Alpha Rift

Alright so I love an independent film centered on gaming, especially one with Lance Henriksen (Aliens, Predator, The Terminator). I also greatly appreciated the acting of Nielsen (Mare of Easttown) and Dalla Villa too. I thought the three of them in particular elevated a rather average script to have some endearing moments. Despite the fact this film seems not to be able to commit to what it should be (a kid's film in the vein of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" would've been the best approach), I can't help but rate it maybe better than it deserves. The acting by the main three deserves that much, and they made me like this one.

Ok so I need to say that this film gets about an average rating from me because it has some problems with knowing what it is. I saw another review on here that said "know what you're watching," but like, did the director know what he wanted us to be watching? The acting is solid by the main cast at least, but all depth is only added through the acting. No real depth wouldn't be a problem if all this was was a fast-paced movie written without much character development made for the attention span of children. However, all the excessive language and allusions to sex then strip this film of being that, and I don't know if I'm supposed to want this to be more or less than what it is? If looking for more, any development by the characters, again, it's the actors who shoulder the burden of finding some development in their characters and trying to make it appear where it isn't in the script. I just think this movie could've been more, but because it couldn't decide what it wanted to be, it was just an alright watch. Nothing more, nothing less.

I feel like the training Nolan went through in the movie was quite short and to me that was a bit underwhelming, I think that if the training was longer and you could see Nolan becoming progressively more serious with his training over a longer period of the story's time then it would have had a nicer build up for Nolan's character. The ending scenario was also quite short, I think that if there was more of a struggle to defeat this evil villain then that would have been nicer I think.

However I really enjoyed the story's direction, and I could imagine that a sequel would hold a greater potential. So I hope that there will be more movies to come for this story.

I didn't really see any problem with any of the acting, overall it was good and I think it was fitting to see Nolan with a quirky personality in the beginning of this story, I would however hope that Nolan gets a more serious personality as his character grows stronger in a sequel.

It plays like a Marvel movie on a budget. The medieval backstory is interesting and the action is really competent. You can tell they didn't have a big Hollywood budget, but the story, characters are solid and I found myself enjoying myself.

It is light hearted, action comedy in the vein of an 80s movie. I could totally see this as a TV series or a couple sequels, mini series, etc.

Lance Henriksen brings gravitas to the movie and the Nolan actors is good.

It sure won't win any Oscors, and maybe it's just me, ( ok, trolls, ATTACK ) but I didn't think it was that bad. Watch it as a comedy, backed by a not bad story premise at all. And Lance Henriksen was his usual bad ass self. Give it a chance. That's why I'm giving 5 stars to the movie. It deserves that!