Parallels

Plot synopsis:
Ronan and Beatrix each receive a message from their father, Alex, who requests they meet him. Curious, they separately converge at their father's house, where they find him missing, though Ronan recovers a strange, ball-shaped device. When Harry, Beatrix's friend, arrives, he joins them in their attempts to locate their father despite Ronan's dislike for him. Harry, a public defender, suggests that they contact the police. However, Captain Stone can offer little help to them, as they have no evidence of wrongdoing. He directs them to the building Alex described and tells them that it is abandoned.
The three find the building empty and covered in graffiti that describes alternate timelines and histories. Initially dismissive of the seemingly nonsensical graffiti, they discover that the building has transported them to an alternate Earth devastated by nuclear blasts. When they see a roving patrol shoot down pedestrians, they flee back into the building, where they meet Polly. Polly, a traveler between worlds, explains that the building transports anyone within it to a new, random world if they return to it in exactly 36 hours. In hostile worlds such as the one in which they currently reside, she suggests that they stay inside the building and not interact with the locals. The group sleeps to pass the time.
They are woken by an armed patrol, who take them to meet the leader of the local settlement. Polly takes charge and convinces him that they are merely confused travelers. Recognizing Captain Stone as their leader, Harry thanks him for his help. Stone, suddenly distrustful of outsiders who know both his name and former occupation, takes them hostage and orders Tinker, the local surgeon and gadget-man, to interrogate them. Tinker shows them footage of a terrorist attack via suitcase nuke, and Ronan and Beatrix are horrified to recognize their father as the perpetrator.
Ronan breaks free, knocks Tinker unconscious and frees the others. Desperate for revenge against Alex, Tinker sets off with his own suitcase nuke to destroy the building. The group returns to the building just in time to escape the blast and transport to the next world, though they do not know that Tinker transports with them. This world is technologically advanced, and the group splits up to learn more about both it and Alex. Ronan and Polly explore Alex's house, which turns out to be empty. Ronan reveals that he blames himself for his mother's death, and Polly seems confused when he jokingly quotes slang from her world back to her. Ronan shows her the device he found earlier, and she says that it could only be from the "core world" where the building was constructed. They flee the house when they find a hidden warning and a team of assassins attack them.
Beatrix and Harry discover, that in this world he is a wealthy and corrupt corporate lawyer. They hack into his computer and learn that this world's Alex was killed in an accident and Ronan apparently never existed. Harry sends evidence of his double's wrongdoing to the media, and they return to the building, where they find that Tinker has apparently taken Ronan and Polly hostage. Beatrix threatens to kill Tinker, but Ronan convinces her to allow Tinker to use an invention that hacks into the building. Impressed with the device, Alex reveals himself after stepping out from a secure elevator. Alex directs Tinker to the top floor of the building, where he says Tinker will find answers.
Once Tinker leaves, Alex tells his children that he and their mother were not born on what they perceived as their home world. Tinker returns from the elevator, yelling to them not to trust Alex, and Alex shoots and kills Tinker. Alex leaves the building after telling Ronan and Beatrix that they must find their mother, who they insist is dead, in order to return to the core world. After the building transports them once again, three different versions of Polly convene in secret and two of them play rock-paper-scissors to presumably determine who will accompany the rest of the group into the next world.

Tags: alternate reality, mystery

Review:
Meant to be a pilot for an entire series, the "movie" so prematurely ended that not even a single mystery was explained.
I'm guessing that FOX, once again, gave the axe to a promising series, but enough was filmed that someone just said, "screw it, make it a movie." The pilot is really really good.
Well, I guess the pilot episode was turned into a movie and of course it has no closure, it just ends.
Obviously the ending is a massive cliffhanger and after reading other reviews and googling it's clear this was meant to be a series.Well it would be great if this were picked up as an ongoing series but there is another way to complete this if that isn't an option for the creators.
I was very let down to find it wasn't a pilot--I actually thought I was watching a pilot all the way up until my Google searching after the 'show.' Sad. I hope they continue this idea...if they don't I think the movie should have been written differently.
In contrary to many other TV-series (I suppose this is a pilot of a series?) I think that "Parallels" must have been made by people that really like what they do.
If you have managed to find your way to this review then you already know that this film is not really a film, it is more of a indie production tied to Netflix, intended for a series, possibly orphaned, maybe not, no one knows as this review is penned.It is hard to review "orphaned" pilots which dead-end.
That is a given.That said, I liked it.I liked it because it belongs to what I consider the "dirty" sci-fi genre, that is, sci fi produced on such a barebones budget that all the money goes into the human elements while the sets (even in the Earth that never experienced the nuke!) look like they need Molly Maid.In "dirty" sci fi, the actors are unknowns (which by no means suggests that they are bad) and the FX are minimal, and every now and then you get a scene where you swear that someone ad-libbed a line and they left it in anyway because that was cheaper than re-shooting.Again, I liked it.
It is a refreshing change from the "perfection" you tend to see these days in mainstream TV sci-fi, especially the stuff from Canada, where (they say) getting the lighting wrong when setting a scene is a hanging crime.In many ways it reminds me of the British series Utopia (not the US knockoff) where interesting characters and good performances drove the show.Watching, I made a mental note to myself that, if I ever end up in a hub to parallel universes, I would welcome a cute Asian chick popping out of a closet, with a lot of 'tude, and who generally acts like she read the script to the end and already knows how things are supposed to turn out.Just sayin..
It is an insult to sci-fi fans, an insult to people who like comic books, art of any kind, intelligent conversation, good TV, decent movies, and anything ever created by human kind that had a modicum of talent or thought invested in it.
You may not believe that man has evolved from apes, readers, but believe me when I tell you that we would all be better off picking fleas from each other's pelts than watching this film.*** Edit June 8, 2015*** A great sci-fi movie is difficult to create.
As it is I didn't care enough to want to know.This is typical TV for those with short attention spans - glib explanations of the 'sci-fi' in order to move the story along quickly without anyone taking care to develop the background to the characters, the story or the science fiction behind it.But, hang on, this is a movie, not a TV series, so you have a captive audience, so don't treat it like TV, please.
Nearly zero character depth, and the ending seemed to me an unrealistic hope for a sequel - no thanks.Thank goodness it's only an hour or so.The film opens up more unanswered questions as it goes along, based on a very uninteresting situation of dad leaves a voicemail.
An underground MMA fighter must confront his sister and his past in an adventure through parallel universes.Apparently this was supposed to be a television series, but was not picked up, so then got turned into a film.
Everyone compares it to "Sliders", and that is a fair comparison, but it also has a different feel to it, especially given that the central character here is actually a building.At one point someone mentions an "earth so perfect it is basically heaven", which calls to mind Leibniz and his idea of the "best of all possible worlds".
i.e. Extraordinary events led to a ...nuclear war but still, your mama and your papa existed and they met, and they had sex exactly the same time, where 1 out of half a billion of spermatozoids of your father merged with that specific ovum to create ..."you", looking exactly the same except a different ...haircut.Such an incomplete and full of holes idea can't lead to anything else but an incomplete and full of holes movie.And Parallels is exactly that.
I do feel it's a bit of a rip off from Sliders but it's well filmed, interesting characters (if again predictable), and I was keen to find out more, see what the next world looked like etc.
All it does it frustrate the viewer and say...hey look what might have been a good sci fi series.Netflix, buy it out and put a little money behind continuing this please!I credit indie sci fi a lot but this received a low mark from me as I cannot stand unexplained endings to movies, I am guessing that is the reason why others marked it so low, because otherwise, there is nothing wrong with it..
Strange building jumps between parallel universes, brother and sister on a quest to find out how their family is involved, got to get to the core world, etc etc Premise is right up my street and if I was pitched that as a TV Show, I couldn't give it the green light fast enough.
If you watch this movie in the hopes of seeing a good standalone you will be disappointed in the results, however with the idea in mind that there is/was meant to be more (who knows where Fox will go with this) the "pilot" would definitely keep you interested in the upcoming series.
Since this is currently the only part of the potentially series available it is a bit open ended and if you are not looking for that kind of movie wait until another piece or two is released.
The concept is intriguing and allows for an infinite amount of stories to be formed throughout a series, and I personally hope that Fox decides to make this into a series instead of there initial decision to make only this movie..
Overall, this movie doesn't really end and is irritating in a good way in that it presented a promise of how fantastic this series could have been..
I never watch series, and it never came to my mind that this was supposed to be a pilot film.
Pilot here intrigues, tempts and sets the scene to leave you wanting more.Comes in under the radar, no over promising, a great grabbing plot line, great ending that leaves you wondering and filling the gaps in your mind and wanting to know more.
The Earths vary from minor differences to major differences and all they want to do is find their father and get back home.The movie starts off great and has some serious promise as they mysteriously end up in another Earth.
Make the sequel........Recommend to everyone with a pulse the plot is fantastic and keeps you on the edge of your seat with anticipation wondering what's going to happen next and what is the next parallel world is going to be, what it is going to look like, what was going to happen when they got there.
Sliders would show up anywhere on the parallel earth, but in this movie, the building travels with people inside.
Instead of having people go into a gate or hole like sliders and cannot get home, there is a purpose why the characters are going into the building in this movie.
allot of unanswered questions, makes you want to watch more, but the movie ended abruptly with them on a different earth.
There wasn't much in terms of background story, which leaves the plot line open somewhat, and it's short, so you don't get much further plot development before it ends.The characters were mostly bland at times, and I didn't feel much of a connection between the main group and their comradeship.
I don't want to give away plot points here (because not much happens in the film), but he makes the rest of the actors seem like rookies.
There is a lot of potential here, and I hope Fox pushes for a series, or at least more in terms of writing and character development, but it's a great first entry from Christopher Leone.This is a hell of a season opener, but not much in terms of great sci-fi cinema.6/10.
This is obviously made as a pilot for a TV-series, and it is a good one at that.It's about two siblings and their friend getting a strange message from their (since a while absent) father, telling them to meet him at an address in downtown New York.
Parallels is a "pilot programme" which didn't become a TV series, and instead of that, it ended up being released as a film.
So, the story ends exactly when it was starting to get more compelling, leaving us with the frustration of an interesting mystery without an answer, because it was originally intended to be developed through various episodes...
Like its title suggests, Parallels follows a group of youngsters in their multi- dimensional adventures, which start when they discover a mysterious building which has the power to transport them to alternate versions of the Earth, in which historical events followed different roads, sometimes with positive, and other times catastrophic, events.
meaning there would be like millions of Ronans' and others in the building.Overall it was a pretty good movie, I like how a lot of it was well thought out.
First, let me reiterate what everyone is thinking who has watched this all the way through -- choosing to turn this from a TV series pilot to a movie is both a disservice to the viewer and to the people who made this show.
I feel cheated after watching this, the acting wasn't the best and it had poor character development, however putting that aside it was half watchable as the premise was good, I considered turning it off halfway through but I pushed on as I wanted to find out how it ended!
I should have listened to my gut instinct though because as I subsequently found out and as other reviewers have stated it was originally intended as a pilot for a TV series that got rejected and some studio exec somewhere thought they'd try and recoup some money back by releasing it as a film, and for that reason this so called film has no ending at all, it simply created more questions than it answered and left me very dissatisfied and annoyed, It's like reading the first 30 pages of a novel only to find the rest of the pages are all blank.
The energy series like this put into developing the "mystery" can be tedious, but this pilot seemed to be more interested in portraying parallel personalities and their relationships, usually humorously.
More importantly, it will give hope to many other upcoming artists to try things that are at least this ambitious.Overall, a very good movie that emphasizes how rushed and hectic modern life is, by pacing itself in a varied way: drawing out the mundane, and rushing over the interesting, just as real-life does, unless we take exceptional steps to emphasize the positive and attenuate the distractions and tedious portions.Also, just like real life, the only real answers are what you imagine..
The story was fine for what it was - very derivative and several times characters make decisions that truly make no sense for the story - but it all works if you think of this as the TV pilot that it is.I'll also give the film credit for setting up an intriguing premise.
This movie has a great premise but its an obviously try at rehashing such series as Time Tunnel, Quantum Leap or Logan's Run and fails to grab the viewer with the characters being so vapid that you don't care what happens to them.
This is an interesting science fiction thriller that acts like first installment of a large series because the end doesn't demystify all the secrets and many questions, raised in it, remain unanswered.
It was originally supposed to be a pilot for a new series and it was therefore written as a pilot, i.e: You kept watching, it was so exciting and new and you were all giggly and then right when you think you we're reaching the climax it ends.....
2. I will never know how the story continues unless they decide to make a sequel or a series out of the movie.I'm thinking about Stargate SG-1.
One bright point is that the director show in this film shows clear talent for cinematography, and dialog aside- the plot is complicated enough to maintain interest throughout the entire movie.I also think the characters have pretty cool back stories that really get complicated towards the end.
I feel like I just watched a 1 episode TV pilot turned movie and feel deceived by the significant # of reviewers who gave this a 10.
If you're looking for a great movie with a similar but superior storyline and better writing and acting watch Coherence..
This is a TV Pilot which was changed into a movie, presumably it was rejected, probably because the premise is Sliders 2.0.The idea isn't terrible, but it lacks an ending.
It had great potential, cool story with plenty of ways to take it but instead it falls flat, due to a poor "ending"....if that's what you call it.The ONLY way to redeem this "movie" is to either remake it/ make a part 2 to finish it properly or use the same cast and continue in tv series format.If non of that is done, then it's rather pointless and torturous for the viewer, as in total, it leaves more questions than it answers.Triangle/ Coherence/ Synchronicity/ ARQ are far far far better movies..
I'm very picky with the authenticity of any alternate world or time travel show, however I was thoroughly pleased with the 3 earths in the show.Now, when it ended, I felt like it was cut short.
I'm very picky with the authenticity of any alternate world or time travel show, however I was thoroughly pleased with the 3 earths in the show.Now, when it ended, I felt like it was cut short.
The story didn't feel flushed out, it was a concept, and it totally felt like the beginning of a series or a TV show.But honestly, the movie made no sense.
-Parallels (2015) movie review: -Parallels is a relatively unknown sci-fi film where four people discover a building that constantly jumps to alternate earths, and they have to figure out how to get home.
There is more to the film than that, but I want to leave it up to the film to reveal.-Parallels either feel like a really really good TV pilot.
Without spoiling the movie it was a twist on other parallel universe shows like Sliders.
The way the movie ends leaves you searching the internet for the next episode until you realize...it wasn't a TV show, it was a movie.Sub-par in the acting category but the characters are well developed and by the end you may find yourself emotionally invested in one or two of them.Give it a look if you are into adventures involving time travel or parallel universe theory..
Why they decided to make it into a movie and not a TV show I have no clue but it was for sure the wrong decision.It seems that most FOX shows end up getting canceled in the end no matter how good or bad they are but I think that if this were to be produced by Netflix instead of fox that it would continue for many seasons to come.
I enjoyed the storyline and read the info on IMDb and was gutted that they made the series into a movie after watching.I assumed it was a pilot episode and hope they make it into a series as it has potential.
I'm sure I speak on behalf of a majority of people, no-one likes a story with all unanswered questions, story line, character plots, twists and a final understanding of the end..
Also, the film ends as a series episode would, like they didn't have enough money to complete the film?
It was like watching a really bad Dr. Who rip off and probably an insult to Dr.Who. In another Parallel, there is hopefully another version of this movie that doesn't suck and makes sense..
Text in the building, computer, father, elevator to upper levels, the three chicks, all the potential worlds, mother, all open up huge plot line options.Thought the original characters were interesting and the acting was really good for a pilot.Agree the ending was disappointing for a movie, but have to assume that was the intent given the release via Netflix.I'm ready Netflix, tell me when the first season is going to be ready to watch!!!.
Nifty parallel universe movie - should be series!.
As a lot of people noticed it was written to be a pilot and left the ending with a bunch of cliffhangers for the next episode and seasons to come.