Rim of the World

Rim of the World is a Netflix movie in the same kid adventures vein as Monster Squad and The Goonies. It'd about three oddball kids at a summer camp and another one they meet. An alien invasion hits, and the kids end up trying to get a military data device to the authorities. I rather liked this one. The film is fairly amusing, and the four leads are pretty likable. The kids all have the same ol' worn trope of hidden, personal struggles, but the screenwriter seems to realize this and makes sure not to spend too much time on it. Cinematography consists of good lighting and some nice southern California scenery. There is some glaringly uncomfortable sterotypical black guy dialogue as only written by a white man. The romance is forced. The movie doesn't really seem to know how juvenile or mature it is supposed to be. Overall, I found this to be light fare. Not much of substance, but the movie is just having fun.

I thought it was great fun. As an adult, sure there were plot holes and goofs. However the monster was pretty good, and it actually made me laugh out loud several times. As I remember Goonies made me feel about the same way. So people can trash it if they want I think it has some staying power with the teen set.

This is a very high quality production, a lot of effort has been put into it. So as you’d expect from a high quality production it lacks the charm and originality of lower budget films but it has excellent cinematography, sound design, special effects, acting etc. There are some moments that aren’t ‘perfect’ like a car smashing into the ground looking a bit fake. The real issues are down to the production decisions. Much as the actors are good, the characters are pretty annoying but then again they are that special entertaining level of annoying. The story is fairly repetitive and predictable. The choice of doing all the action in long-takes takes away from the excitement, long-takes work well to build drama, not to make it more exciting so they come across as pretentious ‘look at us and what we can do’ moments. It is literally the same jokes in every other Hollywood film when they are doing action and trying to be funny. When the film is having fun and doing it differently it is far more entertaining but there isn’t enough of it. It’s certainly not bad but it is flawed. I loved how out-of-date the celebration references were only 5 years after release. At least it’s better than Super 8 (2011) and Independence Day (1996).

The idea is fun on paper: kids stuck at a summer camp when everything goes to hell and, suddenly, they have to step up. The problem is the movie stays at the idea and stops there. It wants to be an ’80s adventure, it wants to be a coming-of-age story, it wants to be light sci-fi… but in the end it doesn’t really click as any of **** script is pretty cheap, the kind that keeps moving by throwing in situations just because, with dialogue that feels like a template and choices you don’t buy even if you try. And when a story depends so much on you playing along, that hurts **** kids don’t help much either. They’re not terrible, but they lack charisma and naturalness, and in a movie like this you need the group to be likable almost automatically. Here, sometimes, they feel like they’re ticking boxes instead of living the **** the technical side it doesn’t take off: jittery editing, lots of noise, and a constant feeling that it wants to look bigger than it actually is. There are entertaining moments, sure, and if you watch it with low expectations it can pass the time… but it leaves you pretty cold.What’s most frustrating is that with a bit more care it could have been a genuinely fun little movie. Instead, it ends up as a “product” with no spark, no emotion, and none of that imagination that would make you remember it tomorrow.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This movie simply didn't know what it wanted to be. Part "stranger things", part "terminator", part "independence day", but failing to capture any of these themes. The four main characters are all stereotypes that we've seen a million times in other, better movies. Very racist undertones as well, although in fairness the movie was equally racist towards the black, white and asian characters. Best avoided.

I don't really know what this disaster wanted to be. To be honest I don't know how McG still gets to make films.