Denis Villenueve. A solid lineup. A different take on first contact. I loved Sicario but went in expecting a cerebral epic sci-fi.
That was a mistake.
Good things:
- Some really nice visual scenes
- Interesting aliens Calligraphy aliens!
- Clear theme of communication is omnipresent
- A neat score that might be awesome in a different movieBad things:
- The acting
- The lack of emotional reaction to ALIENS! The students asking to turn on the TV, all of the main characters
- Lack of useful characters Only the aliens and Louise actually did anything the entire movie.
- Supporting characters are very stupid in an attempt to foil the main character slightly
- Very clumsy exposition. Genre-typical news reports, voice-overs, dumb characters asking stupid questions.
- Very slow pacing. This worked in parts of Sicario, but didn't work in this movie because there was no tension. The main characters never seemed remotely threatened.
- Lousie showing up at school thinking everyone will be there after aliens arrive and there's a state of emergency
- Why can't you translate alien language like you can translate Farsi. This is a paraphrase but in the spirit of what Colonel Weber was saying.
- Useless love interest when the costars have no chemistry.
- Ultrasecure military base lets someone steal a ton of explosives and put it in an ALIEN SPACECRAFT without anyone noticing.
- Many unbelievable plot points
- Poor dialogue Let's make a baby - real quote
- Poor handling of the major plot points Looking through time seems to undermine the fact that the aliens need help. Why did one have to die if they could see the future? Why did only one die when they were right next to each other?
- Very heavy handed moral messaging that didn't align with the rest of the movie.
- Why couldn't Ian also see into the future as he studied the language, or any of the others?Overall extremely disappointing. I'm honestly surprised critics or general moviegoers like this. The premise was very good. It's a real shame the execution failed so miserably.
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@jared Most of the "Bad things" are actually good things imo.
Anti-zoo propaganda, Back to the Outback is a mediocre and formulaic animated kid’s film. The story follows a group of zoo animals who are unhappy with their treatment and decide to escape to the Australian Outback. Featuring the voice talents of Isla Fisher, Eric Bana, Guy Pearce, and Wayne Knight, the cast isn’t too bad. However, message of the film, that venomous and dangerous animals are misunderstood and just need to be cuddled (completely ignoring the nature of predators), is rather irresponsible. Still, there are some funny bits of humor as well as several wacky, fun gags. And the soundtrack adds a lighthearted energy and excitement to the film. Yet while it’s entertaining at times, Back to the Outback is problematic and extremely heavy handed.
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@jarvis-8243417 Meh, no one thinks venomous spiders wanna cuddle like so, but the question is: Is it right to lock animals in for human entertainment? We already have conquered most of this earth, do we need more? Just something to think about.
