Mr. Ridley has always done his best work, when others rewrite him. He famously denied Steve McQueen, a writing credit for 12 Years A Slave, even though that film was heavily rewritten, the same with Three Kings.
The screenplay to this film shows off Mr. Ridley's weaknesses, his lack of narrative drive, his inability to capture the female voice, and making them props for men in the film.
But the central conceit of the film is rather good, maybe because it is based on someone else's idea, Robert Silverberg's 1966 Needle In A Timestack, is still central to the film's set up, including the women who feel like they belong in 1966.
Everything is directed to look like a Macy's commercial from 2014. So that there is this sort of bland, instagram photos instead of cinematography style to it, which takes away from the scope of a story that could have been exceptionally cinematic.
There is such a great idea here though, particularly if everyone has the ability to travel and fix mistakes, and the women had been given agency over this once it was discovered, an ultimate game of cat and mouse and upmanship could have taken place. Instead we get the most boring version of this idea. If only someone had done a rewrite.
Mr. Ridley has several directing projects coming up including a biopic on Shirley Chisholm, starring Regina King, one would hope that the screenwriter for that is at least, a woman, or someone who can write one.
The screenplay to this film shows off Mr. Ridley's weaknesses, his lack of narrative drive, his inability to capture the female voice, and making them props for men in the film.
But the central conceit of the film is rather good, maybe because it is based on someone else's idea, Robert Silverberg's 1966 Needle In A Timestack, is still central to the film's set up, including the women who feel like they belong in 1966.
Everything is directed to look like a Macy's commercial from 2014. So that there is this sort of bland, instagram photos instead of cinematography style to it, which takes away from the scope of a story that could have been exceptionally cinematic.
There is such a great idea here though, particularly if everyone has the ability to travel and fix mistakes, and the women had been given agency over this once it was discovered, an ultimate game of cat and mouse and upmanship could have taken place. Instead we get the most boring version of this idea. If only someone had done a rewrite.
Mr. Ridley has several directing projects coming up including a biopic on Shirley Chisholm, starring Regina King, one would hope that the screenwriter for that is at least, a woman, or someone who can write one.