Robert Thompson

By some cataclysmic miscarriage of injustice, Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer is exactly correct. How Rotten Tomatoes got this so correct is completely beyond me. Meanwhile, the Audience Score merely informs me that a number of viewers don't know what they're watching. Which is perfectly fine. This pairs nicely with Hole In the Ground (2019), Counterpart (2017), Little Joe (2019), Bladerunner (1982), Solaris (1972), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, 1978), among other titles that look at simulacra of the genuine living. There is also a component of the wistful possibility of second chances. Doppelganger, as intrinsic or irremovable duality, -Evil Kirk, Evil Spock, et al- is an amplified port of the idea that a 'parallel self', perhaps even formally framed by and originating from a parallel universe, is a projection of hidden self, or, the self we really wish would stay hidden. To ensure that nothing is so simple as that first, typical, reductive case, there are also doppelgangers thrown in that are the reverse, and are the best selves of the duplicated individual. This last application reminds me of a strong line from Counterpart - 'love the person not for who they are but for what they want to be'.

The set design is the star of the show. Has some good dry laughs. This is dramedy about the modern all-too-human suburban condition, transplanted into a nostalgic gaze. Bits of sci-fi aid the illusion (but it's not sci-fi).

This had a decent fight scene at 1 hour 24 minutes 13 seconds. Aside from that, the made-for-tv script is powerful made-for-tv. Creatures were decent. Has none of the tension or terror of the first movie. Lot of procedural perfunctory hero defeats thing.

If you're an insufferable high brow critic that breathes pretense, and has a 50,000 word vocabulary burning a hole in your mouth or your keyboard, you can find some silver linings to defend in this film. If you're a bullheaded obstinate sci-fi movie completist, you can sit through it. Any scientific literacy evinced in the black hole segments of the film is squandered by the ending, particularly, and the insufferable d u r a t i o n of intentionally provocative art scenes. Well done art scenes are accomplished in the living years. I do not voice anything about the shock or controversy of the art content, itself. The art content, intended messaging and designed controversy could have been delivered, on cue and on time, in about one hour and fifteen or twenty minutes. The budget could have been higher and that would not have in any way improved the whole. Therefore, the medium to low budget is not the fatal flaw. Pattison's flat range in this character is not the fatal flaw. You should waste two hours of your life on this film so that I can feel that I am not the only one. The individuals impressed by this film might be having the sensation that I had upon viewing Andrei Tarkovsky Stalker (1979) (same guy as Solaris 1972).

If you're a linear thinker and require causality, and require a premise that has at least minimal scientific literacy, and have limited patience for a grown man crying, then might I suggest the very excellent, short and rewarding book by Vernor Vinge: Marooned In Real Time (1986).

I find the show to be genius. I see a lot of 1, 2 star reviews with context and scope not remotely spanning or apprehending what the show is doing. Superficially, this pairs nicely with Melancholia (2011). Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers (1997) carries a leaden, savage irony that this show is capable of. This is the wisest / smartest production of the MCU that I have seen. Can pair also with Hamlet, Ophelia, grieving and madness.

Films comparable in this genre would be Jupiter Ascending, City of a Thousand Planets, maybe John Carter. This film has no fatal flaws. It's not a five star movie in the traditional sense, like No Country for Old Men, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, Empire Strikes Back. But in terms of invention and world building it surpasses the recent recycles of legacy franchises (that were never broken, and that never needed to be completed again, or fixed), so it cannot be merely a three star. This is a highly serviceable, highly engaging diversion, that successfully pulls you into its world for its runtime. On the point of Asian sci-fi. I am perfectly happy that someone else is stepping into the breach since Hollywood has abdicated and is a falling empire in that respect. I will enthusiastically root for the home team of Western / English sci-fi, particularly high brow or space-oriented sci-fi, BUT, in the obvious decline of that in frequency or capability, I am all ears to consume adequate, serviceable sci-fi coming out of South Korea, China and Japan. Viewers of this film should know about Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem trilogy.