I sat down to watch the 2021 sci-fi thriller "Zone 414" from writer Bryan Edward Hill and director Andrew Baird. I must say that I took an interest to the movie when I stumbled upon it, as the synopsis sounded interesting enough, and also because the movie has Guy Pearce on the cast list.
However, I should say that I hadn't heard anything about the movie prior to watching it, nor did I even know about it existing. So I wasn't sure what I was in for, nor did I have any expectations to the movie. So I entered the movie with an open mind and a clean slate.
And sure, aspects of "Zone 414" definitely were interesting, but the writing was just inadequate. "Zone 414" just felt like a knock off of the "Bladerunner" movie in many aspects, but at the same time managing to be original enough in its own way. However, for a futuristic thriller, then "Zone 414" just was lacking certain important elements to the storyline and to the overall feel of the movie.
The pacing of the storyline was a bit mundane and somewhat of a struggle to sit through, as there were severe slumps of period of nothing much interesting happening in the plot, and that definitely challenged my attention span of the movie. And the overall lack of futuristic environment and atmosphere, just took away so much from the movie, that was somewhat hard to buy into this being a futuristic movie with androids.
Guy Pearce was definitely nicely cast for "Zone 414" and carried the movie quite well with his performance. I am not overly much a fan of Travis Frimmel, but the way they made him look in the movie with the prosthetics and make-up was certainly interesting, and his performance was adequate, but somewhat diminished next to Guy Pearce's performance.
While "Zone 414" was watchable, it just wasn't an outstanding movie. Nor was it a particularly memorable foray into the sci-fi thriller genre. But if you enjoyed something like "Bladerunner", then chances are you will find something appealing about "Zone 414".
I found the movie to be rather bland, truth be told, and as such, my rating of "Zone 414" lands on a mediocre five out of ten stars.
