not good at all

Rating: 3/10 (14 November 1999)

This is nothing but a (very) slight update of a hack "Twilight Zone" or "Star Trek" type premise, barely suitable for tv, much less a feature-length motion picture. It wants to be a psychological study masquerading as a thriller, but it fails on both counts. As a thriller, it's far too predictable (did anyone watching this, when the mentally handicapped boy very first showed up, not think that he would end up having math skills that would help save the day? Talk about a cliched "twist"!), and as a psych study, it does nothing but establish cliched types that are moved around like chess pieces by a beginning player. The acting is stagey and overdone (except for Hewlett, who does a nice job), and the script is ok at best. The film looks good, but that certainly isn't enough to recommend it.