Wojtek Tomalik

Instant cult classic with some stiff Cool-Aid.

I got through 1/5th of the film, and I could go no further. A few good parts does not make a good whole here. Great setup, great cast, cool concept, deep philosophy, refresh of the Minority Report tech... All good things, but the execution makes no conceivable sense. To tell a story, you can go as far out as you want, but you gotta make me buy-in or somehow believe that these things could happen under some circumstances. That failed completely for me... Here's the progression of my experience: 1. Car Crash Film: With John Wick like nerves of steel, he pulls his whole family from the drowned car and lays them out like lego blocks. He does not considering some medical chance by calling for help from a working cell. At least as a natural response. The emotional response (from Will and Ed) was much less than that of John Wick when the puppy got killed, and that guy was a trained cold blooded killing machine. Me: [squint].. [ponder].. [tilt my head].. [shrug]... OK, it was a bit tough, but I'll buy it -- maybe it kind of defines just how deep into his research this guy is, and the scientifically opportunistic psychopath part of hims quickly subdues his emotion with some hidden excitement of how he'll use this to further his research.. Fine. 2. The Preparation Film: Ed agrees with some reluctance to a mountain of things that will not only send him to jail, but he deeply and completely feels wrong about. You can't just construct a brilliant character who makes his way up to the most senior role of a top secret program, and then expose he's a complete idiot. When he arrived at the scene, he should have asked will: "Dude! Did you do this on purpose??" and that would make much more sense. Me: That's character #2 that I can no longer connect with on any level that isn't some mentally painful stretch. But OK... let's see where this is going. 3. The "You Don't Get to Exist" Raffle Film: Ed dissolves the bodies (presumably) and packs 2 tons of equipment (seemingly by himself) onto a truck to deliver to Will's house. There are only 3 cloning pods. Will goes to pick who won't get cloned.. he leaves his boy out of the "you won't exist raffle", and ends up ousting his youngest daughter, Zoe. He breaks down over this (which is very temporary, BTW). Me: In an isolated sense, this "Raffle" scene was incredible. I have never seen anything quite like it; bravo Mr. Reeves. This one single scene might make me see the rest of this movie one day. But when that awe has passed, then again: [squint].. [ponder].. [tilt my head].. but stayed in a state that I felt somehow cheated by a clever stunt.. (more in #4) 4. The Cloning Begins Film: Clones are set up and commencing. We need a backup generator, but no! It's 2AM... so Will goes a robs some cars of their batteries to get thru the night (presumably). But doesn't seem to set up a proper generator in the new day. The cloning will take 17 days. That's 2 measly weeks... But what about Zoe? Will decides to erase her from the others' memories. Me: Are you $*#%ing serious??? Just clone her when the others are done! Or keep one pod as a spare and clone her with your wife in "round 2"... Deal with the 2 older kids first ("Mommy and Zoe will be back from the Hospital in 2 weeks, you rest..") You would rather erase her entire existance.. for what? So you don't have to answer "Where's Zoe"? The writers should have been fired for this ridiculous blunder.. This is where I stopped watching, and went on to give this movie 1 very sad star.

30 min in, there is so much wrong with this plot that I just can't power through anymore.. why wouldn't she record the stuff going on? Why would the father not stay the night in an extra bedroom, if just to prove she's crazy? Why wouldn't anyone ask the girl about the lights in the field? ... Just... No. I get unexplained, I get mysterious, and I get crazy, and even stupid, but when the whole cast is in on it for no reason? No.