good setup, but rather bland plot development

Rating: 4/10 (9 July 2018)

While the movie starts off really nicely, and I enjoyed watching it throughout, I knew immediately when I'd watched it, that this isn't a movie I'm going to remember, or, for that matter, watch again.
It contains several beautiful scenes with good visuals and camera/lighting work. Also, it mimics some of that 1960s feel, coupled with the bizarre, futuristic science-fiction elements. This is the central element of what should make this movie memorable. And it does it well in setting it up.
However, when the plot gets going, it turns out to be all too familiar. The naive, goodhearted protagonist, decides to step up and help a poor creature, which has been captured by the evil antagonist.
The movie suffers from painting such a simplistic picture of the characters. As the plot is so basic, the movie needs to be carried by its characters. And where the protagonist is a goodhearted, socially isolated and awkward woman, the antagonist is a brutal, sadistic, sexistic, and patriotic american male, who despises the Russians.
There is a certain feeling of forced 'social justice' in the plot. The evil, white man is up against a group of kind-hearted minorities: two women -- one deaf and one black -- together with two men -- one gay and one Russian -- set out to save a strange, but good, amphibian creature. But this generic caricature isn't really interesting, challenging, or original.
And this makes the movie as such neither interesting, challenging, nor original.