whatch-17931

The opening sequence tells the tale of WW3 in a very striking manner: the kid on the plane watching missile contrails, the man in the park looking worried at something in the horizon.

That struck me so well, I've remembered it for years, but unfortunately couldn't remember what it was fun.

This is not a terrible terminator movie, and not the worst of the lot. But it's not great and has several weaknesses.

But the positives first: * The Sarah/Pops dynamic is inspired * Matt Smith cameo * Skynet as a virus (from T3) is well developed and updates the story in an insidious way: it's a social platform that's not only accepted, it's eagerly anticipated.

Negatives: * A glaring problem is the portrayal of Kyle Reese. I don't know if it's the writing, directing or acting, but this Reese doesn't feel like he grew up in the gutters after WW3 without any semblance of a childhood, and from a future of bitter survival. His and Sarah's bickering feel like a rom-com with a mild sci-fi twist.

* John casting: I'm not a huge fan for the physicality, I suppose that's from the earlier portrayals.

* Exposition: way off the charts in the opening act.

* Right off the chart bridge sequence: that whole thing feels like Final Destination. Terminator has spectacular scenes, but they're tightly focused on 2 or 3 characters, not a literal bus full.

* Overly complicated plot, which is basically the studio endlessly trying to milk a one story cow.

I certainly have to commend The Expanse for creating a show aimed at intelligent viewers. I want to recommend the show for that alone, but it also does it while making an incredibly rich world.

But... while there are ways that that notion tends to slip in this episode a bit with regard to one over powered character, I think the bigger problem is the lengthy distractions into irrelevant backstory and minor characters.

This kid that flies through the ring? Of course somebody will. Who cares about why, that he's a speed racer, etc? To the story from everyone's point of view, this could have been cut to starting five seconds before the kid went through the thing.

This is very similar to the even worse dull flashbacks 100+ years earlier of the invention of the Epstein drive. Who cares if a Martian invented the high speed drive of this show? Mars also has nukes... do we need a flashback to the Manhattan Project? Mars doesn't have a monopoly on this drive.

Intelligent is one thing, lengthy excursions into minutiae isn't the same thing.

As a movie in its own terms, these characters felt very real. I lived in Los Angeles for several years and it feels strikingly convincing.

As part of the "Paranormal Activity" universe, I can't say much. I only saw the first one before this and thematically it's obviously similar.

One thing that made sense in the first movie that makes zero sense here is the "found footage" angle. The first movie built that on very solid grounds... here, the great bulk makes very little sense.

There's very little reason in universe for all this filming in this installment. But it doesn't bother me THAT much because it's just a weird coming conceit of this era movie making.

Anyway, the characters come across as very convincing, and that's the most important thing. The story is very good as well. This movie could easily stand on its own* as a solid psychological horror film.

Using the "Simon Says" game as sort of an inadvertent ouija board is quite clever. And the the online response to the kids posting videos of their crazy experiences also tends to lend a credibility into their descent into an increasingly insane world. I've personally been accused of faking a rather mundane video.

The movie does rely on quite a lot of jump scares, but they are played very well.

* The only oddity being the "found footage" angle which I think could easily be excised from this altogether.