leeaaronpalmer

I dived into Substance after seeing a few enticing trailers and was treated to an hour and a half of a fantastic film, great character building and storytelling which was a thoroughly enjoyable storyline with some amazing acting, especially by Demi Moore, giving a fine example of the struggles of aging, especially in a hectic celebrity lifestyle and the lengths people might go to, to maintain such.

Combined with a dark and suspenseful narrative which was on track to bring us one of the beet films of the year.

However it resulted in one of the most disappointing and frankly stupid endings I think I've ever experienced.

I urge people to watch the movie for the first 90 minutes, then turn it off and make up your own ending, this could have been an incredible 9/10

But the bizarre and outrageous finale will leave you regretting ever reaching the 2 hour mark and in shock of what sort of substance the director must have been consuming to ruin what was an incredible start to the film.

Having read a few reviews I decided to jump into the Abandon expecting a little more than I discovered.

The film follows a soldier called Miles who while at war in Iraq encounters a bright light and awakens in a a strange cube structure.

That one paragraph has saved you watching the first ten minutes, but the rest of the film felt as limited as its own restricted setting.

Theres sadly very little meaning or thought with most of the film feeling like a convoluted filler to try and keep the audience thinking long enough to sit through the entire film.

Unfortunately you never quite know what's going on, and just as things start to make any sort of sense, you're hitting the last 15 minutes.

I'm a big fan of sci-fi and films that make you think, but the Abandon sadly feels very forced, if you only caught the first 5 minutes and the last 15 minites, you'd know just as much as someone who'd watched the film 3 times which leaves it feeling a little dissapointing.

It's a shame that the last 20 secodns was probably the most interesting part of the whole film, which could potentially point towards a sequel heading in a slightly different direction which could make for a great adventure, but if the rest of the film is anything to go by, it's more e than likely just one scene which actually clicked well and got me thinking, unlike the rest the other hour and a half.

Having watched Twisters, I'm happy to recommend to fans of the genre or those looking for a simple drama/thriller that doesn't require too much thinking, just don't expect too much from it.

Sadly outside of two or three main cast members everyone else has very little emphasis or backstory meaning even secondary cast feel more like extras.

This sadly means it's a struggle to feel emotion or care for anyone other than the main few, which is a tough pull to swallow when the film is built about the wellbeing for others.

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This also leaves the overall storyline feeling fairly shallow and incredibly predictable.

There's some decent (if unrealistic) special effects and a few question marks over what's fact and Holywood fiction, but for fans of the original Twister, or disaster films in general it's a good quality, if a little forgettable film that's worthy of a few hours of your time.