Multiverse

I always say that sci fi movies are about ideas, and this has a great one along with a compelling storyline.

However.- the budget constraints affect the overall feel. Deadly in sci fi movies.

The direction is good in parts but the action scenes are poor and, boy oh boy, does he like a 'dutch tilt' The cast and script are hit and miss. The deaf girl piece is handled well, the 'psycho' not so much.

Overall I enjoyed it and would recommend it, with reservations.

Where this film shines: The performances of Munro Chambers, Sandra Mae Frank, and Marlee Matlin. The wibbly wobbly sci-fi stuff is enough to be interesting and mostly engaging. Mostly excellent cinematography, albeit the whole movie is a little color muted for my taste.

Where this film burns: The writing is all over the place - some scenes are great (like moments between Sandra Mae Frank and Marlee Matlin), but others have stilted dialogue that feels like it's there to take up space. It's hard to fault the acting when the lines are boring and don't feel natural. Without spoilers, my opinion is that the overall premise didn't really know what it wanted to be - and for me, that resulted in a predictable ending that fell flat and left me frustrated.

HOWEVER, it's a solid fun little sci-fi ride! My frustration with this film is that all the pieces were there for it to be really great, but it just missed the mark. Still worth a watch if you can stomach your sci-fi with a little teen drama. I bet it'll be a cult classic in another universe!

The production costs of this movie are evidently low. A young amateurish cast and Marlee Matlin do their best with a script that is poorly written, and the dialogue is clunky yet does contains some good ideas. One of the main problems with low budget Sci-fi is the terrible special effects, but in this movie they successfully solved that problem, there are none, which for me works. In the hands of the right scriptwriter and a pot of cash this could be turned into something really good. I have seen far worse movies from the big studios this year, so it definitely gets an 'A' for effort.

I am a huge thriller sci if fan. So much out there is less than mediocre these days.

This movie has the good acting, which most movies today do NOT. It is a lower budget movie, but it doesn't require a higher budget as it relies primarily upon the plot to keep you guessing. Actually glad it didn't try to add in a bunch of high end techno stunts or high end pyrotechnic scenes...that would have been a waste of money on a poorly themed movie...

For the savvy sci fi fan, the ending is rather obvious and not well thought out or explained. The plot is interesting, but not really anything new or different. Just sort of a low budget slow burn on an old idea.. The acting is what sustains the movie and it is quite good.

This would have done better as an episode of the X files, ( but there really are no shows like that anymore) but doesn't stand out well as a movie. Sure, it kills time, but is not memorable or something you are even likely to give a second watch. But, in these lean times of free movies on Hulu, one that has acting this good puts it far above most of the other free movies in the genre.

If you don't expect much clarity about the laws of the multiverse, this is not a bad film. The young cast works hard in their roles and some of the ideas are intriguing enough - but the multiverse is a pretty random place and you'll find yourself scratching your head much of the time. I appreciated that the film goes the extra mile of using deaf actors to play the roles of deaf characters and pulls off one neat trick with a voice-over assist.