I've never written a review, but felt compelled to do so after reading some of the 1 star reviews here.
This is no Citizen Kane or Matrix. It's never going to deserve a perfect 10. But it also doesn't deserve one star. To all the people giving it the lowest possible score because of the 'annoying children', I have a message for you: as a parent, I can 100% confirm that their reactions were accurate and well scripted. All the screaming. Totally realistic. The 'poor decision making'? Yup, would totally happen too. I'm sick of how binary reviews have become... didn't enjoy the movie? Worst movie ever. Seriously, get a grip.
Anyway, here's my review (trying my hardest to avoid spoilers, unlike some people here):
Things this movie didn't do well for me: first, the 'visions' were over too soon. We needed another 5-10 minutes of that. It felt too quick and rushed in. Second, when the reveal comes, we needed more of the backstory... at least another couple of minutes. It all made sense, but it really warranted some additional background, particularly regarding the evacuation. Third, right at the end, the scene in the train was super rushed. The CGI as it went into the mountain was distractingly poor, so they could have spent a little more time on that one... would also be a super simple re-edit if they're thinking of making tweaks to the movie. Finally, I was left a bit unsatisfied that yet another movie with a grand theme such as extinction failed to zoom out and show the bigger picture. This is a pretty big world, and yet we're zoomed in on one area of one city... I really wanted more context.
What worked well: first, the action was really good, definitely had me sitting up at points. The stress of trying to save the kids and the wife at the same time felt real, I really empathised with the protagonist and thought they nailed some of that. Second, the premise for the movie was genuinely brilliant. There's a story here that they're barely scratching the surface of, and I'm not sure I've seen it told this way before, so some marks out of ten for originality of plot. Finally, the twist... you can feel it coming from the very first scene of the movie, and it's slowly drip fed to you... you kinda feel like you know what it is, which is why I found the reveal so satisfying, because it really does take you by surprise.
Anyway, that's my tuppence, thanks for reading ;)
This is no Citizen Kane or Matrix. It's never going to deserve a perfect 10. But it also doesn't deserve one star. To all the people giving it the lowest possible score because of the 'annoying children', I have a message for you: as a parent, I can 100% confirm that their reactions were accurate and well scripted. All the screaming. Totally realistic. The 'poor decision making'? Yup, would totally happen too. I'm sick of how binary reviews have become... didn't enjoy the movie? Worst movie ever. Seriously, get a grip.
Anyway, here's my review (trying my hardest to avoid spoilers, unlike some people here):
Things this movie didn't do well for me: first, the 'visions' were over too soon. We needed another 5-10 minutes of that. It felt too quick and rushed in. Second, when the reveal comes, we needed more of the backstory... at least another couple of minutes. It all made sense, but it really warranted some additional background, particularly regarding the evacuation. Third, right at the end, the scene in the train was super rushed. The CGI as it went into the mountain was distractingly poor, so they could have spent a little more time on that one... would also be a super simple re-edit if they're thinking of making tweaks to the movie. Finally, I was left a bit unsatisfied that yet another movie with a grand theme such as extinction failed to zoom out and show the bigger picture. This is a pretty big world, and yet we're zoomed in on one area of one city... I really wanted more context.
What worked well: first, the action was really good, definitely had me sitting up at points. The stress of trying to save the kids and the wife at the same time felt real, I really empathised with the protagonist and thought they nailed some of that. Second, the premise for the movie was genuinely brilliant. There's a story here that they're barely scratching the surface of, and I'm not sure I've seen it told this way before, so some marks out of ten for originality of plot. Finally, the twist... you can feel it coming from the very first scene of the movie, and it's slowly drip fed to you... you kinda feel like you know what it is, which is why I found the reveal so satisfying, because it really does take you by surprise.
Anyway, that's my tuppence, thanks for reading ;)