Matt Horgan

Monolith - a great title for a creepy movie. Just the sound of the word causes a quiver in the gut. Perhaps not for everyone - maybe only for sci-fi fans for whom the word brings to mind Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and represents strange events of the past, present or future. A great title and this movie lives up to the name, at least for me If you’re looking for action/science fiction, alien creatures, gore and jump scares this movie will disappoint you as it’s none of those. Monolith is a creepy little film that continues to build tension. It gets under your skin when you’re not looking and nibbles on your nerves as you try to solve the movie’s dominant mystery. Lilly Sullivan is excellent in this movie - and it’s a good thing because she’s on screen the entire time - and in the same location. As a matter of fact she’s the only on-screen character in the film and that’s a tough acting gig that many don’t have the chops to pull off. Sullivan does. The other characters are disembodied voices we hear through her conversations. These are handled well by the other actors and that can be a tough challenge, too. Bringing an off-screen character to life isn’t easy as you only have your voice to work with; no body language or gestures as aids. Sullivan’s character is a publicly disgraced investigative journalist who has taken an involuntary and unwanted permanent vacation from her employer due to an error she’s made on a major story. She’s angry with herself for making the mistake and with her previous employer who she feels used her as a scapegoat. They don’t go into a lot of detail wrt that situation as it’s not necessary in this movie and would only slow it down - but gives us the right amount of information to understand the character’s plight and state of mind, which Sullivan plays perfectly. I’m not familiar with her but will definitely look to watch more of her work. Sullivan’s character has signed on with a podcast. She is looking for a new story to resurrect her career but has hit a wall and missed deadlines. She’s been avoiding calls from her new employer and is getting desperate when she gets a mysterious and anonymous email providing clues to what she hopes is a winning story. Unfortunately, i can’t say much more without getting into spoilers and I don’t want to do that. If you enjoy creepy movies and those which build the tension a little slowly, or, at least subtly, then I think you will enjoy Monolith

This movie is kind of a head-scratcher for me. I definitely enjoyed it and would recommend you watch it, but it has some oddities about it. From a high level, I like the basic plot/storyline. It's not a novel one, but I enjoyed this take on the 'legend' represented. I could have enjoyed it more though - and wanted to be able to rate it higher than a 3, but just couldn't. One of my main issues with the movie is it just does not explain nearly enough to satisfy me. The two main characters have a strange relationship. All we learn about them is Leo has a business cleaning crime/accident scenes and Elvis is supposed to be helping him because his regular helper is unavailable. Elvis doesn't have the stomach for it so isn't that much help from what we see. Other than that we really don't know anything about how these two men know each other, or their backgrounds either together or separate. So even though Elvis spends most of time in the first scene vomiting into a bucket, as many of us would when tasked with cleaning a gory scene, Leo asks him to accompany him on another job he has been given. Why - I don't know...other than it is important for both characters to be in attendance for the rest of the story. Both characters, though Leo perhaps more so, are pretty unfazed by what they come across at the next job. I won't go into details and spoil this for anyone; suffice to say they make some startling and bizarre discoveries together but neither show much emotion as a result. I am pretty confident most of us would freak out a bit, but not Leo or Elvis, and not even when the strange becomes even stranger. The two don't discuss the bizarre nature of what they have discovered. I would have expected Elvis to drill Leo about who sent them here, what he was told about the scene to start with, etc. None of that happens and I feel it's not only unrealistic, but it's a missed opportunity to add to the depth of the characters and the story. Having said that, I will say I liked the performances of all three of the main characters - Leo, Elvis and ... you have to watch to learn who the third character is. Leo is too unfazed by what happens, but I take that to be the direction given to the actor and not his fault. I am also left wondering if some of what feels to be missing to me may be because this story revolves around a legend which may be well known in Norway - so Norwegians won't need much backstory to be pulled into this - but I have no knowledge of the specifics of this legend and the movie doesn't provide any for me. Maybe a missed opportunity or maybe just a cultural difference. The last critique I will add has to do with the setting and special effects. The physical location and setting in which we spend most of the time is pretty nicely done. A bit dark and definitely grimy - this works well. As to the special effects when we get glimpses of some other 'characters' of interest - these were not quite so well done. You have to see the movie to understand - again I don't want to give anything away. So I end up rating this 3 starts. I wanted to be able to give it 4 - I was rooting for it throughout - but it just fell short.

I’d give this 3-1/2 stars if I could. It’s better than just a 3 but not yet a 4. Let’s see - very dark and disturbing throughout, with several ‘push you back in your chair’ moments that, if you’re like me, you may want to go back and watch a few extra times to enjoy the craft used to create them. The special effects are very well done for a lower budgeted movie. More than enough gore on display but it isn’t gratuitous - only what’s needed for the storyline and nothing else. I thought all the actors were excellent as well. Sometimes it’s difficult to judge the acting when having to read subtitles, but I didn’t struggle here: listening to the tone of their voices for the emotional cues while reading the subs was comfortable and easy to feel engaged in the story. As a warning - for any who struggle with children in dark stories you may need to look for something else to watch as there are at least a few real cringe moments in this movie - but, as with the gore, I didn’t feel like any of this was excessive or done for shock value. The very end of this film will feel unsatisfying for many; if you need for movies to end on a positive note, with the heroine accomplishing enough to offer hope, then this ending will really not sit well with you. Definitely worth the time investment to watch - I have already suggested it to the family and I hope others enjoy this movie as much as I did.

I so wanted to like this movie even though the premise is far from new - somewhere in space an artifact of unknown origin is discovered and a crew is sent to investigate….It has been done over and over it’s almost surprising another movie based on this would get green lighted. I wanted to like it, partly because of the female lead, but in the end there are just too many flaws for me. The acting is very flat, and while the visuals of the ship aren’t bad, they are nothing to brag about either. Everything is relatively dark, physically and metaphorically - we are kept in the dark wrt the layout of the ship and even the roles of the various crew members. There are plot reasons to hide some of that, but for me it prevented any real connection or empathy for any of them, even Karla, the main protagonist played by Claudia Black. There were many inconsistencies and things that just don’t feel realistic. Karla and Sen, the commander, have an antagonist relationship from their first interaction. The way he talks to her doesn’t fit the situation and the decisions he forces on them without any reasonable thought or discussion were just too unbelievable. For instance, without giving away too much: they reach the artifact they came to investigate and find their sensors ineffective in providing any detail about it. In such a situation any reasonable person, especially the commander of a vessel on an important mission, would want to consider the options and repercussions of various courses of action. And even in a situation where a character has hidden motivations, you’d expect them to at least go through the motions so as to not draw suspicion - but that doesn’t happen here. It’s just plow forward, blindly into the unknown. If I were a crew member that would not sit well with me. As a viewer it definitely didn’t sit well with me. Another unrealistic situation: one of the crew exhibits very disturbing behavior in front of the captain and rest of the crew, but is allowed to run off into the bowels of the ship (which we know almost nothing about) alone and no one seems concerned that he could become dangerous. To investigate the artifact the ship they are on has the usual detachable module. Usually a subset of the crew disembarks while others remain to tend to the “mother ship.” In this case, everyone piles into the shuttle leaving no one aboard the main vessel in case something goes wrong. I could go on and on. Independently these are all small nitpicks but together, at least for me, it adds up to big problems for the movie.

Not a bad movie despite the poor ratings on rotten tomatoes. A different type part for Stallone IMHO as he doesn’t play the super tough guy always in the spotlight; his character here is a little more muted by the dark surroundings and other characters. Many call it a whodunnit, but for me that requires a film to provide more clues throughout - some valid and some misdirection - to have you guessing who the culprit is. Here, the clues are mostly just a dead body crossing that person off the list, and the actual killer comes to view from left field. But throughout the film there are many tense scenes and lots of atmosphere. The menacing weather accentuates the dim and claustrophobic setting, and the director used it all to build the tension consistently, up to the final battle. No awards will adorn anyone’s mantle for this movie, but I suspect most viewers will be pleasantly surprised.

This is right up there with Killer Klowns From Outer Space. Every true movie aficionado knows some movies are meant to be viewed through a different lens. This movie is certainly one of those. Cheesy, campy, corny - you choose the descriptor which works for you. When compared to some of the other movies of this ilk, SCCTM sets itself apart with surprisingly decent acting and effects (ignoring the robot and polar bear LOL). I’d go so far as to posit at least some of the producers and cast, also likely the director, handled this film as they would any other serious venture, assuming it would be taken seriously by audiences. This makes it even more enjoyable to watch.

I am writing this review after episode 4 , and may amend after completion of the entire season. The Silent Sea is definitely worth streaming. I’m amazed by the number and quality of the sci-fi shows coming out of S Korea recently. Great acting and in most cases I’ve seen the special effects are very good - some comparable to first runs out of Hollywood. I find the storyline of TSS intriguing and novel. The acting and dialog, at least as dubbed in English, is also well done. The nonlinear timeline works well for telling this story - it helps break up action and build suspense. I may have given this 5 stars if not for some glaring scientific blunders and the attitude of the co-pilot character (the writing, not the actor’s portrayal). Scenes like the one with the captain climbing down the elevator really bothered me as there didn’t seem to be any recognition of the weight/gravity on the moon, or, at least, no attempt to make it look realistic. Change the attire and it would resemble climbing down a ladder on earth more than on the moon/in space. The crash of their ship and subsequent trek to the station also seemed unrealistic. As to the co-pilot, his demeanor, jokes and inappropriateness don’t match how people in the military would carry themselves, especially an officer ranking highly enough to be given this assignment - and I’ve been assuming since he was placed on the team right before launch that he has some ulterior motive. If correct, one would want to blend into the team and not act so as to stand out so much. But so far my gripes only drop the ranking one star and I’m looking forward to watching the rest.

Solid movie from start to finish. Special effects were excellent, and Savage built a ton of suspense by not revealing too much, making use, of course, of the boogeyman’s natural affinity toward darkness. The actress playing Sadie gives the best performance of the movie. Dad and Sawyer are good enough and believable. Only the friends fall short, but for the purposes of this movie they are essentially throw away characters anyway. Watch this movie with the lights off, ideally through the middle of the night as I did and you’ll have an enjoyably creepy experience.

Contrary to many reviews I found this quite intriguing and entertaining. The periodic images can seem disjointed, but I thought they did a good job foretelling to add suspense without giving too much away. The end came together and tied up the storylines and images well - with a couple of good twists thrown in as well. Overall, a superior cast and well worth the time.