Implausibility Can Kill
Thrillers benefit from surprises, but here the movie shoots itself in the foot 20 minutes in and struggles to recapture it's strong opening. CGI bullets flying at close range yet not hitting targets. Where did all those bullets go? A president shakes his Secret Service team to meet with a knife-wielding crackhead on a city street? A hostage situation on an airfield plays out like an elderly walk in the park. Not even the excessive violence and profanity can overcome the campy sci-fi laboratory and the plotline about brain data transplants to maintain any grit or realism. Yet for it to be a fantasy-thriller, it spends a lot of time suggesting characters are damaged, troubled by their fates. So it's difficult to figure out what kind of movie it is. The fights are fights: demonstrations. The drama is upheld by the president character, whose character you want to focus on for the whole movie, complete with his vomit spells and familiar, morally bankrupt persona--a scumbag. The European subplot is intriguing but when it appears, it's jarring and even the soundtrack often switches to gypsy music. Lots of good moments from some cast and in the technical department--except those bullets--but the limited USA locations and the only-in-a-movie violence combine to make the lead actors appear impatient to either escape their own dialogue. Or die. These enormous canvas movies require the kind of special effects and ingenious plots to please the most miserable, unforgiving fans in the universe. Tackling the genre with so little is majorly risky unless there's research and performances and the canvas allows some focus. Otherwise, the whole operation seems like a lot of work with almost impossible odds to beat.score /10
HughBennie-777 15 February 2019
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4659219/36027
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