Make it stop right now ... you're not going to are you?

Rating: 3/10 (21 June 2001)

Well, that was a waste of £2.75.
Fans of my previous comments will note that i've not really had too much luck with films of late. They've all been complete crud and this is NO exception.
**** POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT ****
Let's start with what's cool in the film. Very little.

1) The concept of the tertiary star system with the planet they're stuck on in the la grange point between the stars. (basically the point of gravitational balance so that the stars and other planets can orbit around it. certainly feasable as far as my knowledge of physics allows).
2) The enhanced seeing ability of the "prisoner" character, which also serves as a plot device later.
3) The aliens themselves. Although I look at this film and then the film "Aliens" and go "rip off, rip off!", at least they seem to act like ordinary unintelligent animals which makes a damn good change. Their POV shots so we see what they see are also pretty cool too.
4) Our "baddie" character who through the magic of role reversal is also a "goodie", has very very cool eyes. Don't believe me? Check out his POV camera shots.
5) The "bleach bypass" used on the film negatives gives a very very interesting look to the film and helps add realism to the tertiary star system concept.
The rest is crap.
Seriously. The rest is total rubbish. The start of the film although with impressive CGI rings hollow and the rest of the film does too. I watched the first 40 mins or so and I was BORED. I just didn't care two hoots about the characters.
They spend 30 minutes or more going on about what a bad character our "hero" is. Great. Now show me. Oh, you're not going to are you? Right, now the suspense behind him is completely shot before you even see him in action. Just because the other characters are afraid doesn't mean we are because we haven't seen what he's supposedly done. Put up or shut up. Preferably shut up.
Now it should be pointed out that David Twohy obviously doesn't know how or where to point the camera. There are a couple of interesting shots which are great if we were watching a pure suspense film. We are not however. There are scenes where I was left almost dizzy and not knowing what is going on because of the camera blur.
Because of this, the story just doesn't ring true. There seem to be shots and lens effects used simply for the sake of the "oh, doesn't it look cool?" trap i've seen many filmmakers get into. (including myself).
I'd like to have known what the original script was like. David Twohy is on record as stating he took the original script and re-wrote it in his own image. This to me is arrogance of the highest order. Didn't anyone else get to read it first? There was probably nothing wrong with it in the first place. As a result, some of th ... no, most of the damn dialogue is incredibly stilted and unbelievable.
There were good moments, but not many. This film tried to be too many concepts at once and failed miserably at every one of them.
So, to sum up. Don't pay money to see this. Ever. If a friend has made the mistake of renting it then watch it if only so you can laugh behind his/her back later. Cruel, but true. I wasted £2.75 on this rental.
Stop David Twohy before he ruins another script and/or film.