Trite Script

Rating: 3/10 (20 May 2014)

I gave this movie 1 to balance all the ridiculously high scores, that it has received. In reality I guess I could give it a 4 for some of the visuals. I think, that the director did the best he could, with an awful script. His low budget film, "Monsters" was much better, with much more tension and characterization. When they give you a whole heap of money to do a "Blockbuster", you can bet there are a whole lot of strings attached, by a gang of suits fretting over their investment. For me, this film lowers Garth Edwards' reputation, rather than raising it. Of course, the studio knows, that there are legions of gullible people, or teenagers with nothing to do, who will fill the theatres, for a "Name Brand" product like this, so they'll make money, even if the film is basically devoid of a great story, or human empathy. The only two good actors in the movie are killed off in the first twenty minutes, leaving the film to fly on auto-pilot. The Title character is only on the screen, for about 15 minutes, out of 2 and 1/2 hours. After the good actors die, it seems, that there is mostly a lot of genre filler, until the last 20 minutes. This movie reminds me of the abysmal "Battleship" plot-wise, although Edwards gives us some better visuals, showing his flare for style. I hope he goes back to lower budget movies, where he has more control over his product.