by DarkWolff » Thu Oct 30, 2014 11:46 am
So things got crazy for me and I only recently was able to look at this.
I felt making Atmosfear an sci-fi was a swing and a miss. The story of the series is you are trapped in the Other Side and are trying to beat the Gatekeeper so you can escape; there wasn't really any of that in this movie. Instead we got a movie about the search for alien life turned bad. This is nice an all, but doesn't really match up to the expectations of source material.
This leads me to my next main issue: it took way too long to get to the planet. It seemed the point was to build up anticipation, especially with the strange transmissions. And while that wasn't bad, it went on for a bit too long. Easily two-thirds of the movie was on the ship and comprised of a dialog between the only two characters with any real screentime. By the time we do get to the planet, we only really see it for a short amount of time. The Baron and the Gatekeeper were basically cameos when they should have played a bigger role in the movie.
Next we get a time-skip which shows the main character has survived on the planet for a while and has clearly went through a harrowing ordeal. However, we don't really know what that ordeal is. I can imagine it, but I feel the meat of the movie should have taken place here. I want to see the tortures the Gatekeeper/Harbingers put this guy though. I understand this is a fan movie and the budget isn't there for amazing set design, but you did the same thing with the set for the spaceship.
However, the audio borrowed from the series was used pretty well and helped to bring a sense of foreboding to the story. You knew something was going to happen and not only that, you knew it wasn't going to be good. The Baron and the Gatekeeper were cool when they were onscreen, and the scene with Obama speaking with the Atmosfear music in the background was completely brilliant!
I feel the movie would have been better for me if it wasn't labeled as an Atmosfear movie. If it had a different title, I wouldn't have had my expectations colored by my knowledge of the series. The usage of the Atmosfear assets would have been really cool nods, and would have increased the enjoyment of people who are familiar with the series.
So in short:
Less time in space, more time on the planet would have made this a better movie.
You sound like the type of maggot that learnt to crawl before you walked but never got to the walking part. -- The Gatekeeper
please take one step forward - oh, and watch that first step, its a doozy, you are BANISHED! --The Gatekeeper...to me.