Light

This is the 1st movie in awhile I just couldn't finish. Boring, bad lighting, hoping and praying the monster alien ( in theory, because seeing it is impossible) kills all of them. It's like being in a psychedelic sand storm with no ending in sight. At first, you think they've crash landed in water, because you can't tell. Then, the one astronaut obsessed with alien feces and can't stop digging through it and getting it all over her gloves is just way too gross. And then the "kids in space" really? Trying to get us to see a maternal side when this is space, enough already. Just way too long, nothing ever happens and you're wondering why you watched it.

Deep sigh. Believe me I really didnt want to review this movie, but it was SUCH a disappointment that I had to WARN others who might make the mistake to actually pay for this cheap and inferior copycat.

The bad: bring a search light, because this movie is SO incredibly sparsly lit (no pun intended) that you dont see much at all during the ENTIRE movie. Using dark lighting techniques is an effective way of covering up that there is no money available for good looking sets. But they went to the extreme with these dark looking sets. Terribly annoying to watch!

The really bad: let's forget about the fact that one cant see anyhting, let's judge what we CAN see in the dark and that is these actors trying to perform in HELMETS all the time. Oh man, does this look silly.

Please avoid. You have been warned. This is nothing more than a cheap and inferior copycat of other much better scifi movies.

I watched this thinking a review rating of 2.8 mighty justify a view. I was wrong. 2.8 is far above and beyond what this film deserves. Everything about it was bad. The plot sketchy, the acting almost non-existent due to the characters in spacesuits with only their faces visible though the visors, also making movement slow and ponderous, filmed in excruciating detail as each step is meticulously followed across a flat, barren slightly stony landscape, but with the permanent fog it is difficult to work out where they are coming from or aiming to get to. And the fairy lights should have stayed on someone's Christmas tree rather than finding their was into the prop box for a science fiction film. I didn't think a science fiction film could get much worse than the dreadfully dreary Spaceman where the Spaceman in question spends most of the film in banal conversation with a giant spider, or the underwhelming and at times quite boring DUNE remake, but this one is far, far more boring than either. What's gone wrong with science fiction filming making?

I began watching this movie with no prior knowledge and low expectations. Within the first 10 minutes, I was excited because "Light" gave me strong vibes of space sci-fi classics like Alien, Prometheus, and Pitch Black. For instance, some of the space gear, like the portable motion sensor, felt straight out of Alien, and the main character could easily have been Ellen Ripley or Elisabeth Shaw. It was clear the director drew a lot of inspiration from Alien and Prometheus. Additionally, the image of a character wrapped in glowing cables while a space monster lurked nearby reminded me of Pitch Black.

However, after those promising first 10 minutes, my interest quickly faded. The plot stagnated, and it became clear that "Light" is a low-budget psychological movie focused on the two main characters who crash-land on a dark, foggy planet where a gem-pooping monster lurks, only appearing at the end. The story centers on these two characters as they struggle with dwindling air supplies, avoiding the monster, and sharing bits of their lives over the radio.

That said, the final 10 minutes did manage to recapture some of my attention. We finally get to see the monster and meet some other characters, including mysterious villains whose identities remain unclear but are crucial to why the main characters' spaceship crashed. The ending also provides powerful examples of both the positive and negative aspects of humanity, including sacrifice, love, greed, and cruelty.

Overall, "Light" might have worked better as a short film rather than a full-length movie. Besides the first and last 10 minutes, the movie dragged, and I seriously considered turning it off after about 20 minutes. I'm glad I didn't, as the ending provided some clarity on the plot, though it still left many questions unanswered. I can't recommend "Light" unless you're looking for background noise while doing something else.

I love long movies. But this story was definitely destined to be a short film. One in a compilation of many, perhaps.

I would give it more stars if it was that.

I get it. They used close-ups and fog all through the movie because of budget constraints. They could have done more by using the same budget for a much shorter movie (or indeed just a short film of about 35 minutes or less).

The acting is fine, no issue with that. The camerawork is fine, although they were forced to use the minboggingly constant closeup shots. The soundtrack is fine, but again it would have worked if it was a short film. It just drones on.

You glance at how far through the movie you got and it's a only half. Wow.