Metavoltron

So here's the thing about Zack Snyder... he makes over-the-top action films like "300" and the 2004 "Dawn of the Dead," but is probably more known for his DC universe Batman films. I forgot this fact going into the film and the thought "this sure seems aimed at 10-12 year olds" only increased as the show went on. But now that I know this is the type of film Snyder makes, I think it's a bit more forgivable than some of these atrocious reviews its getting. It's not Endor. It's not Foundation. It's a super flashy, often ill explained story, holes or questionable plot lines that at a certain point, you kinda just gotta let go and enjoy the fighting and spaceship sequences, and leave it at that. Not everything in this genre needs to be award-winning and I for one was highly entertained and am excited about Part 2. Grab some popcorn, throw logic out the window, and just be happy there's another big sci-fi movie available on a streaming service. Or don't, cuz the plot holes and unexplained victories and side stories of this ridiculous movie are hard to ignore, in which case I respect the 32/100 critics are giving it, but if you can take off those critic nerd glasses just for a bit, I think you'll enjoy this one.

Overall, this was a great movie to see in a theater. The Director Gareth Edwards, well known for "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," one of the best of the 11 films in that universe, really used his sci-fi and massive spaceship visual prowess to excel here. The film felt like a mix of the invading evil corporation RDA in "Avatar" and even a touch of several Vietnam war films, with the multi-nation setting here being “New Asia.” While its premise is that of artificial intelligence versus humanity (of course America equals the human, anti-AI power), it doesn’t really develop the characters with much depth, be it sentient AIs Alphie or Harun nor even Joshua, played by Denzel’s son John David Washington. Don’t get me wrong - The actors did a good job given a plot that somewhat just falls apart towards the end. It’s a standard plot with plenty of foreshadowing, peaks and valleys, and a climax, but it just felt a bit like too many producers got involved in making sure the last 20 minutes or so were epic and memorable. They were visually appealing and I love sci-fi, so this is getting a solid 7/10 in my book, but something just felt a bit off once I had counted at least 3 to 4 plot holes in the development of this the ethics of sentient AI vs. “let’s all good along” message being too easily and repeatedly shoved down the audience’s throat. Go see it, if for nothing else, the gargantuan scale of some of the war machines. I would love to see a sequel that goes further down the road of something more similar to Blade Runner or even the Cyberpunk 2077 game and its Night City setting.

This feels like the final project of a sophomore film student. Way, way too much blurred and over filtered scenes, almost no plot, yet some giant international incident that may or may not have happened. You don’t even see anything happen, it’s just a blurry mess and occasional shot of Ethan Hawke saying or doing something super serious. It’s so bad, Hawke had to do a prologue and epilogue about the film, at least on Hulu, to show his support of the director. Save yourself the 87 minutes.

"A Quiet Place" meets "Reign of Fire" but this time... velociraptor bats. Oh, and the girl from Mad Men. And Stanley mofo'n Tucci! It's getting ridiculous how Netflix is making movies purely based on focus groups and target audiences. This one is an unfortunate waste of time.

I can see where this movie might get its inspiration in stories/film like Cormac McCarthy's "The Road," in all of that grayscale, the-world-is-dying portraiture. But this is filmed so much in just one location with such little emotion, it feels like just one chapter of a concept. It feels like taking a luke warm bath as the water's starting to actually get cold. I wouldn't suggest wasting 96 minutes in a cold bath.

This is further proof Netflix is quickly becoming a better studio than most in Hollywood. I don't even like Sandra Bullock, but she's convincing in this. The horror genre is over-saturated with garbage, so it's refreshing to see a film like this even if it does feel a lot like "A Quite Place." They do a great job at making you feel the actual horrifying entity without truly showing it and that goes a long way, just like that damn river. I can understand some of the downvotes or "5"s for people that read the book, but people need to pull themselves out of their own experience when it comes to book adaptations and understand the overall audience of a film. I had to do this with "World War Z," which was drastically different from the book. Enjoy this film as it is. And close. your. eyes.