What a waste of my time!!!

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The first thing I faced when I heard of this movie were bad critics. Second, divided opinions of people who've watched this movie. I decided I should take a look and see for myself, being a fan of fantasy movies, and I didn't regret it, but I was not charmed either.The first thing, the actors. Always sceptic about introducing new kids into the movie industry, I tried to keep it objective and on low expectations, and it turned out I didn't have to because Tom Cameron (Theo) and Sophie McBride (Rachel) were really good. They represented their characters on a high level of quality, and for that I congratulate them, since this is their first role in a movie ever. :) Seeing Sam Neill in this movie firstly pleasantly surprised me, and then brought me to the edge of disappointment since he acted like he didn't care of the success of this movie nor his reputation. The rest of the crew was OK.Now the story. The plot has quite a lack of originality in the base of it, but some specific things are pretty interesting, which I won't reveal here in case you haven't watched the movie. The story is a bit slow at moments, but not too much, though it is kind of in fragments. Its development didn't come out well so the end comes suddenly. Btw, the ending scene is really the best scene in the movie.The visual effects are well done, though there's a lack of those. The kids didn't use their powers much. The drones are scary, but the Gargantuas are nothing fearsome, and they should've been the scary of the scary since they're monsters ready to destroy Earth. The atmosphere is spooky, though a bit too gray and dull at times. I had a feeling I had to see something colorful and vivid after seeing this movie. I was grossed out a few times by some scenes, which is good since that was the point, so my opinion is that the visuals are very well done.The music was keeping the tension the story didn't have at moments, so it came out a bit too intensive.At the end, this movie is not a masterpiece, and definitely not for those who aren't fans of the genre, but it definitely isn't bad and unwatchable. Because of Sophie and Tom, this one has a 6 from me.

Well, whatever else you might want to say about this New Zealand product, you've got to acknowledge one thing. In fantasy films where it's up to a young hero or heroes to save the day, it's fairly standard to give them an older or aged mentor to help them fulfill their destiny. Under The Mountain is the only such movie I know of which faces up to the pedophilic smell of such a relationship. I mean, an old guy pulling up in a van and telling a kid "Come with me. It's up to you to save the world" is probably how a lot of children go missing. The wizards and seers of fantasy look, in the clear light of day, like the molesters of the real world. This movie doesn't shy away from that, though I'm not sure it's a good thing.Rachel and Theo (Sophie McBride and Tom Cameron) are red headed twins who can communicate with a garbled telepathy. After their mom is killed in an accident, they're sent to live in the city with their aunt, uncle and cousin. Theo is hit hard by his mother's death, creating a rift between the twins as he pushes Rachel away every chance he can. But when Rachel and Theo discover the creepy people who live across the lake aren't really people, the seemingly immortal Mr. Jones (Sam Neill) reveals that the twins are the only ones who can save the world from alien invaders. Not by letting Mr. Jones take naked pictures of them, but by using their power of "twinness" to throw two magical stones into a volcano. As long as Theo continues to distance himself from Rachel, however, their "twinness" will never be strong enough to succeed.Under The Mountain is based on a novel but follows an entirely generic pattern for these kind of films. In the first half, we're introduced to our heroes and a bunch of foreshadowing and supposedly mysterious stuff happens. Then at the midway point, there's a huge info dump where literally everything is explained to the audience to the point where anyone with half a brain knows exactly what's going to happen in the second half of the movie, which is then nothing more than a dash to get to an obvious ending. As these things go, the first half is pretty good, the info dump is especially blatant and the second half is much lighter on plot than usual.The worst thing about the film is an extremely overbearing and intrusive soundtrack. In every scene where there's even the least bit of drama, tension or threat, dour and gloomy instrumental music is blared at the audience. It's like these filmmakers were so convinced viewers would not know when the film was supposed to be scary, they did the audio equivalent of flashing subtitles on the screen that say "This is frightening." Making it worse is that the musical cues are so strong from the very start, the audience is emotionally inured by the time the scary stuff actually happens. When the music is thundering at you while it's just a weird looking dude staring at our heroes, there's nowhere for the soundtrack to go when the genuine monsters attack.It's also a little odd that the heroes of Under The Mountain are both clearly teenagers while the tone and tenor of their adventure is as clearly geared for tweens. It feels like these kids should be 11 or 12 years old, not 15 or 16.All in all, this isn't a terrible piece of family entertainment but unless you're going to use it to teach your children about "stranger danger", Under The Mountain is not something your family needs to see.

This movie have some good things and bad things to it.Let me start with the bad thing. The movie seems much like a movie that would have been spawned in the success of the "Harry Potter" movie. I know this is not the intention of the movie, nor does it have any connection to it. But the characters and the story seems like something taken out of the "Harry Potter" universe.As for the good things. Well the movie was interesting and fairly entertaining. There were pretty nice effects throughout the movie as well. There was also a somewhat Lovecraftian Cthulhu-feel to the movie. The concept with the Gargantua (Old Ones?) and the servants (much like the 'fishmen' of Innsmouth). That part, however subtle or intentional it was, was not lost on me, and I liked that part.The cast was good, and they performed well in their roles. Of course, Sam Neill was great, as always.This movie provides wholesome entertainment for the entire family, young and old alike. I am sure that the young audiences will like the magic and effects in the movie, while a more mature audience (like myself) might take a liking to the dark mood of the movie (and the Lovecraft inspiration)."Under the Mountain" is definitely worth checking out.

I'd waited for this one for ages thanks to some fond memories of the original TV adaptation from when I was a child. I suspect that those memories made me expect a lot more that what was delivered here.The plot is okay for a simple science fiction story but don't expect anything epic. The target audience for this seems to be children so in terms of entertainment value for adults it is rather limited -- fans of the original show, supporters of NZ cinema, and those who enjoy sci-fi. I would expect most adults not fitting into these categories are going to find this a boring film.The special effects are okay. For the story, there is the right amount and the quality is acceptable. The movie is more about the characters than flashy special effects so here the balance seems about right.The real problem with production is the same that plagues many New Zealand productions - bad script writing and terrible acting. I watch all the NZ films I can and I am always hoping they will improve but rarely am I surprised in a pleasant way. Whomever writes their scripts needs to spend more time watching real people converse. Part of the problem with the wooden acting is that their lines just don't feel natural so how can they be delivered in a believable way. If you are not a Kiwi or Australian you may not even notice how clunky the acting is; for us it is painful at times! Interestingly, some of the most clunky delivery comes from Sam Neil. Don't hold it against him though; he didn't have much to work with here and he *is* helping out NZ cinema.The nicest thing about this movie is that it is not Hollywood junk. The characters, while not particularly convincing nor likable, are like people you would see on an everyday street. They are not perfect Hollywood models with glowing white teeth and perfect makeup and hair. That in itself is a refreshing change.This movie doesn't extend NZ cinema to any great new heights, nor is it every going to be a classic. It's just a ho-hum movie that might amuse for an hour and a half then be forgotten.