Eli Cohavi

I was hoping for much more, considering the cast. It was a disappointment to say the least—a waste of time to say the most. I want to start off by saying that I have been teased for enjoying poorly written movies and book adaptations, so I’m not elitist about it. Also, half of these reviews (probably more) are very obviously ChatGPT. The most egregious problems are incredibly weak plot points as well as unbelievably poor dialogue. It actually made me cringe on several occasions or just laugh at the cliches. The YA sci-fi space has a lot of potential and has a special place in my heart because I grew up with it, but this felt like it purposefully took that potential and aimed it ground. The film doesn’t give any reason to care about the characters, and when watching, I truly didn’t. The performances are decent, considering what they were given. Every character is sloppily written as one dimensional and predictable. As soon as I figured out what the story was, I didn’t need to watch the rest. I seriously can’t wrap my head around a studio exec reading this script and green-lighting it. It felt like someone’s first attempt and screenwriting. Dull and superficial, there’s unnecessary exposition and it’s one of the only movies that I’ve considered stopping halfway through. It takes the worst parts of the YA sci fi series from a decade ago and combines them to create a mutated UGLY movie.