There's a lot to like about this relationship film set in a sci-fi situation. A neurotic but likable young couple meet and fall in love just as news that an asteroid may hit earth in a few years is announced. Is there any point in being together?
We intercut the scenes of their evolving early relationship with sometime after the 'asteroid' has arrived and turned out to be a giant alien ship. Earth is now under siege, with the great majority of people have already been abducted by the aliens, leaving our couple to survive and try to stay hidden, putting their already tumultuous relationship into a seemingly fatal spin. All this is fairly strongly acted by Richard J. Danum and Gillian MacGregor.
But then there's the twist ending. I love a good twist provided it feels fairly set up and makes sense
. most of the time. But this is the rare case where the twist – while fairly grounded - weakened the whole film for me since – at least personally – I thought the story BEFORE the twist was much more compelling and original than the 'explanation', which seemed far more familiar as an idea.
Beyond
2014
Action / Drama / Romance / Sci-Fi
Beyond
2014
Action / Drama / Romance / Sci-Fi
Plot summary
With the possibility of a meteor colliding with Earth in the near future, Cole and Maya find a fragile but volatile relationship. They eventually marry and conceive, even though Maya thought a botched abortion had rendered her sterile. He is shot while trying to get into the hospital to meet the baby. Through flash-backs/flash-forwards, he sees that the meteor does not collide with Earth; it is a ship carrying an invading force of aliens. Cole and Maya leave their baby with her parents and take off for uninhabited regions hoping to survive long enough to reach a port on the northeast coast that will take them to Norway. They struggle to find sufficient food and water to survive, often yelling at each other. Is this just a dream concocted by his dying mind, or does he survive the gunshot and find it is reality?
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A strong set up, but a weak finish (spoilers avoided)
I would not recommend this to a friend.
What is believed to be an asteroid approaches Earth. There is a bit of imprecision. The experts cannot decide whether it will impact our planet even when it is visible in the night sky. As the object gets closer, other possibilities show themselves.
The scene jumps back and forth from before the arrival, when the couple met, to the present, after the encounter, when most humans are dead. The dialectic is awkward in execution and definitely off-putting.
As the film rolls on, will we ever see the encounter? Will we ever see the end of the couple's complaining about each other? Will anyone survive this situation?
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The dialog is mostly boring, including the many tiffs; after hearing 'we need to talk' the first three times, the next dozen are irritating. There are too many back and forth jumps in the time line. These two factors undermine any interest I had in the original concept. In the post encounter/eradication era, there is not as much evidence of genocide as I would have expected. Eliminating billions of humans would leave some traces, but many of the scenes are devoid of any signs of previous habitation. The ending more or less throws away the rest of the film. Another way of putting it is that the rest of the film provides next to no foundation for the ending.
A character study with no real science fiction
This movie is intensely a relationship drama. The marketing of this film was done so egregiously that if you were prepared for a fascinating look into a post alien invasion world and how to stay in a relationship...you would be sorely upset.
The truth is that the entire "invasion" is used as a metaphor to help explain the emotions coursing through the protagonist. I'm saddened at the attempt to use Sci-Fi as a ploy to gain attention.
The most glaring and obnoxious choice by the creative team is using a T-shirt which appears to have the design of the floating space craft from District 9.
But I digress, aside from the blatant attempt to mislead the viewer and the glaring lack of actual science fiction in the film...the acting was superb.
If you are able to make it to about the midway mark of the movie then you'll understand. However if you have refused to watch and only wish to move to other more complete films...keep reading. Spoilers ahead:
During the course of the flashbacks there is an interaction between the protagonist and the man he saved. This conversation is very revealing and if you remember the first line of the movie and you have some knowledge about Norway then you can begin to piece together the clues left behind at a very alarming rate.
It was around here that the movie fell completely apart for me. I realized that the interactions and flashbacks were the main story and everything else was the protagonists imagination. Another clue that was revealed quite early on, how he wanted to keep her in one place and never let her go anywhere with him. Had this been a purely psychological thriller...which it should have been advertised as...I would expand on the many different ways that one concept could be explained or defined by his mind. But we've not time for that.
In the end he is shot by the man he's saved. And his flash backs are his minds way of trying to understand and cope with the stress and shock of the situation our protagonist had been placed in. And yes, while in the parking garage the man is dying, we see him in the hospital bed with a strong pulse and his eyes moving in REM sleep.
The acting saved this movie and I believe that the writer may have intended for a completely different ending. But we may never know for sure.
While I recommend this movie for its acting. I do not recommend this movie for the utter lies and disappointment regarding what was supposedly a Sci-Fi invasion romp. There are many pieces of sci-fi in this film that in no way math with the end result. Again why I said that I believe the writer had a much different vision than say the producers.