Reviews

This is a very difficult film to judge, because it has a lot going for it, but also a lot of problems in its very concept. As a movie generally it works quite well, it's always moving forward (literally as well as figuratively), you know what the goal is and the visuals are great, the train looks like something out of the 50s or 60s and it really works quite well. Also the performances are up to par as well, so it has a lot you want from a movie. It's also fun to discover the sections of the train along with the protagonists. I think it suffers a bit from some tired tropes, but I really don't think that is much of a problem at all.

The problems come in when you think about the whole concept of the film and the very idea of the train itself. It just makes no sense to have this train going if you just could use this incredible technology to build a settlement somewhere or just stop the train, which is just one of many points you can make against the whole concept. They try to explain some things in the movie, but a lot of questions remain unanswered as well and that leaves you wanting a bit by the end, which is a shame because in a movie like this learning about the train and the world in general is a big part of the experience and it just doesn't deliver on that front if you really think about it. Ultimately it's a fun enough movie to watch and I don't think anyone will regret watching it, but be also prepared to be disappointed a bit.

How I imagine this movie came to be: Richard Linklater presented his script to some studio people and they said to him: Well, you wrote a nice story with every cliché in the book and painful to read dialogue. We like it, but we have like 50 of these piled up here already. So what's the difference? And Linklater thought for a few seconds and said: Well, I would like to make this movie incredibly hard to make and give it an pointless, yet somehow fascinating gimmick. Well, we all now about the gimmick and when you think to yourself, they filmed that years ago, that's kinda crazy. But ultimately it doesn't add anything to the movie, because in the end you could tell me they just casted some kids that look the part and put some make up on Ethan Hawke and you had the same movie filmed in thirty days instead of 12 years. And like I already said, the script has every cliché you could wish for. Divorced parents? Check. New father is a drunk alcoholic who beats his wife? Check? They have to move every week? Check. Bullies who hate on Mason for no reason whatsoever and are only seen once? Check. Camping with Dad? Check. Emo hair? Check. Rednecks? Check. Wants to be an artist and is of course talented, but lacks work ethics? Check. Well, I do realise that something has to happen in the movie and this is a coming-of-age movie (you might say it's more, but I don't see how), so there will be a love story of some kind and school troubles, but this movie just adds nothing new to it. Ultimately the scenario just isn't very interesting or engaging, because nothing interesting or engaging happens. You just see people living a relatively difficult life and grow up. It's just like Breaking Bad, if your ripped the cooking drugs part out of it and just showed the scenes where the family does something mundane. Doesn't sound great? Yeah, it isn't. You might say the story is realistic and I agree, the stuff in this movie could happen. But other than a documentary which would follow those people over a decade, you still know that there is a script and something will happen, but just because it needs to happen to keep the movie going and not because it is destiny or even just coincidence. Maybe that's the big problem with the movie, it wants to simulate life, but life has no script. You might also say I'm completely missing the point of the movie and it has some deeper meaning I'm just not seeing and maybe that is the case, but I think this movie is just unnecessary and bland. But there are also some parts of the movie I like: Ethan Hawke is great in it. Like I already said, the whole idea of filming this over more than a decade instead of using make up and different actors definitely is fascinating, despite being pointless in my eyes.

Overall this movie is enjoyable. It is well made and the performances are all fine, although none of the characters really is as deep as they might should have been. Except maybe for Neil Patrick Harris character, which comes of as extremely bland to me. But I think the main problem with the movie is, that the reveal that Amy is still alive comes before the half of the movie, I think it would have been much more interesting to see him build up as more of a bad guy, because as soon as you see her alive, you know all is a scam and what Ben Afflecks character really did to her is totally unclear. He might have hit her, but he might not. It really felt this was some kind of end of the movie reveal that turns everything around, but then you have still over an hour of movie left and that doesn't make much sense to me. The story in itself isn't too bad, but of course not very believable, to put it mildly. And some of the dialog is hard to listen to because it's just awkward and doesn't work. Overall, the movie is far from totally terrible, but not a masterpiece by any means.

The main problem with this movie is, that there is really no sensible way to make a sequel to Cube. But they probably got more money to do a sequel and who would say no to that? So what could they do? Of course! Build a larger Cube! Genius! And time shenanigans for some reason. Genius? And, of course, the government is behind it all. Super Genius! But the movie itself isn't that terrible I find, it has some enjoyable scenes and the cube is still terrifying enough to keep you interested. Like I already said, the movie is far from horrible or unwatchable, but there is just no point to a Cube sequel to exist in the first place. I have yet to watch the prequel, but that seems to be even more pointless than this film.

Well, this movie makes no sense at all, but I would lie if I said I didn't enjoy it. The whole plot seems to be about the connection between mother and child which some unknown (but able to catapult people into space) force is trying to understand. Why? Who knows! Who cares! The atmosphere is nice and the performances are decent, but not groundbreaking. The camera work is nice and the music fittingly creepy. I enjoyed the catapult-into-space scenes, although, again, they don't make any sense. Overall, like I said, it didn't make sense, but I enjoyed it. I don't know anything about the alternate ending, but it seems to be good.