OMFG. Bruce Willis is an actor that a director has to know how to use to get the best out of. He has the acting chops, comic timing, and a star-quality presence, but to get an audience to buy what Willis is selling, the director has to package it right. This director couldn't wrap a Rubik's cube, let alone a complex beast like Willis, and he clearly couldn't afford a gift bag in which to hide his lack of packaging skills. Hence, Willis comes off as a cheap cardboard cutout, on which the film unfortunately blew the majority of its budget.
Thrown in with a discount-store 'junior Colin Farell and Jodie Foster knockoff Chinese Action Figurine' value pack, Willis doesn't even phone it in. In fact, I'm not sure if he even could be gifted with a generous "he texted it in". Thomas Jane gets off lightly by spending the great majority of the film in cryosleep - he may be able to wash off his association with this fetid puddle of space horror trope-vomit, given enough time.
This film lacks any originality, and is so mono-dimensional that any (possible?) attempt to tip its hat to the genre's greats telegraphs desperation, not pizzaz. The sets look like an elementary school cardboard diorama, and nothing is done to meaningfully disguise its low-budget nature. Foley frequently neglects to mask hollow, wooden clunks and thuds on walls and surfaces that should be metal. Lighting is flat and atmosphere-destroying (I've seen better-lit budget 1990s cable soap operas). Colour grading seems to favour uneven, generic "point and shoot" settings. Special effects are, well, bad. Some of the monster stuff is actually ok when hidden in the mist, but the ships and space scenes are worse than budget Dr who ships from the 70s, and effects such as muzzle flare look painted in with 80s paintbox technology.
I not sure what this film thinks it is, but it isn't. Urgh. Raw sewage.
Thrown in with a discount-store 'junior Colin Farell and Jodie Foster knockoff Chinese Action Figurine' value pack, Willis doesn't even phone it in. In fact, I'm not sure if he even could be gifted with a generous "he texted it in". Thomas Jane gets off lightly by spending the great majority of the film in cryosleep - he may be able to wash off his association with this fetid puddle of space horror trope-vomit, given enough time.
This film lacks any originality, and is so mono-dimensional that any (possible?) attempt to tip its hat to the genre's greats telegraphs desperation, not pizzaz. The sets look like an elementary school cardboard diorama, and nothing is done to meaningfully disguise its low-budget nature. Foley frequently neglects to mask hollow, wooden clunks and thuds on walls and surfaces that should be metal. Lighting is flat and atmosphere-destroying (I've seen better-lit budget 1990s cable soap operas). Colour grading seems to favour uneven, generic "point and shoot" settings. Special effects are, well, bad. Some of the monster stuff is actually ok when hidden in the mist, but the ships and space scenes are worse than budget Dr who ships from the 70s, and effects such as muzzle flare look painted in with 80s paintbox technology.
I not sure what this film thinks it is, but it isn't. Urgh. Raw sewage.