*** Certain Thematic SPOILERS ***
There is a very good, exciting Science-Fiction story here. But, unfortunately, it is saddled with the thoroughly worn-out "found footage" dynamic. This critically hurts the film.
The found-footage conceit means that the whole movie takes on a sterile feeling. There is nothing cinematic in the movie at all. It's just like someone took a bunch of webcam footage and cut it together, without much passion or creativity.
Plus, right off, we are essentially told that the mission ended in tragedy, which of course undercuts the possibility of suspense for the rest of the running time.
After hearing from the director of the mission, the movie uses those on- board, static cameras in the spaceship to tell the story, augmented with astronaut POV cameras when they're outside of the ship.
The rest of the story fills out okay, with some abrupt back-and-forth- in-time shifts in narrative that don't have any reason for being. They should've told the story in a linear fashion and skipped the "found footage" stuff. Unfortunately disappointing.
***** (5 Out of 10 Stars)
There is a very good, exciting Science-Fiction story here. But, unfortunately, it is saddled with the thoroughly worn-out "found footage" dynamic. This critically hurts the film.
The found-footage conceit means that the whole movie takes on a sterile feeling. There is nothing cinematic in the movie at all. It's just like someone took a bunch of webcam footage and cut it together, without much passion or creativity.
Plus, right off, we are essentially told that the mission ended in tragedy, which of course undercuts the possibility of suspense for the rest of the running time.
After hearing from the director of the mission, the movie uses those on- board, static cameras in the spaceship to tell the story, augmented with astronaut POV cameras when they're outside of the ship.
The rest of the story fills out okay, with some abrupt back-and-forth- in-time shifts in narrative that don't have any reason for being. They should've told the story in a linear fashion and skipped the "found footage" stuff. Unfortunately disappointing.
***** (5 Out of 10 Stars)