Purely Joyful Movie!
Good start, but then it gets ruined
A Major Disappointment
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
View MoreWhat is believed to be an asteroid approaches Earth. There is a bit of imprecision. The experts cannot decide whether it will impact our planet even when it is visible in the night sky. As the object gets closer, other possibilities show themselves.The scene jumps back and forth from before the arrival, when the couple met, to the present, after the encounter, when most humans are dead. The dialectic is awkward in execution and definitely off-putting.As the film rolls on, will we ever see the encounter? Will we ever see the end of the couple's complaining about each other? Will anyone survive this situation?-------The dialog is mostly boring, including the many tiffs; after hearing 'we need to talk' the first three times, the next dozen are irritating. There are too many back and forth jumps in the time line. These two factors undermine any interest I had in the original concept. In the post encounter/eradication era, there is not as much evidence of genocide as I would have expected. Eliminating billions of humans would leave some traces, but many of the scenes are devoid of any signs of previous habitation. The ending more or less throws away the rest of the film. Another way of putting it is that the rest of the film provides next to no foundation for the ending.
View MoreBeware - this review is very spoiler-heavy!As every positive review of the film I've read has stated, Beyond is very much a relationship drama, merely using a sci-fi backdrop to explore things in an unusual way. It's a terrible case of a poorly advertised film, as it's obvious from many reviews on here that people were expecting something much more SF based - to the extent that I've seen several references to people wanting more alien action. This seems to miss the point of the film entirely - that the post- apocalyptic scenes are entirely in Cole's head, and are him effectively putting himself on trial for his own weaknesses. Using the 'it was all a dream' twist is very dangerous, as it's usually a very cheap way out of a dead end situation, but in Beyond I think it worked incredibly well. The structure of what are presented as 'flashback' scenes build up brilliantly to the film's climax which, combined with Michael's monologue, explain almost pretty much everything that happens during Cole's hallucination. It may need a couple of watches to piece it all together, but once it falls into place it becomes obvious that what could have been a terrible cliché 'twist' actually exists to allow Cole's character to assess his personality defects in a hugely imaginative way.The heart of the film itself is wonderful, with a low-key but realistic relationship played out beautifully by the two leads. By combining this with the hallucinatory plot, there's a really unique take on a potentially generic plot - it's just unfortunate that most people coming to the film will be expecting something entirely different. Much like Another Earth, I watched the film with an open mind and no real expectations - only knowing it was categorised as 'sci-fi' - and came out having enjoyed a really wonderful film, regardless of genre boundaries. Anyone similarly open will have a good chance of finding a hidden gem here.
View MoreThis movie tries to bill itself as a sci-fi survivor story, but just can't quite keep the charade going. First and foremost this film is a ponderous relationship drama. In fact, I'd argue it's a melodrama. The main character is an aloof, disconnected slacker with no more attractive qualities than his swarthy, ill shaven, casually dressed actor can bring by default. His girlfriend Maya is a needling, immature, inconsistent, over-emotional fountain of simultaneous boredom and annoyance.There is nothing to like here. The progression is simultaneously flat and instantaneous, with no actual payoff. The entire premise of the movie is thrown out in its last seconds as an elaborate symbolic representation of the characters' relationship struggle.If you enjoy sniffing your own farts and think that it's particularly engaging to point out the symbolic nature of the static on the television screen over the character's left shoulder while they try to eat pasta from an upside-down fork, this is the film for you.If you want something that isn't trying to be an over-pretentious melodrama, look elsewhere.
View Morethe acting wasn't bad at all. the directing wasn't bad either; if there had been a real story it wouldn't have been half-bad.the only way I can fulfill the obligation of the review standards is to make a top 10 list. the top 10 reasons to not watch this movie: 10. making up IS apparently hard to do 9. "is this a flashback man?" 8.why is it the responsibility of the USA to defend the world against asteroids or space aliens? 7. Oranges get a bad rap 6. no real nightlife after the apocalypse. 5. love stinks 4. what ever happened to Scottish pride? 3. "that's not how you steal someone's girl" 2."I don't get it." 1. please have that guy shoot me before the opening scene ends.
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