Terminus

I have read a number of reviews on this site and disagree with most. I have read nearly 330 science fiction novels and with the exception of a few you can pretty well see what is coming. This movie was a delight in that the end was never obvious until you experienced the climactic scenes. This movie is a low budget masterpiece in the same vein as "Crawl or Die" which was done for $6,000.00. I am sure the budget for this film was higher but I liked both equally in that the endings were surprises. The cast was great, the acting was spot on. The character development was complete if you pay attention (some have criticized it). One reviewer noted that the actors were "obviously" meant to be cheap replacements for Christian Bale and Guy Pearce. I agree and throw in Amy Smart while you are at it. These actors did all three proud if that is what the intention was. The cinematography was done with low cost equipment but it was very well directed giving the audience the views it needed when needed. I, frankly, was amazed at the quality. One possible drawback to some is how the depressing the overall mood is at the beginning but that is integral to the story. Just so you know, I am a big fan of this type of film ... two of my past favorites are "Zardoz" and "The Quiet Earth" to give you an idea. If you liked those films you will enjoy this one.

Terminus is a movie about loss and relationships. It takes place in a not too distant future where a huge war/intervention in the East is draining American lives and the economy. This epic is well documented and reflected throughout the movie by numerous background television reports and moving scenes of struggle, and is something brilliantly done. It puts a small Mid-Western town on edge, full of macho guys and recently returned veterans with terrible injuries. It's refreshing to see an approaching apocalypse movie devoting serious attention to external forces. Too often in such movies the background end of days is only attended to in the beginning or sparsely thereafter, which stifles the sense of threat and forces the viewer to watch events unfold as if such gravity was a much lesser part of unfolding drama. Having said that, Terminus is still more about characters with their own problems themselves rather than characters reacting to something bigger than themselves. There are three streams of tension here, each building momentum. This is thus almost a thriller more than a sci-fi film. It seems to have the attention to detail of a big budget production that you'd expect in regard to the actors, all of whom deliver feisty and emotional performances, and yet the sci-fi aspect is conspiratorial, somewhat rushed and far less impressive. I'm not complaining of its scale in the sense of cgi, but I thought it required more expression, each stage could have been given just a tad more impact. I have to admit that it's hard to criticise such an aspect when the entire thrust of the story depends on it. To my mind what's produced is very good, but perhaps could have been better. So often these days I get the feeling that low budget sci-fi movies have not been given enough time to really iron out all the wrinkles and really develop full potential prior to being produced. The sci-fi itself is a very usual juxtaposition, and thus the tension and heightened interest. There are numerous edge of your seat moments here, rolling all the way to an explosive climax, and in the end that's what counts.

You need to be in the mood to watch this. The basis of the plot is revealed early on and from there it's all about what happens around that central point. It has to do a lot with how people think and feel and why they do what they do and how it affects the world entire. It is a slow story, gloomy, antiwar and anti rampant Americanism.

I have to say that the negative reaction of some of the other commenters is not warranted. It was an average movie, but one of those that has enough good things to offset some minor bad things, like some sluggishness of the script and some mediocre acting. I think the worst sin the producers of this film committed is that they made a very intriguing trailer that far outshined the movie itself. Almost all high end scenes are in the trailer, that is. Big Hollywood films do that, so why no them, eh? Because you get people upset, as many comments on this site show.

Bottom line: I wish the film would have been more worked on. As such, it is a gem that is still in the mud. I feel that with another edit of the material it could really shine.

While you definitely won't rush out and buy the bluray version and will probably not want to watch it again, this B+ movie is certainly a worthwhile one time watch for fans of hard SciFi.

When I say SciFi I dont mean the Independence Day, MIB, Star Wars type Science Fantasy movies but the more cerebral, drama driven flicks that rely more on the slow paced buildup against set against a scifi background. If you're looking for space battles, explosions and English speaking aliens you will probably be better off watching a screen saver instead.

Overall a solid.

This movie is nowhere near as bad as some reviews claim. At the bottom line you find a solid concept - the world stands at the edge of the apocalypse. A war in the Middle East threatens to boil over at any moment. But an artifact/lifeform from beyond Earth may be the answer humanity needs. Is it weapon or cure?

I will grant you that much of the story won't surprise you, but it's pretty well done in that comfortable storytelling zone. The acting is fair to good (sadly, the main character is the least gifted actor's role). This is pure average-guy-fighting-the-evil-government stuff. There are some dumb moments (an operation on a living person that uses a cast saw? Really?) but there's enough here to carry you to the end.

Great science fiction? No. Worth your time? Absolutely.