Spectral

great budget, well shot, really good CGI, no eye-rolling acting, and an incredibly interesting premise.

The setup and first act built the film into a far more compelling story and premise than you might expect, looking at the poster. I expected this film to be a hardcore version of ghostbusters/ sci-fi action flick. I could just put my feet up and disengage my mind.

The first half was a brilliantly put together military mystery, however, and had me at full attention. Albeit not exactly high brow drama, it was effective and enthralling, seemed well-written and well-designed, and set us up for an interesting conclusion.

As the film progressed, however, the believability and script writing went to heck in a hand basket, and we had polarity reversals, ion compressors, fourth states, and other techno jargon all over the shop.

The kicker was the final act, however, which turned a supernatural sci-fi thriller into a run of the mill storm-the-base piece of science fiction junk, complete with cheesy dues-ex-machinas, rushed conclusions, random changes of heart, and tacky poorly thought-out ultra-chunky and unrealistic Space Marine weaponry/ armour.

What a disappointing end to a super cool beginning.