Monthly Archives: July 2025

Borderlands

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Vampire Owl: When was the last time you went near the border?

Vampire Bat: You mean near the werewolf territory.

Vampire Owl: No, the zombie lands on the other side.

Vampire Bat: When did we begin to check the wastelands?

Vampire Owl: I believe that there is something more than the walking dead there.

Vampire Bat: I am sure that the movie is not referring to such borders.

Vampire Owl: Are we going for interplanetary borders then?

Vampire Bat: That has always been a better choice, for they are more open.

Vampire Owl: I have heard about those space vampires.

Vampire Bat: The space does have its own variety of blood-drinking species.

[Gets a blackcurrant shake and three cups of black tea].

What is the movie about? :: It is said that a long time ago, the whole of galaxy was ruled by an alien race known as Eridians, whose power and technology were far beyond the understanding of human race. But human beings were able to find some part of this science and use it to their advantage, thus becoming the reason for bettering their world and making themselves scientifically advanced enough to make an impact in their world above other species. But the best of such scientific knowledge was hidden in a vault in a planet known as Pandora. Corporations, criminals and treasure hunters who made peace impossible in the planet and nearby have been killing each other in an attempt to find the secret vault for no success in the end. Then there was the prophecy about a daughter of Eiridia who would restore peace. More people have died searching for this than all the wars which had occurred in the past. There is almost nothing good happening in the one prosperous planet with enough natural beauty to inspire enough tourists from Earth. But the only tourism event happening there might be a treasure hunt for vault.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) who is the daughter of Deukalian Atlas (Edgar Ramírez), the richest man around, and one of the most powerful corporate magnates in the galaxy, gets kidnapped by a rogue soldier Roland Greaves (Kevin Hart) and a psychopath Krieg (Florian Munteanu) who is released at the same time by accident. Despite the soldiers trying their best, the group of three manages to get out of the area and travel to the wastelands of Pandora where they do not come in the areas under scan. The job is given to a legendary bounty hunter Lilith (Cate Blanchett) who is almost ready to retire, but the offer is a little too much for her to reject. She is considered the best with a great history of bounty hunting by too many people to avoid her as an option, even though troops of Atlas are also after the kid. As she lands on Pandora to search for the missing girl, she comes across Claptrap (Jack Black), a robot that says that it was programmed a long time ago to assist her. With the help of the robot, she finally traces the location of Tina and embarks on the journey.

And what does this world bring in between all the chaos and destruction? :: There, she finds out that Tina was not really kidnapped, but had decided to escape with the rogue soldier and the psycho intentionally to avoid her father. She attacks Lilith with her two friends, and it is then that the troops sent by Atlas Corporation reaches the same area and attacks all of them. This leads to the strange new team of the teenage runaway girl, rogue soldier, bounty hunter, psychopath and the old robot escaping from there, with the soldier team known as Crimson Lance on their trail. It is discovered that Tina was not human or the corporate daughter as everyone had thought – she was a genetically engineered alien created with the biological parts taken from the Eridians, the ancient race that once lived and bettered Pandora. She was created through experiments by Atlas so that she can open the vault where lost civilization’s advanced science and technology are kept. Atlas Corporation intends to rule the world with the new advanced weapons they intend to gain. Can the one strange team stop him in time? Or will the gates to unlimited technology be opened to a greedy villain who would become invincible?

The defence of Borderlands :: There is some nice world detail that we see here, even though not perfect, there is something to watch out for at every corner here. Ariana Greenblatt adds more to the fun than the others here. The funny side mostly works in this movie, unlike those movies with ridiculous jokes like Deadpool and its strange relations. The battle scenes are truly exciting, and the detailing on small things will catch our attention. A good science fiction movie comes first out of the world where it is set, and this one wins there, and takes it to the side of action, where it secures another win for most of the time. There is also the reminder that this is from a game, with some fine weapons being shown, and explosions as well as stylish chases all around. The post-apocalyptic feeling is also present, like in Mad Max: Fury Road, but this one is surely the much lighter version, without that eternal depression of world going out of hand with no chance for a return. This feels mostly because of the knowledge about the existence of an alien life which would mean more than just giving up for humanity.

The claws of flaw :: The movie should have taken itself more seriously, and we feel the silliness a little too much in between. The main character should have been younger and got someone other than Cate Blanchett to play it, as we get the feeling of having the suitable one for the tale of such a past. The twist used in the movie seems to be rather too comfortable and safe for anyone’s liking too, and it is something about which one feels the need to bother less. The colours of the movie could have been reduced a little bit outside and used more inside the alien world within the portal, as we have too much of an opposite. Jamie Lee Curtis surely feels to have been more wasted than anyone in this particular role. The villain could have also had more to do in the earlier and middle stages of the movie. There could have been more of a journey of a mystery adventure which the movie leaves behind. As the movie came when my gaming times had mostly reached the beginning of the end stages, I could not really comment on a game – movie comparison, but positive reviews in that case were not found.

How it finishes :: As this movie is based on a computer game, the negative reviews were always expected. But like Until Dawn, Need for Speed, Hitman, Doom, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Warcraft, Mortal Kombat and others, this keeps the gaming side moving well to the cinematic world. I would love to see Mass Effect game made into movie, and it would have similar settings, but considering its capabilities as a game itself, there would be a big movie, with the looks of Jupiter Ascending, but that one would satisfy more critics. For now, for some simple entertainment during the weekends, this is the kind of movie that we would want to watch. Let us not go through too many of those negative reviews, as there are so many positives about this movie, which comes back every time we feel that there would be a problem. Maybe, a sequel could do this one a lot of good, with a lot of worlds to explore in a Star Trek or Star Wars model. Then we go back to the game and come back again to enjoy this.

Release date: 9th August 2024
Running time: 101 minutes
Directed by: Eli Roth
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Edgar Ramírez, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, Gina Gershon, Jamie Lee Curtis

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Grave Torture

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Vampire Owl: What kind of tortures did vampires historically endure?

Vampire Bat: There is certainly no torture in the grave.

Vampire Owl: You think that all outside graves are the same.

Vampire Bat: All coffins are the same, which makes all graves the same.

Vampire Owl: Well, Uncle Dracula says that death is only the beginning.

Vampire Bat: It is quite a well-known fact because the shadow world is there to be taken.

Vampire Owl: You feel that the afterlife will have a shadow world?

Vampire Bat: It is why people do not enter the world of shadows.

Vampire Owl: Well, they say that we become one of them.

Vampire Bat: Well, vampires are already people of the shadows, as nocturnal as we can get.

[Gets an Uzhunnu Vada and three cups of Vagamon tea].

What is the movie about? :: Sita (Faradina Mufti) and Adil (Reza Rahadian) are siblings who have had a troubled past. Their family owned a bakery in the city, and it was standing strong enough despite facing so many problems from different franchises often with multinational backgrounds. But an attack by a terrorist who believes in the Islamic concept of Siksa Kubur or Grave Torture had shattered their world by the worst way imaginable. The siblings who had to study in an Islamic boarding school due to their newly achieved status as orphans do not keep that much of faith after growing up, especially Sita. She vows to prove that the idea of Grave Torture does not exist, and as she works in a nursing home, finds a wealthy man who had run those orphanages and boarding colleges in the name religion. She feels that the man had wronged her brother in some ways, maybe even did child abuse, and tries to prove that torture of sinners in the grave do not exist by getting under the sands with him.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: The man who seems to be a child molester by using religion as cover would be the perfect to go through this process when a person is tested and judged in the grave shortly after burial, and for a terrible person, the torments in the grave would act as a preview of the afterlife punishment. Sita buries herself with the sinner and gets out without hearing anything. But when she tries to air the footage in a television show, it is simply not there. She is branded as a kafir/non-believer due to the same, and she suspects that it is all the fault of Adil. At the same time, she also begins to have visions of dead people or strange things from the other world. As she goes even deeper into the world of the dead, there is more disturbing and supernatural terror on her way. Sita’s highest level of disbelief of the supernatural is gradually weakened by the horror that comes across her, but due to her childhood trauma, she continues to try her best to get to the bottom of this. But the question remains if she can find anything substantial and whether she herself and her brother would survive this. And there is also the question about how the religious authorities would take this.

The defence of Grave Torture :: The movie focuses on what comes from the other world rather than anything else. It gives the early feeling that something grand is to be revealed from the supernatural or created mystery from the beginning itself. The setup from the main character’s skepticism, sibling trauma and religious themes seems to draw the audience to the feeling of upcoming evil really well. The fear elements do start working, and gets better by the end. There is also that emotional side that somewhat works. The family setup in the beginning had provided the emotional touch and the following tension goes through lighting, sound and use of settings—the graveyard, nursing home and every place works just fine. All of these are realistic in what would otherwise feel supernatural, and always watched over by evil which never ceases to exist. As we have known for a very long time, evil always finds a way.

The claws of flaw :: The movie does seem confused in between about what it tries to prove. It seems to be rational at times and during some moments, it seems to focus too much on religion – the result is just unwanted complication which comes in and gets bigger. The struggle can be seen further by the end of the movie, as there is a little too much added here and there to lead to the world of complex natural and supernatural blending. The loss of connection also comes up in between as if to make an unwanted point, and some resolutions are never really reached as if they are subplots going nowhere. Why there are so many things around here which goes on like islands is beyond us. The incoherent ending seems to come right out of this confusion, while the cliches do not leave either. The questioning power of the movie is lost for no real reason, and that strange ending seems to be too forced for anyone to be impressed with. Let us all have faith, but not by fear, and may there be belief with hope without always thinking about torment and torture.

The performers of the soul :: The main character is played by Faradina Mufti as an adult and Widuri Puteri as the teenager, both coming up with some performances of magnificence. Widuri makes a perfect sceptical teenager, and that works for her like a dream with perfection, as her world changes so much, with belief and lack of the same coming from two sides – the child gets caught up in things of seriousness and that grief can be seen all around her. The hopelessness of a child is well-portrayed by her and its worth appreciation as happiness moves into terror in such pace. Faradina is fantastic while playing the adult. Her search for truth rooted in a tragedy of the past makes us feel, but what happens to her character in the end remains a shame. Whenever she is there, we feel confident and so close to unveiling mysteries with a twist. Reza Rahadian is not far behind as the borther-figure, and neither is Muzakki Ramdhan who plays the younger version of the character. The other characters do not feel that much of relevance, and can leave our minds early enough, but not the situations.

How it finishes :: This movie travels in a different path from the other Indonesian movies reviewed by me, but surely is not better than them. Impetigore, Gundala, Photocopier and Ivanna are surely ahead of this particular movie more with content than anything else – they also seemed to have a bigger canvas for characters. There was so much that this movie could have done after that fine beginning, and the struggle could have meant more, but it seems to be happy with what all are already around, and that surely feels safe. To claim safety, it might have left its core behind, but remains an interesting work with enough dose of horror here and there, even though getting too stretchy in between. A better ending would have been more satisfactory, but we are okay with what we have. The Indonesian movies are surely having some interesting elements and the experimentation is surely on the right path. There is always a lot more that we can expect in this particular industry.

Release date: 16th September 2024 (Netflix)
Running time: 117 minutes
Directed by: Joko Anwar
Starring: Faradina Mufti, Widuri Puteri, Reza Rahadian, Christine Hakim, Slamet Rahardjo, Muzakki Ramdhan

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

<<< Click here to go to the previous non-Asian version of supernatural.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Nokturno

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Vampire Owl: This should surely be about us.

Vampire Bat: Why do you keep feeling that so many movies would be about us?

Vampire Owl: Well, because we are the true nocturnal creatures?

Vampire Bat: Even zombies walk around only at night.

Vampire Owl: I have seen a few like a smaller army in daylight though.

Vampire Bat: They are not zombies, but humans without brains.

Vampire Owl: There are many humans like that?

Vampire Bat: Yes, mostly the fans of some celebrities and blind supporters of political ideologies.

Vampire Owl: I did not know that they were not extinct.

Vampire Bat: Well, they are surely rising in power, stronger than ever in the human world which faces many apocalyptic events at the same time.

[Gets a packet of Milk Bikis and three cups of Munnar tea].

What is the movie about? :: Jamie (Nadine Lustre) has been working as an overseas worker in Dubai and has returned to her hometown of San Sebastian following her younger sister Joanna’s (Bea Binene) mysterious death. Her mother Lilet (Eula Valdez) feels that a sinister curse which is part of the Filipino folklore of the kumakatok is haunting them and also took her daughter to the grave. According to the folklore, these are ghostly figures that knock on the doors after midnight, and those who open them are doomed to be die or at least lose a loved one within three days. Jamie does not believe in any of these, and feels that her mother is mentally sick, in need of treatment. Joanna’s boyfriend Manu (Wilbert Ross) feels that the curse is real, as his girlfriend had talked about the same before death and he has also been having some hallucinations after her death. He wishes to stop this, but is too afraid to do anything about it.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: The explanations of the police officers do not seem to satisfy any of them. Most of the locals think that it was a suicide just like those self-proclaimed logical ones. It seems that the curse has bound itself to the family, and escape only gets more and more difficult as time passes, and someone or the other is taken from among their beloved, and their father was just one of them. These kumakatoks need lives and they are not going to stop, as it is told by more than one person who have heard about the folklore. Jamie is still not a person of villages and small towns of the country. She had left this lesser-known simple world a long time ago and would not have come back there under any circumstance. But is this the beginning of the end for them? Can the family stick together and fight against this centuries-old pure evil that takes souls to another world? Is there really some kind of supernatural force or is there some sinister person or mental disorder at work? Is it already late to act and find a solution or can the protagonist return in peace?

The defence of Nokturno :: The Kumakatok myth from the folklore of Philippines has been used well, and it is something that our world is not aware of, and is not seen that much around. The atmospheric horror works really well, and the focus on rural areas makes some moments even more interesting with the mysterious supernatural side. The sound effects also add nicely to the horror, and it seems to be around at all times in the background. The connection between modernity and a largely ignored world of the past can be easily seen. The mystery is present at all times, and we know that the danger awaits, even though there is nothing directly shown around here. The folklores of all nations should be part of a knowledge system based on horror, and it is something that we should keep learning as part of understanding different cultures and traditions. After all, myths based on demons are stronger than any other, as we are all driven by fear and the lack of understanding of the supernatural, which drives this movie too. To add to the same, there is an emotional side around here too.

The claws of flaw :: The movie is still too slow as it moves forward, and the horror is not that much mainstream terrifying, as the common audience look at it. This means that the commercial side will not keep the movie going forward. The smooth transition to horror is not always there, and slowing down seems to come naturally to this movie. There is a little bit of too much talk around here instead of getting the horror wings. We never really get to see a monster with all its glory, and most of the time it is all about finding the knocks at night and being afraid of something which might happen because there is this folklore about which the mother-figure believes so much. There is too much left to the imagination, and the problem with the same is that some people might end up choosing not to imagine at all, and there is lies the true lack of horror, and a curse that could not be fully effective. There are a few things that will always work in the case of horror movies, and this one seems to forget that with a certain amount of convenience.

The performers of the soul :: The movie has an outstanding performance by Nadine Lustr who connects to both the horror and emotions really well. She provides the character with the much-needed emotional depth, as it is that kind of a character who returns home after such a long time, and some grief and regret are to be present. Bea Binene has her moments in the first few minutes, and we would wish to have seen her for a longer period of time. She seems to suit a scream queen situation quite well, and would suit bigger roles in many horror movies which are to come. Eula Valdez adds further emotional depth to the tale, and the tragic side of this story remains close to her performance. Wilbert Ross has also come up with an emotionally memorable performance. JJ Quilantang as the younger brother also has something do around here, and the same is done well. Ku Aquino’s work also remains memorable, as his character creates a certain amount of hope against all odds.

How it finishes :: This only the second movie from Philippines being reviewed here, and the first one was also quite an emotional horror work in the form of Outside, with the presence of zombies and the world almost reaching an end. I had heard a lot about this movie, and I was sure that it had to be watched sometime soon enough – it could have been the first Filippino movie to be reviewed, but missed the same in the first attempt. This one might not be everyone’s cup of demon, but in a world of evil humans, we need all the demons we can take, and taking them from folklore would always be the best option. The movie might not that much be liked for the pace, and people would have wanted to see more scary things on screen, but this remains strong enough, even without the same. The soul of the horror here lies in the certainty of loss and the absolute grief that will haunt them for an eternity, if they survive. Well, horror has always been the true human reality, unlike most of the fantasy that they show with romantic and feel-good movies.

Release date: 31st October 2024
Running time: 99 minutes
Directed by: Mikhail Red
Starring: Nadine Lustre, Eula Valdez, Bea Binene, Wilbert Ross, Ku Aquino, JJ Quilantang

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The Witch: Revenge

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Vampire Owl: Is this a witch that we know?

Vampire Bat: We no longer know any witches.

Vampire Owl: But there are many in the north.

Vampire Bat: There are no wars anymore, and they live there in peace without contact.

Vampire Owl: They do not eat child vampires anymore?

Vampire Bat: I feel that they are more afraid of being bitten by child vampires now.

Vampire Owl: So, the treaty among species have weakened them?

Vampire Bat: Yes, by a long way, because we gained territory.

Vampire Owl: I am sure that the zombies or werewolves might be still at war with them.

Vampire Bat: I have heard that they are on war with elves and dwarves over the custody of magical forests which they use for creating their special potions.

[Gets a parippu vada and three cups of Yercaud tea].

What is the movie about? :: Olena (Tetiana Malkova) is living a happy life with her fiancé Andriy (Taras Tsymbaliuk) in a small town in Ukraine, but their life meets new struggles as they have to face the Russian Invasion, which quickly reaches their place, and feels the needs to quickly escape into the woods. Olena suggests moving further into the dark forest, as Yevdokiya (Olena Khokhlatkina), her aunty is there to take care of them, and people do not usually go that way. But on the way, they are attacked by a Russian military unit, and Andriy is murdered with their dog injured, and Olena just manages to escape from a sexual assault. They reach the place of her aunt, and she remembers her earlier nightmare about death. Back there, angry, frustrated and in grief, Olena releases another side of her, that of a witch, as she has been an immortal being of magic for a long time, only to renounce the same after falling in love with a man whom she met. She unrobes in front of a mirror to reflect the ancient signs engraved on her and lets the ancient magic run through her naked eternally young body yet again.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Being an immortal guised at a mortal, she lets go of the human side and embraces ancient magic with its darkest elements in search of brutal vengeance. She combines forces from various nodes of power to become something more than the supernatural witch she had ever been. It is then that another girl named Katya (Oleksandra Pankova) gets kidnapped and sexually assaulted by the invading soldiers. Even though they decide to keep her for more abuse by the other soldiers, the effects of the witch force them to leave her in the middle of nowhere. But she is also found by Olena who promises her a chance at having revenge. Katya, who is on a desperate state after that brutal violation will stop at nothing to have her revenge. But the soldiers remain remorseless and looks to punish the locals as much as possible, as they move further into Ukrainian territory. Meanwhile, Olena has transformed into something different, and she seems to resemble something other than humans even though she retained her human form. Can Olena and Katya have their revenge in the most brutal way or will the soldiers somehow escape?

The defence of The Witch: Revenge :: The movie scores the best with its visuals and there is some beauty about even the most evil of acts and the gore with goes with the same. This comes after some of the most colourful and happy moments that a movie can have in the beginning, with the true love feeling running through. On one side, there is that terror of modern warfare in the form of Russian invasion of Ukraine which seems to have no end, and on the other side, there is that mastery of the supernatural, which bring multiple levels of strength to the movie. Those elements of magic and witchcraft are nicely shown, and blood often makes a stylish entry, looking even better in the presence of snow. The atmosphere feels always suitable, and the emotional side also makes an entry at times with confidence. The witch becomes a metaphor for the Ukrainian resistance with ease, as there is the talk about ancient folktales. The mood of folklore is at the best with dark forests, candle-lit interiors and ritual elements while being bold with its true reflection of war-related violence among the weak.

The claws of flaw :: The movie seems to stop trying at times, and keeps moving on the ordinary path when there was so much of a chance for greatness. With the Ukrainian side taken, one would wonder if the feeling of one-sidedness will be omnipresent. There is only one kind of portrayal of the Russian side, and showing the two sides in black and white will not be satisfying at all times, with the grey side definitely missing. Despite the understanding that invasions can keep being brutal, the grey side is expected at some points. Even though the movie is rather short, we feel that there are moments when it stretches from within, and some moments could have just been avoided. We feel that some touch is lost in between, as a venture through the classic revenge in a tale of brutality and chaos. The male protagonist is killed too early and there is no character development regarding him. The villains just seem like the usual antagonists without any variety between them. All women characters other than the protagonist does not seem to rise that much and pales in comparison to her.

The performers of the soul :: The movie is strongly and soulfully led by Tetiana Malkova, who remains at the core, setting the bar high. It has always been easier to portray vampires and zombies than witches these days, and we are lucky enough to have a good one here with a fine performance as the supernatural creature. The romantic side was also strong with her, as it was where her transformation began and went on to the other. The romance feels as much real as the revenge and the feelings behind them are portrayed very well. The next one to catch our attention is Oleksandra Pankova who also leads the way in an act of revenge, and this search to bring deaths to the violators also has the same intensity, even though not that much of witchcraft and sorcery. Taras Tsymbaliuk as Andriy does a good job as the lover and Olena Khokhlatkina as Yevdokiya plays a believable aunty with magical roots. The villains in the form of soldiers does fine even though too restricted in the second half with nothing much to do.

How it finishes :: We have had our movies with the presence of witches, from the action adventure of Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters to a more classic kind with The Witch and much twisted versions from Russia like Baba Yaga and Mara that went the divergent way in comparison to what we have been seeing in Hollywood. This is only the second Ukrainian movie on this website after The Rising Hawk which also had its moments, and I would love to expand on this Eastern European movie collection, as some of the finest movies from the Romanian work named The Whistlers to the Serbian film The Balkan Lane are from that side. Still, let us hope that there will be no more wars to become background for future movies, and that there can be imaginary battles or some Nosferatu to replace the same. Until then, we watch this movie, and enjoy it even though not without some small troubles that come here and there. One can find that there is something about this movie, which can also have a sequel, and by that time, there will be no war, but lesser problems running in the background.

Release date: 22nd August 2024
Running time: 100 minutes
Directed by: Andriy Kolesnyk
Starring: Tetiana Malkova, Oleksandra Pankova, Taras Tsimbalyuk, Olena Khokhlatkina, Pavel Vyshniakov, Ivan Sharan

<<< Click here to go to the previous review.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Atlas

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Vampire Owl: I have known others with the name Atlas before.

Vampire Bat: I believe that it was Cloud Atlas.

Vampire Owl: So, you feel that there is nothing common among the two.

Vampire Bat: There should be a little bit of future related things in both.

Vampire Owl: A world of future never gets old in the past or present.

Vampire Bat: Well, the future does seem to be very much different than what we thought many years ago.

Vampire Owl: Yes, third world war is too late in human world.

Vampire Bat: And the space colonization has been delayed too much.

Vampire Owl: What about time travel? I believe that there was going to be a time machine with a rage of 10000 BC to 12000 AD.

Vampire Bat: Well, we do not even have teleportation yet.

[Gets some Paneer 65 and three cups of orange tea].

What is the movie about? :: It is the year 2043, and humanoid artificial intelligence terrorist Harlan Shepherd (Simu Liu) leads a war of machines against humans, which leaves about three million people dead, proving the scientist who adopted him as his son, and the founder of the programme Val Shepherd (Lana Parrilla) wrong in her theories and expectations about a better future with Artificial Intelligence. The group of machines seem to be too powerful a force to counter for any nation and its military power. An apocalyptic event which soon lead to the extinction of humanity seems imminent, with Harlan having full access to all machines and controlling all similar forces. There are talks around and the military forces of the world join together to form a group known as International Coalition of Nations (ICN), and this leads to the humans finally winning many battles against Harlan much to the dismay of the machines. This forces him to escape Earth and locate himself in outer space, with a promise to come back and finish what he had started with determination.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: After twenty-eight years pass without the machines making any direct battles with humans, Atlas Maru Shepherd (Jennifer Lopez), an analyst, the daughter of Harlan’s designer, has been hunting for a chance to find the escaped machines who are responsible for that near-apocalyptic event. After one of Harlan’s AI agents is captured and interrogated by her using special techniques, she finds out that Harlan can be found on a planet in the Andromeda Galaxy. As she provides this information to the others, keeps insisting that she should come along and face Harlan, something which she has wanted to do for a very long time. The military hopes to use AI-assisted giant robots known as ARCs which connect to human rangers through a neural link, but Atlas in not ready for the same as she distrusts all kinds of Artificial Intelligence. But Harlan’s drones attack their spaceship just before entering the planet’s atmosphere, and Atlas is forced to enter an ARC herself and falls right on to the planet’s surface.

And what more can happen between humans and machines now? :: Atlas is not happy about her situation within a machine, but she manages to gain basic control of the ARC despite her distrust of the Artificial Intelligence who introduces itself as Smith in a very friendly manner. As they move, the two combine forces and soon find the rest of the rangers dead, and somehow manages to escape to escape from the humanoids chasing them despite the link between her and the machine being weak. She reluctantly agrees to directly interface her mind with Smith, allowing for greater control of the ARC. This allows them to move on with a hope to escape, as finding and defeating Harlan seems to be almost impossible now as she is no monster hunter and the enemy is too strong. But is there still a chance to stop Harlan, and should they take it instead of going through the route to the escape pod? Is there something they can do, and is there a chance that Harlan will directly come to get them? Is Harlan actually a villain or is there something more to him than what meets the eye?

The defence of Atlas :: The biggest advantage of this movie is its stunning visuals with some fine Computer-Generated Imagery and visual effects that elevates this movie so much that people would have wanted to watch the same on the big screen. The spaceships, visuals of space and the planet in Proxima Centauri, along with the stylish AI machines are joy to watch, often reminding one of some computer games – remembering MissionForce: CyberStorm of 1996. Then we know Pacific Rim and its sequel. The messages of Artificial Intelligence and trust, along with the idea about human future being devastation does keep all the thinking going forward. All the action makes things more interesting, and the alien planet is something that everyone would look forward to. Jennifer Lopez mostly manages to handle this quite well, even though the role would have suited a newer, younger or lesser-known actress better with the tale seemingly going in that path. There are no unnecessary complications of science here though, and without an Interstellar-kind of scientific overdose, the move scores more on the true science-fiction and not that science-reality mode that keeps the viewers struggling. The Mech-AI and bonding feels nice too.

The claws of flaw :: The movie not having a younger main character to suit the situation more does hurt it at times, and there are moments when it seems to go into a silly mode. There is too much focus on one character even when this is about saving the world. It does not feel appropriate to see that the most trained leader of the rangers and his fully matched AI companion falls too easily while the analyst gets to defeat advanced Artificial Intelligence humanoids with powerful weapons with ease – it is quite the disgrace to the soldiers and their battle-hardened commander intending on saving the world. Somehow, their only duty seems to be focused on keeping the seemingly useless emotionally struggling elder lady who might be mostly out control, safe at all times. In that case, they should have kept her back home, as she is nowhere close to as guide as she claimed to be with the Artificial Intelligence leader, with her missing out on the most predictable part of the movie. The basic idea about Artificial Intelligence seems to be overused, even though we do not come to know that it is what we are dealing with, until the movie is somewhat closer to its end.

How it finishes :: Atlas could have surely been a better movie with less predictability, with more of a consideration on its basic strengths, but it remains an entertainer, and for that much there is no doubt. The repetition itself holds it down, but the same seems to be the one thing that would drive movies like this forever. The film was surely not well-received by the critics and Jennifer Lopez was even nominated for the Worst Actress category at the Golden Raspberry Awards – but you know that critics often make no sense, as they recently did with Madame Web, and we know that even the best movies do not make money, like John Carter. This movie could have at least received some accolades for its graphics and visuals, for the settings in space need not always be this good, and not all science fiction are spectacles of this quality, not even those much-famed superhero movies of Marvel. You watch this one for the beauty on the screen and another world of future with an emotional and classic touch. Well, you need movies like these at regular intervals to keep the love for science fiction going, and not those silly stuff which deviates from the genre’s core.

Release date: 24th May 2024 (Netflix)
Running time: 120 minutes
Directed by: Brad Peyton
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Simu Liu, Sterling K Brown, Mark Strong, Gregory James Cohan, Abraham Popoola, Lana Parrilla

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.