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Voyagers (2021)
Voyagers (2021)
2021 | Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
8
5.7 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The classic novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding is not only a beloved classic but has been assigned reading for generations of students since it was first published in 1954. The book has been adapted into plays and films over the years and remains a chilling and poignant cautionary tale.

In the new movie “Voyagers” audiences are introduced to an Earth that has been ravaged by climate change and disease. In an effort to save the species; a grand experiment to genetically create a group of children who are the origins of a colonization effort is undertaken.

The planet is 86 years away so the decision is made that the children will be raised and trained indoors without any exposure to nature, open skies, fresh air, and other aspects they will be deprived of on the ship.

Richard (Colin Farrell) decides to accompany the children on the mission as he wants to protect them and ensure things go as planned so their progeny will be well suited to continue on the mission to the next generation who will ultimately be the ones who colonize the planet.

Ten years into the mission things are going well until a discovery is made that a drink the children take daily known as “The Blue” is a drug used to suppress their emotions and keep them docile and easy to control.

When friends Christopher (Tye Sheridan) and Zac (Fionn Whitehead); who learned the secret of the drug decide to stop taking it; they soon reveal the truth of their discovery to the rest of the children who in turn stop using the drug.

In no time rampant emotions, aggressions, desires, paranoia, and mistrust start to run wild and Zac becomes obsessed with Sela (Lilly-Rose Depp). His unwelcome advances soon become more and more aggressive which causes Christopher and Richard to intervene and tragedy soon follows.

Christopher and Zac soon find themselves at odds with one another and fear and paranoia lead the crew to form into factions and turn on one other which not only threatens the mission but their very survival.

The film was very engaging and while I saw the influence of Lord of the Flies early on; the engaging cast and setting make the film entertaining and enjoyable despite any really unexpected twists.

The young leads work well with one another and it will be very interesting to watch how their careers unfold in the years to come. “Voyagers” is a refreshing new take on a classic tale and provides an entertaining and engaging adventure for viewers to enjoy.
  
A Quiet Place (2018)
A Quiet Place (2018)
2018 | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.



When the trailer for this one was running I honestly thought I was going to be scared witless. It made me so uneasy that I was seriously contemplating not going to see it. I don't mind watching horror films, but I feel a lot more comfortable about it when I'm at home in a brightly lit room.

I sucked it up though and went anyway figuring that having a double bill with something I knew would definitely entertain me would be an easy way to calm my nerves.

We start the film 89 (was is 89? I've got a brain like a sieve) days into the events of A Quiet Place. The monsters are here, and those that are left are doing their best to stay quiet and survive. I've already reached a point where I am a little grumbly. When it announced where it was in the story I was hoping for some kind of jumping timeline showing you a before and after style tale... because surely they're not just going to gloss over the whole "how" of the aliens coming to Earth... Oh.

I can't really fault the bit in the middle of the film. I found it quite enjoyable. There are lots of questions that you wonder about, that I always wonder about in apocalyptic movies. But that's where you have to give them leeway for artistic license I guess.

The part of the story that this film tells is good, and you can follow the journey of the family understanding everything even with the limited dialogue. There's some superb acting at work from everyone involved and I've been recommending it to anyone that asks about it.

With quite a few of us in the cinema it was amusing to see everyone's reaction throughout the movie. Every time someone crinkled a packet or opened a fizzy drink there were noticeable pauses as if we'd all just thought "Oh my god that was too loud" before realising that it's just a movie we're watching.

The main reason this one gets a three star rating and not a four is not only for the lack of origin story but for what I consider to be a cheesy ending suitable for a comedy action film and not what I had been to see. The locked and loaded ending was the sort of thing you'd expect to see in a Guardians Of The Galaxy movie where the end credit are punctuated by shots of our heroes going into battle. A perplexing end.
  
Thoroughbreds (2017)
Thoroughbreds (2017)
2017 | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Characters – Lily comes from one of the rich families in Connecticut, she ha be raised for boarding school away from the rest of the people her age in the neighbourhood, she opens up to her old friend with a troubled past, as she learns about getting a chance to escape this life she isn’t enjoying. Amanda is teenager that has done something horrific, she is struggling in school and sent to be tutored by her old friend to help with her college future, she is emotionally closed off from the world, though pushes Lily into doing the unthinkable. Tim is the local drug dealer that has a reputation of only dealing with minors which sees him be selected by the girls to complete the murder for them. Mark is the stepfather that Lily doesn’t get on with him, he is a control freak making the life of Lily more difficult.

Performances – Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy in the leading roles gives us the standout performances in this film, they both show us the struggles they are feeling as we see how their plan starts to unfold. Anton Yelchin in the main supporting role showed us one again why he will be missed too.

Story – The story here follows two upper class teenagers that have very different problems in their lives, they reconnect after years apart learning they could help solve each other problems. This is a heavily conversation lead movie that puts the main two characters through discussions of killing problems in their lives and just how they could get away with it. The big weakness with the film is that it doesn’t address the mental health problems that both the women are going through. This story tries to be quirky in what gets done, only for it to feel anti-climactic.

Comedy/Crime – This must be classed as a dark comedy, because it didn’t seem to make me laugh once, the crime side of the film circles around the idea of what the two girls want to do and how they can get away with it.

Settings – The film is set in the upper-class area of Connecticut, showing how the girls can easily look down on people that they can walk over, this is a big factor for the style of the film.


Scene of the Movie – Don’t drink that.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – We could have looked at the mental health problems going on here more.

Final Thoughts –This is a comedy crime thriller that doesn’t quite hit the marks it was aiming for and ends up just coming off strange.

 

Overall: Uniquely Styled