Biggest marketing hoax of 2015

Rating: 5/10 (20 December 2015)

A simple benchmark for judging the merits of "the film of the year" is to ask yourself this question: if this film did not have almost 40 years of nostalgia-filled cultural context and cult following, would it be acclaimed as a cinematic masterpiece on its own merits? The answer is an obvious and resounding no. It has a vacuous and incoherent narrative arc, its characters are all tired old cultist clichés, the degree of repetitive "oh no, they are going to die" followed immediately by "phew, they escaped" is tiresome and the denouement or nearest thing to a climax offered by the film is straight out of the C-Grade sci-fi bottom drawer. Of course, if the question is: does this film have marvelous visual effects, then the answer is a qualified yes. Very good, but does not cut new ground. As the 16 year old in front me for the quick exit said "could have made a better film myself".