempted as a stand-alone prequel. I could see watching this and 'Fury Road' back to back, and it being a solid time. As I've said before, these movies were never at the tippy-top of my list, so my opinion won't matter as much as a die-hard fan's would. But I can say that I still had a pretty good time with this, even though it has absolutely nothing on 'Fury Road'. 4/5  When it comes to establishing any sort of a timeline on these later "Apes" movies, those first three still make for a very solid stand-alone trilogy about Caesar's uprising and the birth of the Planet of the Apes, eventually connecting to the 1968 classic. 'Kingdom' takes place "many generations later," however, and is a new, stand-alone film that follows its predecessors' greatness and gives us a fourth damn near perfect movie in its series. The only other series of four I can think of to surprise me in such a way was 'Toy Story.'
I've mentioned this many times before in my 'Apes' reviews, but one of the things that makes these movies so good is that they simultaneously have you routing for the apes and the freedom of their society, while bringing in the question of being a human while this is going on, and remembering that humans have a tendency to do what it takes to survive and stay on top. This was mostly seen in 'War,' but it still plays a big role here, and unfolds nice and organically as these films tend to do. As these generations have passed, our former hero Caesar is now a martyr-type character who could probably be closely compared to Jesus, which gives us another thing to enjoy about the film. This isn't another 'Matrix'-like situation that gives us a bunch of Jesus symbolism with its main character so much as show us how ape society has eventually grown around the Jesus figure, complete with the fact that some follow his teachings the way they were meant to be followed, while some twist his teachings into something that suits them, much like any number of religious cults in our own past. As the apes have evolved, societies and clans have been formed, complete with their own traditions. Meanwhile, humans have become more feral, and it could be said that we've basically changed places. One such clan practices falconry, and introduces us to Noa (Owen Teague) and his friends Anaya (Travis Jeffery) and Soona (Lydia Peckham), all of whom are on a falcon egg hunt as part of their clan's coming-of-age tradition. This is all disrupted, however, by a human scavenger named Mae (Freya Allan) who breaks Noa's egg, sending him out to find a new one before morning. This is where Noa encounters a group of mask-wearing ape raiders lead by a gorilla named Sylva (Eka Darville) who, while Noa hides, head towards Noa's village with destruction and kidnapping in mind. Noa gets back to his village too late to save his clan, however, and sets out to find them, eventually running into an orangutan named Raka (Peter Macon), who very much represents the "true" Caesar follower, still believing in some things like humans and apes coexisting in peace. They are also eventually joined by Mae, who leads them to where they need to go, but has her own agenda in mind. Skipping ahead a bit more, they eventually find themselves under the watchful eye of an ape calling himself Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) who has enslaved several ape clans to work under his power on opening a man-made facility from generations ago. While Proximus is after what could be a massive supply of weaponry, Mae also points out her reasons for trying to get in there - reasons that may be able to establish human communication around the world again, as, much to the apes surprise, not all humans end up being so animalistic. Although this is still a very solid series, speaking personally, I might prefer the trilogy that came before this just a touch more. But it is cool to see them try to expand even more on the apes' societies and traditions, and we see things getting closer to the feel of the '68 film as well. And I very much like the idea of Caesar being the figure he becomes, which holds a mirror up to our own society and how a lot of us take religious teachings and bend them to our wills. These Ape movies keep coming up with interesting ideas to keep them going, and if they continue doing more with such quality, I'm all for it! 4/5  Hollywood has given us more than a fair share of crossover movies that include a "vs" in their title, including this particular franchise. But I have to give it up to the MonsterVerse here for not only having the big, epic wrestling match between two celebrity monsters, but also bringing them together as a tag team. I've said it before and I'll say it again; these movies just work better if you watch the monsters' story lines unfold as though it was something Vince McMahon dreamed up.
As far as this series has gone, it has been a fun ride so far. But considering how this movie unfolds, and the films that preceded it, this franchise kinda blew its wad already. Godzilla has already fought a good chunk of his big monster enemies, including the main event that was 'Godzilla vs Kong'. So for as cool as it is to see these guys team up, the truth of the matter is, the "villain" they go up against left a lot to be desired, and it sort of feels like things have taken a monstrous step backwards. But don't worry, this title doesn't come bereft of any solid monster-on-monster action. Picking things up three years after the last film took place (bringing us up to circa 2027 here), the concept of Hollow Earth has been revealed as fact, and Kong has been spending his time down there in search of more of his kind; Hollow Earth being the old home to many "Titans" or "MUTOs" (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms). Meanwhile, Godzilla stays on Earth's surface, fending off other big baddies like a giant crab named Scylla, and maintaining order between monsters and humans. These fights probably kill thousands in the process, but more on that later. A Monarch outpost within Hollow Earth picks up on a mysterious signal, which seems to be affecting Jia (Kaylee Hottle) on the surface with creepy dreams and hallucinations. Just to recap, Jia is the sole survivor of Skull Island's Iwi tribe after a natural disaster wiped them out. She lives with her adopted mother, Monarch researcher, Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) and is able to communicate with Kong, using sign language. Jia's visions begin to worry Ilene, so she begins to assemble a crew including Titan veterinarian, Trapper (Dan Stevens) and podcaster for the conspiracy-minded, Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry) to head to Hollow Earth to figure out what this signals all about. Godzilla soon begins to act almost irratic because of this signal, attempting to absorb all the radiation he can for whatever threat may be coming. Meanwhile, within Hollow Earth, Kong discovers a secret that suggest that he may have found the rest of his kind, with the help of a young ape who was probably put in the movie just for cutesiness, Suko. And yeah, Suko's cute and all, but he's also a bit of an asshole. Kong has to keep him in line quite a bit, and it's often pretty funny to see how it plays out. One paritcular fight scene had me laughing out loud, and it's something you'll know when you see it. What the signal ends up coming from, however, is fairly anticlimactic, and it leads us to the big baddie of the film, Skar King, another giant ape who uses a reptile-like Titan named Shimo as both a weapon and a mode of transportation. I have to admit that this irks me just a little bit, while other much cooler monsters are briefly glimpsed, but quickly tossed aside, like the aforementioned Scylla and another named Tiamat, who is essentially an underwater Chinese dragon and should have made for a much bigger adversary than it was presented as. Going back to what I mentioned about destruction probably killing thousands, I've said it before, but one should probably just treat it as the old game 'Rampage'. Destruction is just a part of it. Something like a superhero movie feels different in that they're "heroes" who come across as careless. Titans, on the other hand, are giant animals who act like giant animals, so to me, it's more forgiving here. This chapter was definitely not the best of the franchise, but I still had fun with it, and I have to appreciate that they kinda go all-out here with some of the silliness. It's no 'Godzilla vs. Kong' with a cool big reveal, but it's fine for what it is. 3/5  Here's an opportunity to talk a bit about how I feel about Sony and their "Spider-Verse". When it came to 'Venom' and 'Let There Be Carnage', they weren't great, but I enjoyed the execution of the titular characters. As for 'Morbius', it was just kinda "there" and ultimately forgettable. Nothing, however actually got completely under my skin until this, and even though none of the aforementioned titles were that good, this one takes the cake. All comic book/superhero universes combined, this is one of the worst modern titles I've seen yet.
Even upon hearing it was gonna be Sony's next project in their "Not-Spider-Man" line of 'Spider-Man' related films, I had to wonder who the hell was asking for it. The ONLY excuse I can think of is that they felt like they needed a hero to come in and battle all these villains Sony has been working on getting together. I'm no expert when it comes to the complete universe of 'Spider-Man', but I'm relatively sure that Madame Web is not nor has ever been a "main character" so much as a side character who's only ever popped up here and there. I seem to remember her being more of an old lady, as well, but I guess that's Hollywood for ya. We open in Peru, 1973, where explorers Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim) and his pregant partner, Constance Webb (Kerry Bishé) are in search of a rare spider that is said to have healing properties in its venom. Legend has it that the spider has given rise to a tribe in the area who have superior climbing and jumping abilities and... they're basically a tribe of "Spider-Men" who don't have web-shooters. Anyway, the spider is found, Ezekial betrays their exploration team and, in the process, leaves a dying Constance behind. The "Spider-Tribe" manages to save the baby, Cassandra, but (spoiler alert) Constance doesn't make it. Fast-forward to 2003, where Cassandra (Dakota Johnson) works as a paramedic, accompanied by work partners *sigh* Ben Parker (Adam Scott), who's actually married to a Mary Parker (Emma Roberts), and O'Neil (Mike Epps). During one particularly dangerous call, "Cassie" has a near-death experience, and to make a long story short, she discovers that she can see into the future, giving her the ability to hopefully prevent future tragedy. Meanwhile, Ezekiel has developed limited precognition (among other Spider-Man related abilities including the ability to make his own Spider-suit that may get butts into theatre seast with a trailer). Ezekiel's precogntion leads him to believe that three teenage girls, Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), and Mattie Franklin (Celeste O'Connor). would one day kill him, and his motivation through the film is as simple as "get to them before they get to him." The rest of it is essentally an escort mission movie involving Cassie protecting the teenagers from Ezekiel's constant attacks dressed as a dark Spider-Man. Alhough, I will be somewhat fair in that Ezekiel Sims' character does have similar abilities to Spidey in the comics, and each of the teenagers are representing different "Spider-Women" from the comics. So, I think I see what they were going for. Usually, if I do a little bit of homework on these characters, I can find things the movie did that were "right", so to speak, but I have to say right off the bat that if you came to see these "Spider-Women" do their thing, you get a grand total of maybe about 30 seconds of action and most of the movie is just a guy who looks like a dark Spider-Man chasing the group around while Madame Web uses her abilities to protect them. At the end of the day, it's too many characters with nothing much happening, a bunch of easy-to-call cliches, and really bad dialogue including the line "If you accept the responsibility, the power will come" and if you know anything about 'Spider-Man', you know what line that is trying to be. I'm genuinely curious to see where Sony goes from here, but it's not like with other properties that might have me excited for their futures. This is almost more like watching a very slow trainwreck happen, and it's baffling to me that Sony's animated 'Spider-Verse' movies with Miles Morales are so good while these live action flicks just keep failing harder and harder every time. If that's not enough, this comes from the writers of the hard fail that was 'Morbius', and directed by S.J. Clarkson, who was at the helm of 'Jessica Jones' and 'The Defenders', so this is about the level of quality we're looking at here. 1/5  If you'll forgive the pun, this one has been sort of floating under the radar this January. Despite it being a wide release, it debuted at #7 in the American Box Office, and the following week got bumped off the Top 10 to #12. So it has not been doing well. That being said, I have to say that on the whole, this isn't really a bad film. I think to some degree we are pretty brainwashed into taking January releases for granted, because for the most part, this is a movie that plays on paranoia and antitrust quite well and provides a solid thriller for the start of the year.
But don't get the wrong idea here either. The film is far from perfect, and if you don't like loose or open endings, you're definitely not gonna like where this goes with things. On top of that, I'm almost 100% certain that if a real astronaut were to watch this, they'd be able to point out flaw after flaw after flaw. Heck, I don't know a whole lot about how things work in space, and even I was questioning some validity to some of the stuff I saw. But if you're able to get past all of that and just treat it as a suspense thriller for entertainment purposes, I think it does a decent job. We are introduced to a group of three NASA astronauts, including our lead, Kira Foster (Ariana DeBose), Christian Campbell (John Gallagher Jr.) and Commander Gordon Barrett (Chris Messina), and three Russian Cosmonauts, Weronika Vetrov (Masha Mashkova) and brothers, Nicholai (Costa Ronin) and Alexy Pulov (Pilou Asbæk). Kira, being new to the group, sort of plays the audience here as she's introduced to life on the International Space Station where she not only has to deal with adapting to things like 0-gravity sleeping conditions, but also has to deal with a bit of a language barrier with the Russians. All in all, however, things go pretty well on board the I.S.S. The group gets along despite their cultural differences, and as they view the humbling beauty of Earth from way up high, there's a pretty nice moment in which it's discussed that despite their many differences down on Earth, up on the I.S.S., none of that matters. They don't have to bring their on-planet issues up there, where they can give real meaning to the term "teamwork". But while that all sounds very nice, we are here to watch a suspense thriller, so of course, we know some things aren't meant to last. One day (if that means anything in space) while working away, the crew of the I.S.S. witnesses a massive nuclear holocaust take place on Earth. While communications aboard the I.S.S. fail when trying to get in touch with Earth, both the Americans and Russians receive word that war has broken out on Earth, and further instructions take the I.S.S. by any means necessary. To make matters worse, they are hovering too close to Earth and need Earth's assistance for course correction, or else plummet towards the planet. So there's quite a bit going on here to make the tension rise. As far as I'm concerned, this is a movie that pretty much nails the suspense-factor, and even plays on the general fear of the overall emptiness and soundlessness of space. For a good first half of the movie, it's really quite good. But it's not really to last. The film does admittedly get to a point of near silliness after a while, and all the tension that was making it good to begin with kind of flies out the window. It doesn't do any of it with any amount of humour either, so it does feel like a movie that takes itself more seriously than it probably should. This is a movie that I really wanted to check out based on the trailer alone. I love me a good suspense movie that takes place in space, so it felt kind of up my alley. It worked, for the most part, and I could even give some of the silliness a bit of leeway, but the fact of the matter is that the ending leaves far too many unanswered questions. I usually like open-ended movies, but this was just too much. It's fine and passable as a decent suspense movie to stream some dreary evening, but even the shots of space aren't enough to make it worth the price of admission. While I stll think it might be a bit overcriticised, It's still just... fine. 3/5 |
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