Norris H

I was very disappointed. Perhaps if I was a fan of the game it would have worked better for me. The story feels like it was a Middle School project to come up with a dystopian society. The direction, music, acting and photography weren’t bad, it’s just a terribly juvenile story. There are great writers of sci-fi fiction and fantasy. But, if you can’t write a a great book with compelling characters, I guess you write the story line for a video game. After all the game is about role playing and the writers of this TV show are just playing a role without success.

I was very disappointed. Steve Carrel is not a bad actor nor is he a very good actor. The storyline could have been interesting if it was 90 minutes long covering a 24-48 hour period. However, they dragged this story out over 10 episodes which contained content for two maybe three episodes. In order to flesh out a limited story there is a side story about Carrel’s son and the conflict between Hasidic Jews and reform Jews. Very, very boring. Once again if it was movie length with a more compelling and talented lead actor this could have been a worthwhile project. In addition, asking the audience to wait a week for each pedestrian episode is an example of “chutzpah “.

In the hands of a competent Director Outer Range could have worked. Unfortunately it is too dark, choppy and amateurish to hold interest. The over worked close ups, camera angle gimmicks and lack of professional lighting does not create atmosphere nor dramatic tension. On the contrary, it creates both disinterest and boredom. In the hands of professional filmmakers I could have cared about the hole in the ground or the weird buffalo and possibly about the characters. So many better viewing options will make this instantly forgettable.

Earth is in danger of extinction because the Sun is dying. A last ditch mission is launched to save the earth by exploding a bomb in the sun. Inexplicably, eight crew members are chosen based on either their incompetence, emotional problems, inability to understand the chain of command or lack of impulse control. Visually, this is an ugly film that doesn’t make up for the stupidity of the premise. Many excellent sci-fi movies like The Martian or Gravity. This is not one of those films. There is a reason this was a flop. Sorry, there are many reasons why this failed. If you can accept the premise, perhaps you can accept Earth placing their fate in the hands of a defective crew.