The success of 'found footage' films like the 'Paranormal Activity' series has given Hollywood the license to make more of these films because they are so cheap. For me 'found footage' films can be very hit and miss. There are some great ones such as the recent 'Troll Hunter' and bad ones such as the afore mentioned 'Paranormal Activity' series. I had not planned on seeing this film because the topic and trailer did not make me think this was going to be one of the great ones. However there were a few good reviews so I decided I might check it out.
I was not really that impressed. There are some interesting elements and issues bought up but on the whole I found too much to dislike that I did not think it was great. I've not been bothered with the 'found footage' format, but this film really annoyed me for some reason. I think the editing was very badly done. I think it was the wrong way to film the story. I would have preferred if it was filmed in a more conventional way. I feel it would have suited the story more. I also did not like the way that the meteor was discovered. I think it came across as very contrived and did not seem very realistic which would have been better for the story. I'm being really picky but I did not like some of the flying special effects either.
I have mixed feelings about Dane DeHaan. I think his performance is very good, but I found his character very irritating at times. I'm not sure if that's because he is so good at playing a teenager with all the right mannerism, something that can annoy me. Alex Russell is excellent as the only character with much sense in the film. Michael B. Jordan I found to be a bit cliched in his performance. The casting of Michael Kelly was not right I don't think either. He is a familiar face from other films and TV shows and therefore you know he's an actor and so can take you out of the 'found footage' fantasy.
Fans of this type of film will enjoy it more than what I did. There are some interesting themes but over all it was not filmed in the right way for me.
I agree that it should have just been a conventional style of filming, left the cinema a lil cold tbh. I think Heroes raised and other sci-fi tv-series have raised the bar of story and cgi so high to a point where its close to film that this was kind of underwhelming.
ReplyDeleteThe last scenes of the battle in the city centre reminded me of Akira.