It was a long time between drinks for Shane Abbess who made such a splash with Gabriel. This is an impressive looking sci fi film, a genre we don't do enough of in Australia - the photography, set design, costume, music etc are all great.
There's a bright basic idea too - in the future 95% of people live below the poverty line so there are always people keen to volunteer for dangerous missions that pay well but involve transportation. I was looking forward to seeing a story about time jumping and people going mental. But after a promising beginning, with great visuals and an exciting set up with a team going berserk and dying, it settles down to a very familiar film: a bunch of troops on a deserted mining outpost with a killer on the lose. It's another retread of The Thing with a bit of Alien thrown in. It's a shame - Abbess had a fresh-ish idea but then disregarded it and went for more "the aliens are causing this".
There is some terrible dialogue which goes on forever and far too much swearing (it got monotonous). I felt like 70% of the dialogue could be cut and I also hated the fact it was an Australian film all in American accents (that didn't feel realistic either). I had trouble telling the characters apart.
I think it was a mistake to lose Daniel McPherson's point of view early on - he's set up as the protagonist then disappears for a couple of crucial minutes. I wasn't wild about the ending either which really was a deux ex machina and felt like an "it's all a dream" cheat. And some of the confrontations eg McPherson vs Luke Ford went on too long.
A movie with a lot going for it - McPherson was a lot better than I thought it would be, Abbess clearly has a lot of talent - but the script is a bit of a mess.
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