Make It Stop!!!! Make It Stop!!!!

Rating: 3/10 (16 February 2012)

Watched this on TV the other night with anticipation & I wasn't disappointed - well, for the first hour or so anyway!!! I loved the start - very strong, full of enigma & filling me with intrigue about what would happen next. I watched the opening scenes with relish assuming that I would get a half-decent explanation of why Lucinda could hear the voices & was chosen to transmit the number sequence that predicted forthcoming major disasters (didn't predict this movie though!!!).
It all seemed to go horribly wrong when they shifted forward 50 years where the numbers are unearthed at a school ceremony.
Firstly, I seemed a bit bemused by Calem's hearing problems - he can hear but things get mixed up - so what the heck was the point of the hearing aid then if he could actually hear?! Secondly, when Nic Cage starts to look at the numbers - a very long string of unbroken numbers yet it only seemed to take him seconds to spot the 9/11 reference. I found it very hard to believe that he worked out what the numbers referred to so very easily?! I realise his character is hardly Captain Stupid but c'mon, really?! Also, for someone who seemed to be highly sceptical of such phenomena Nic Cage got swept along with it all a little too easily & quickly.
Rose Byrne (who played Diana) seemed to be good to start with but she really grated on my nerves when the hysteria kicked in - way too much screeching - surely it would've been much more chilling if she'd have kept things a little more hidden. I felt absolutely nothing but sheer relief when she didn't make it!
Then all of a sudden the aliens/angels make an appearance seemingly out of the blue - no real explanation is given as to who they are, why they have chosen those two particular children to carry on humanity elsewhere or why Lucinda was originally chosen 50 years prior.
The special FX used in the film were pretty shoddy given the spectacular effects that they could've used. Apparently the film was completed in only 3 months & it shows, a lot!!! Very disappointing ending - Nic Cage seemed to be very unaffected (apart from the few howls of unconvincing emotional pain he gives) by the fact that his only son is about to be transported to God knows where!!! His son also seems to just give into the idea far too quickly as well.
This film could've had so much going for it - plenty of room for originality & imagination but it just seemed to get more far-fetched as the minutes rolled by.