Barbara Godin

Beware SPOILERS Watched the entire thing in one sitting. In reading the one star reviews, all I can say is that some people just have no imagination or understanding of “this is fiction”. My biggest problem was with the lack of investment in backstory of the villains and how the evidence came together. My next criticism was that it didn’t go deeply enough into the motives, which included establishing a permanent form of martial law and a nuclear war with Russia. The cliffhanger of the President being a few seconds from ordering a military strike and being stopped in the nick of time wasn’t credible. What was credible was the domestic terrorists attacking the US just to watch it burn. That was chillingly realistic. The systematic murder of loose ends and refuseniks who declined to participate also seems pretty realistic. It took effort and close attention to understand the whole “Who killed Bambi” thread and the revelation wasn’t tied back to the story in a satisfying way. For those who don’t get it, the Sex Pistols “Who killed Bambi” was playing on the stereo when he flashes back to discovering his own deceased son. The implication that the son was murdered was hinted at as if to say his son was murdered to keep him from running for a second term so a more agreeable president could be elected who would start a war with insufficient evidence. Making the president an African American woman was 🤦🏻‍♀️. Typical racist schlock. My biggest concern was with how poorly the real world threat of cyberattacks was articulated. It’s much worse than advertised and only gets more precarious with AI in the picture. DeNiros character did call back to the Mueller probe of Russian interference but the resemblance stops at “aging politician with serious memory issues” but flew into the fantasy realm of coming to an uncomfortable real world assessment that the newly elected administration was culpable. There is no room for a sequel, which would have to delve into accountability for the politicians and bureaucrats who were responsible for the attacks. It’s absolutely fantastical that there would be any legal accountability in our real world US justice system for these crimes. The ending hints that the parties in question will be held accountable. Holding right wing terrorists accountable for their crimes isn’t a thing in the US anymore. Bottom line: the writing was a 3/5 the acting was 4/5 the suspense and jump scares were a 5/5 left me giving a rating of 4/5.

Cinematography - A Story adaptation - B The part of the story where Alia of the Knife kills Baron Harkonnen was a highlight of the previous adaptation. Script - D- If you're going to make 80% of the film in an "alien language" do not leave it "up to audience interpretation" to figure out what the characters are actually saying. This, specifically, ruined my experience. I feel like this was a lazy way to avoid paying writers to *write*. I got the gist of the what the dialogue might be from the context but I didn't appreciate that lack of clarity. Solid B-