Three American and one Australian twenty-something tourists are checking out the Russian nightclub scene when semi-invisible aliens descend on the planet and start vaporizing every human they can find.
With special effects reminiscent of Blade, this is a combination of fish-out-
of-water and end-of-the-world stories. Imagine trying to survive in a city where you not only don't know the language, you can't read the alphabet they use, and you only have a discarded, cartoonish take-out menu for a map.
I enjoyed this movie overall. The interesting part was that the annoying jerk you want to see go down ends up going down a hero, and the affable Australian ends up being the most annoying, irritating part of the adventure. Maybe that was just me, but I can't abide women who are whiny fraidy-cats who would rather freeze than take action, then complain when things don't get done.
I laughed out loud twice, had one eyeroll moment at the boys' "catchphrase" that you only hear once and never again, but there were an unusual three holy crap moments at startling events. I did not craft during this movie, but I would estimate at least four or five needle-drop moments for tense, gripping action and hiding scenes.
I admired the ingenuity the survivors showed at using the materials around them to detect and avoid danger, and I admired their drive to keep the group together despite the fact that it could easily fall into an "every man for himself" situation.
I gave this move a four and a half out of five stars. If the ending hadn't been such an obvious setup for a possible sequel, and one girl's separation from the group being so inexplicably miles away swimming upriver, it might have garnered a perfect score. As it is, I'd recommend this over "Skyline" or "Battle: Los Angeles" the next time you're in the mood for this type of flick. At Amazon's price point for the DVD, it's well worth the expenditure.
No comments:
Post a Comment