lucidskyline

I stumbled upon this movie and had no expectations. I love what Tom Hardy does. I didn't realize while watching that it was the same director as The Raid. So no anticipation what it would be like. I barely paid attention to the early scenes but it slowly crept up on me that it was better thought through than the standard streaming action flick. Then when it kicked off it really did. The Nightclub scene was frenetic and unexpected.

Reviewers could sometimes do themselves a favour by going into a movie blind. Not comparing it to this or that expectation. Stop trying to be a reviewer and just be the guy on the couch on a Friday night.

Over-the-top action: yes. Great storyline: no, but good enough. Good acting: from the main characters yes. Entertaining for Friday or Saturday night: absolutely. 8/10 because it surpassed what I expected.

For a truly mesmerizing acting scene from Ashley Judd this movie is almost on a par with Isabelle Adjani's subway scene in the 1981 classic Possession. A macabre and frantic conspiracy theory on steroids and then some. Possession has a rating of 7.3 and I think this movie is a lot better than the 6.1 it has. This is an old movie now and I'm surprised I've never seen or heard of it given that it was directed by the late William Friedkin. A young looking Michael Shannon, who we normally know as a pathologically calm, stoic type gives a performance that I think is one of his most compelling.

After the start, most of the movie takes place inside a motel room. But that isn't noticeable, and you don't even feel an overwhelming need to explain what is going on because you get more and more drawn into the intensity of the acting. Towards the end I became increasingly surprised that they even managed to act this and remember their lines. I wonder if some of it was pure improvisation.

I just read from other reviews that this was based on a stage play, although I don't know which, but will need to find out. Anyway, definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it already.

Getting a sense of how old this movie is from the start "In the final decade of the 21st century men and women in rocket ships landed on the moon". Well it didn't take quite that long. Yet this movie still rocks after watching it again for the first time in over 50 years.

The movie builds atmosphere brilliantly and the Monster from the Id is one of my all time favourite movie monsters, no less so as I understood years later it's psychological undertones. As a kid it terrified me.

The special effects and audio seemed groundbreaking even years later.

Quite a few big star names of which only two are still alive today if you exclude Robbie the Robot.

The fashion worn by Altaira also seems ahead of it's time, quite unlike the fashion of the 1950s but more like that of the sixties.

This remained my favourite Sci Fi movie right up until Alien came out 23 years later.