Another indie eco-horror released this year. A bit ago I watched In the Earth, and it was one of the worst and seizure-inducing movies this year. Gaia was a significantly better tho, in both visual effects and story.

As with most eco-horror, the experience was like taking mushroom and tripping the entire time. This movie was overloaded with creative and breathtaking visual effects. I was often enthralled, especially the long scene where the main character was in a long trip. The designs and looks of the creatures in the movie was also good, although the camera was a bit shaky and unclear when they appeared.

Story-wise, it wasn't anything new. The main theme was about nature claiming back its place. The movie was also a environmental commentary on human since the Industrial Evolution. Still, there was a pretty good twist to the story, and I enjoyed it at the end. However, the story didn't always come together logically. It felt like the movie focused too much on the visuals that the it pushed the borderline over to style-over-substance.

Overall, an okay horror despite great visuals. 6/10.

I'm not familiar with the video game so many referred to, so I liked the special effects for the monsters. It was very slow, so that was a negative. The main actress is obviously a new face, but I thought she did a great job and she is very beautiful. I loved the claustrophobic feeling from the ratio used in the cinematography. That forest is beautiful, but I DON'T have any urge to go traipsing thru it. LOL I found the main character to be quite selfish to the cost of others. Overall if you have patience, I think it's worth a 1 time watch. ;D.

When I sat down to watch the 2021 movie "Gaia" from writer Tertius Kapp and director Jaco Bouwer, I had never even heard about the movie. I must say, though, that the movie's cover/poster definitely caught my attention right away. And when I read the synopsis, it sounded like a movie that could be interesting.

However, the narrative in "Gaia" is slow, incredibly slow. So this movie is not something that will find an appeal with just the average movie viewer, as it is somewhat of an acquired taste. Sure, the movie was watchable, but the pacing of the storyline was just too mundane and slow, and with the lack of interesting things in the movie, then it was somewhat of a drag to sit through.

I managed to sit through the entire movie, mostly because of the performance put on by Monique Rockman. Now, this was the first time I have ever seen her, but she definitely carried the movie well enough. Just a shame, really, that the movie didn't offer us viewers all that much.

Visually then "Gaia" was interesting, and I will say that the visuals definitely carried the movie a great long way, especially since the storyline and pacing of the movie was bland.

All in all, "Gaia" is not a movie that I would recommend you rush out to get to watch. It just wasn't all that interesting. And I can honestly say, now that I have watched the movie, this is not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time.

My rating of "Gaia" lands on a generous three out of ten stars. I wanted to rate it four, but the mind-numbingly slow pacing of the storyline just held the movie back.