Director: John McKay
Cast: Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, Sam Richardson, Betty Gilpin, J.K. Simmons, Edwin Hodge, Jasmine Mathews
Hello, it’s good to be back and I hope that people are finding ways to cope with this global pandemic. For a long time, it felt ‘strange’ to post anything considering what was going on in the world but I also understand that everyone is trying to find outlets and well, this is mine. Wishing everyone safety and health always.
Moving on to the review…..
This movie was a surprise to see in my Prime app and as it is, the idea of time travel and the concept of going back through time to find people to fight for a war in the future – that was enough to get me interested.
INTRO…..
I’ve already given the concept of the movie above and moving into a bit more details, Chris Pratt plays Dan Forester, a high school Biology teacher who is also an Iraq war veteran. Dan wishes to become ‘more’, more than just a high school Biology teacher, as we learn that his lifelong dream is to be a scientist. We find out quite early on that there are obstacles to him achieving his dream. However, Dan is supported by a loving wife, Emmy Forester (Betty Gilpin) and a daughter who idolizes him, Muri (young Muri played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong).
The action starts when at a Christmas gathering at Dan and Emmy’s place, the football (soccer) match being watched on TV by Muri, Dan, Emmy and their friends, is interrupted by a bright light and strange figures walking onto the field. Lt. Hart (Jasmine Mathews) who finally reveals her face, addresses the entire stadium and those watching around the world and shares that they have come 30 years from the future, seeking help from those in this time to fight a losing war against humanity’s extinction.
Having witnessed the kind of phenomenon that played out during the match, the governments of different nations pledge their support and citizens begin signing up to time jump to fight. Perhaps underestimating the severity of the threat, a few years into the campaign, a global draft/conscription has to be initiated as it turns out that the percentage of people who return alive from their stint serving in the future is a mere 20%. The drafts lead to people protesting the forced recruitment, riots break out around the world and a grim and helpless feeling has settled over everyone as they contemplate the war approaching in their timeline and the loss of so many people drafted.
Eventually, Dan receives his draft notice as well while right in the middle of teaching at school. Though feeling the burden and understanding why people are giving up, he holds on to his belief that it is still important to pursue something and this something for him is science which he believes will provide an answer. Therefore, despite initially agreeing to his wife’s request to pack up everything and try and make a run for it, he decides to report for basic training, leaving his daughter with a promise that he will come back. Also, he understands the repercussions his family can face if he tries to avoid the draft and after getting an initial check-up and having his arm band placed, and also refusing help from his estranged father, for Dan the most straightforward course of action is to fight.
At basic training we are introduced very briefly to weapons training and the other draftees such as Charlie (Sam Richardson), Norah (Mary Lynn Rajskub), Cowan (Mike Mitchell) and Dorian (Edwin Hodge) who we learn has already done 3 tours of the war in the future and sports a ‘souvenir’ of an alien he has killed before. We find out that the aliens that have almost wiped out human life are called Whitespikes and I like Norah’s reaction to Lt. Hart’s answer to her question about why the public have not been shown what the enemy looks like.
Without giving too much away, let’s jump into the What’s Good, What’s Not and Well Then?
What’s Good?
Movies with this kind of premise can sometimes falter, so I had kept my expectations pretty neutral and perhaps on the low side. But considering I haven’t seen a movie in a hall and big screen in ages, the visuals of this film did not disappoint. The special effects for the process of time jumping, the fight scenes, the aliens that are being fought, the vast destruction and death…all of it, to a lay person watching, was pretty high quality.
For details on what determines the eligibility for the draft, there is a good but brief conversation between Dan and Charlie (Sam Richardson), another draftee and I appreciated the little pieces of background information that were dotted throughout the film.
The story progression and the order in which it was told worked well. There was a flow to the plot and story line that kept me engaged and at least interested in finding out more.
The mix of high action and explosions with eerie silence gave the creatures an added impact and effect. The fact that they are unrelenting and overwhelming is conveyed well and made me feel a little, scared for those fighting them in the film.
I like the way the movie does end on both a sad note and yet, on a hopeful one as well. There is no discounting what has been lost but there is also still hope. I’ll let you watch and see what I mean with a bit of focus on the last Act of the film. I guess in pandemic days, sometimes seeing a hopeful ending helps.
The volcano nerd in Dan’s class 😀
Dynamic between Dan and older Muri (Yvonne Strahovski) – strangely this relationship worked for me.
WHAT’S NOT?
When trying to do the emotional dialogue or voice-over, it can get a bit cliched. I liked it when the dialogue was kept to-the-point e.g.: when young Muri comforts her father like a grown-up, even the dialogue between Dan and Emmy, Dan and his father etc.
Understandably, Chris Pratt is the headliner but I would have liked a few more characters to be further developed. Though understandably not knowing them so well also adds to the crazy speed and numbers of people who die while barely making it into the fight.
Maybe showing scenes of other foreign draftees fighting but perhaps that would have bumped up production costs.
I’m not too sure about the placement of the comedy in this film, sometimes, it worked and sometimes, it didn’t.
WELL THEN?
Definitely watch it if you want an action epic where the story manages to hold all the way through, the quality of special effects remains high and the creatures do make you do a double take.
mymusingsaday 