Redeeming qualities, but disappointing

Rating: 6/10 (25 September 2012)

I'm a Joss Wheedon fan, so I had pretty high expectations for this - and it just didn't live up to them. For a John Carpenter movie, this'd be pretty much middle of the road, and for a Ewe Boll flick, this would be a masterpiece, but it's not really up to Joss's usual standards.
The single most disappointing part of the movie is the editing - much of the action is shown in dimly-lit, flash-cut closeups. The film editors, having seen all of the footage shot, know what's going on; they forget that the audience doesn't, and much of the action leaves the audience wondering what the heck just happened. This trend in cinematography is already longer-lived than it deserved; maybe Hollywood will get over the 'flash cuts cause excitement' nonsense and get back to telling the story, rather than manipulating the audience.
Other than that, there was a new twist on an old genre, some good fun, some mystery to solve, some characters you could care about, and an unusual ending. Worth seeing, but don't expect a masterpiece, and accept that there's action that you won't quite be able to see.