Sigerk

I found this to be an interesting and well made series.

Sure, there's plenty to nitpick about it's themes and concepts, and in this regard, it doesn't bring anything wholly new to the table. But what it does it does well. If you are familiar with Garland's previous works, you'll recognize his signature in this. Interestingly enough I also found elements of David Lynch in this, mainly in atmosphere and delivery of dialogue.

The visuals are excellent, with gorgeous shots and impressive visual effects. If you love fractals, this show has some visual treats for you. What is also has are amazing shots of landscapes, both urban and natural. The entire show is filmed in a way that evokes something transcendent, impressing upon the viewer a sense of temporality. The themes, writing and execution of dialogue enforce this.

The acting ranges from good to outstanding, with especially great performances from Nick Offerman, Alison Pill and Stephen McKinley Henderson. Some found Sonoya Mizuno's acting bothersome, I didn't, and think she carried the show well. Jefferson Hall was also great as Pete, I recognized a lot of his mannerisms from homeless people I know or see daily where I live. Jin Ha is very charismatic as Jamie and a pleasure to watch. Zach Grenier as Kenton also deserves mention as he gives a very good performance here, though I did find his character a little annoying by the end. But that had more to do with the writing than his performance, which was excellent throughout.

The story itself is focused and tight, with little meandering. The plot unfolds naturally over its eight episodes and is written in such a way that there's no filler, and nothing feels unessential. It has enough twists to keep you guessing, you can't help but make assumptions about where this is going, especially if you've seen stuff like this before or are familiar with the material it discusses. And you're wrong enough times to keep it engaging.

I didn't always connect with the way the show writes its characters and how they interact with each other. But overall, it worked for me. Strong acting all around helps in keeping you with the flow of the story where logic might make you hesitate.

On a final note: I absolutely loved the spoken poem scene in episode 7, McKinley Henderson's voice is perfect for this and I'd buy an audiobook's worth of him just reading great poetry. For me it was the best scene of the series.

Watch if you like Alex Garland's previous work, existential themes in film/tv, great visuals and conceptual science-fiction. Or just good tv, which i think this is.

Was hoping for a return to the quality and horror that was Hill House but this fails to hit the mark for me.

Acting is mostly okay, cinematography is excellent, but the script and dialogue leave a few things to be desired. Too many monologues, most of them do not feel natural and they don't really bring anything new to the subjects they cover. Most of it you'll have heard before and done better. Maybe if it is your first exposure to some of these ideas you'll tolerate them better but for me they were bordering on trite. A lot of the characters also felt too stereotypical, as did certain story elements regarding racism/xenophobia and religion vs atheism. Too on the nose for me.

The horror elements are sparse, and as such, this doesn't feel like a horror but more like a mythologically infused drama.

I liked the acting of the cop and the priest, and the religious fanatic also did really well. Didn't feel the performances of the drunk and the ''lead guy''. One was over the top and the other I just never believed. Rest was just okay.

I really wanted to like this but overall it just didn't work for me.

Straightforward review:

Plot: Feels forced, cliche'd and had me facepalming in embarassment at several moments. Badly written villain, tired subplot of a damsel in distress. Its also not as complicated as I was led to believe, it's pretty straightforward actually. I saw comparisons to Primer, which in my opinion is a much better time-travel tale. This feels more like a James Bond movie with a time-travel element added to it.

Effects are done well, technically the movie is very well made. But it feels a bit over the top, almost Michael Bay-like at times.

Acting ranges from excellent to okay, the script doesn't help in this case but the actors do a good job considering. Pattinson is the standout for me.

All in all its not a bad movie to waste some time on, it's interesting enough to keep you engaged (was struggling to finish the last 30mins myself though). As far as mainstream blockbusters go it's decent.