Review of Exile

Exile (2008)
Refreshing movie, mostly rough around the edges, but fun for certain
25 May 2017
Granted, this not a good movie in any way, but unlike bad movies, this one contains an interesting idea which, surprisingly, is worked out reasonably well.

The central theme is one that could be taken from Philip K. Dick, or for those more erudite in movies; Blade Runner(or Ex Machina). Dick has a fascination about what is real and what makes someone human or not. Therefore the most interesting character in this movie is Reyna. She is a non-linear android who is activated by Jason, the survivor of a crash who has been blinded. Non-linear means that she is able to think her own free thoughts, which she proceeds to do.

What next follows is hard to demonstrate without spoiling the fun. Reyna depends on Jason as much as Jason depends on her. And since he is blinded he can not see what she tells him she is seeing. While the story develops they seem to grow closer together, but we as the third party, get to see what Jason does not. The conflict starts to develop once it is clear that Reyna will cease to function when Jason dies or leaves, which makes efforts to defend him understandable, but at the same time makes you wonder how he will defend himself from her.

The movie makes a good attempt to develop this dual relationship and at first I was taken in by the apparent straightforwardness of Reyna. How the story finally pans out is for you to see, but I must say that up till the end it got me rooting for her.

The bad part of the movie is not so much that is clearly shows how low budget it is, but that given the choice the movie makers could not resist adding an alien monster for which they had no budget. The lesson to learn here is: if you lack the budget for a good monster, don't have one in your movie. Especially because it was totally superfluous to the movie and could have been easily substituted by something more mundane, as it actually was by having Jason chased by enemies from anther planet.

All in all a movie that is clearly low budget and rough around the edges, but has an interesting central story that certainly merits a remake with a better budget(and some better plot development). At time the movie has serious plot holes and at one time Jason runs out to wave at planes he can not see, but he can now. The script totally forgetting that he is blind. This movie is a bit like a cheap Ex Machinima version. One specific point to make here is that unlike Robots/Androids like say Data, Reyna never expresses the desire to become human. Which is refreshing.
1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed