No idea what this director was trying to say with his story and movie. The production quality is not an obstacle to the story line , but the dialog is. Hayes(nolan) has baggage and it ends up on titan trying to figure out what he thinks is a murder, but is not sure because of some abstract and esoteric notions based on his history and some vitamin e pills he's taking but we are to infer they are drugs of some sort. This movie never brings you to a conclusion so you are left with the last 10 minutes of the movie trying to stage an ending but it just keeps swirling the drain never really flushing out the ending. Makes the ending of interstellar look didactic comparatively.
5 Reviews
Good movie if you want to sleep ...
Clantron22 February 2006
It surprisingly does have a storyline. however, I think the script is like 2 pages big because barely anybody speaks in this movie. The problem is that this movie does give you the idea it might kick in any moment, but in the end all I waited for was the credits it appeared since it never kicked in. Hugely disappointed because the storyline on the back of the cover seemed interesting. The movie keeps you wondering what's gonna happen next, but every time nothing happens.
This movie was probably the worst spend 5 euro of my life.
I gave it a 2/10 because in general I don't believe in 1/10. I consider those hate-scores. People that don't bother...
This movie was probably the worst spend 5 euro of my life.
I gave it a 2/10 because in general I don't believe in 1/10. I consider those hate-scores. People that don't bother...
Like watching sponge migrate
taveeta_t21 October 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Despite an alluring title and the promise of scifi mysticism, not to mention a lot of hype, Ascension is nothing more than a college film gone horribly wrong. Sixty and some odd minutes of close-ups, reaction shots, bad fades, flashback sequences and confused, lethargic and all around uninteresting characters running around inside what looks like my grandma's basement trying to escape some mysterious storm that seems to have a life of its own.
The movie was meant to be something spiritual and haunting. An look inside the concept of what human beings perceive as life and death, good and evil and the very nature of forgiveness, acceptance, god and the afterlife. Instead, it's a giant tease with no payoff.
The Titan storm....never really explained. Is it god? Is Titan some metaphor for purgatory? Is the missing lead scientist some sort of supernatural entity now? Does the director know that he filmed the most un-sexy love scene in all cinematic history? The two remaining scientists on Titan never really do anything, serve no purpose and pretty much just serve as a distraction from the rest of this jumbled story. And by the time you get to the end, you don't really care. Other reviews will go on and on about how beautifully this film was shot and how they did it on a shoestring budget. News flash.....it doesn't cost much money to make a sluggish, self-indulgent borefest like this rubbish .aka...Ascension...aka....John Krawlzik, go back to your day job. Avoid at all costs.
The movie was meant to be something spiritual and haunting. An look inside the concept of what human beings perceive as life and death, good and evil and the very nature of forgiveness, acceptance, god and the afterlife. Instead, it's a giant tease with no payoff.
The Titan storm....never really explained. Is it god? Is Titan some metaphor for purgatory? Is the missing lead scientist some sort of supernatural entity now? Does the director know that he filmed the most un-sexy love scene in all cinematic history? The two remaining scientists on Titan never really do anything, serve no purpose and pretty much just serve as a distraction from the rest of this jumbled story. And by the time you get to the end, you don't really care. Other reviews will go on and on about how beautifully this film was shot and how they did it on a shoestring budget. News flash.....it doesn't cost much money to make a sluggish, self-indulgent borefest like this rubbish .aka...Ascension...aka....John Krawlzik, go back to your day job. Avoid at all costs.
Wonderful, lyrical brooding movie
jrundin22 July 2013
I really enjoyed this movie, which tells the story of an agent sent out to investigate the mysterious death of a scientist stationed on a moon of Saturn. Apparently, the scientist chose one day to walk out of his station with no protective gear and died.
The film manages with music and cinematography and acting to create an atmosphere of deep paranoia and anxiety. It's really quite beautiful to watch. Some may find it slow and lumbering, but that adds to the overall emotional effect. I found myself hypnotized by the leisurely pace and slow exposition of the characters' mental states through pregnant dialog and careful cinematography.
As for criticisms I have read about the sets, go see a crappy zillion dollar Hollywood movie if that's what you want. I thought the sets were perfect for the story--claustrophobic, industrial, and threatening.
My only criticism is that a bit more of a plot or a final revelation would have increased the film's entertainment value. The dialog is well-written, but others have complained that the story goes nowhere. I can understand this criticism, but I feel the film's other virtues make up for it.
It perhaps would have been better had the central revelations of the movie been presented in ways that resolved the tensions so well developed in the film. Two big questions propel the movie forward. The first is what happened to the dead scientist. The second is how the investigating agent came to be on this mission and in his disturbed frame of mind. Neither issue gets a completely clear resolution. Moreover, it might have been nice if the resolutions of both had a clear connection.
I think the movie's creator may have stumbled over one of the most common obstacles in the making of fantasy or science-fiction quest movies of this sort. Ultimately, it is very hard to create a revelation that is worth all the build up but not trivial or ridiculous or incomprehensible. The end of Kubrick's 2001 is a case in point.
More plot-contrived intrigue would've helped, too--clearer deceptions and recognitions of deceptions among the characters. I think that that would've alleviated some of the critical complaints that nothing happens in the movie. However, while such plotting may have made the movie easier to watch for people who crave more action, it also may have done damage to the creator's vision, too--who I think was trying to create a sense of brooding mystery with no clear answers.
Perhaps the creator should have re-read "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles. Now there's a murder mystery for the ages, where, through complex twists and turns and revelations a resolution is reached that solves the murder and affects the investigator.
I loved this film; I hope its creator does more; I just hope he is willing next time to pay a bit more attention to theories of plotting movies for interest.
The film manages with music and cinematography and acting to create an atmosphere of deep paranoia and anxiety. It's really quite beautiful to watch. Some may find it slow and lumbering, but that adds to the overall emotional effect. I found myself hypnotized by the leisurely pace and slow exposition of the characters' mental states through pregnant dialog and careful cinematography.
As for criticisms I have read about the sets, go see a crappy zillion dollar Hollywood movie if that's what you want. I thought the sets were perfect for the story--claustrophobic, industrial, and threatening.
My only criticism is that a bit more of a plot or a final revelation would have increased the film's entertainment value. The dialog is well-written, but others have complained that the story goes nowhere. I can understand this criticism, but I feel the film's other virtues make up for it.
It perhaps would have been better had the central revelations of the movie been presented in ways that resolved the tensions so well developed in the film. Two big questions propel the movie forward. The first is what happened to the dead scientist. The second is how the investigating agent came to be on this mission and in his disturbed frame of mind. Neither issue gets a completely clear resolution. Moreover, it might have been nice if the resolutions of both had a clear connection.
I think the movie's creator may have stumbled over one of the most common obstacles in the making of fantasy or science-fiction quest movies of this sort. Ultimately, it is very hard to create a revelation that is worth all the build up but not trivial or ridiculous or incomprehensible. The end of Kubrick's 2001 is a case in point.
More plot-contrived intrigue would've helped, too--clearer deceptions and recognitions of deceptions among the characters. I think that that would've alleviated some of the critical complaints that nothing happens in the movie. However, while such plotting may have made the movie easier to watch for people who crave more action, it also may have done damage to the creator's vision, too--who I think was trying to create a sense of brooding mystery with no clear answers.
Perhaps the creator should have re-read "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles. Now there's a murder mystery for the ages, where, through complex twists and turns and revelations a resolution is reached that solves the murder and affects the investigator.
I loved this film; I hope its creator does more; I just hope he is willing next time to pay a bit more attention to theories of plotting movies for interest.
Red landing ... it's a Dark Colony reference ...
gulandro11 February 2023
Warning: Spoilers
It was.an ominous experience how I got the DVD for this one. In a small.second hand bookshop's back are above old, used movies I found this one in sealed condition with the title: "Red Moon". The owner didn't even allowed me to pay for it.
It was a movie night day with my fellow movie knights, and when I presented my loot for them everybody agreed this will be (the first) movie that night. And than it started with a strong homage of Blade runner, with a slash of Total Recall, continued as a Solaris ripoff, with hints of Alien.
All of them are right at my alley, and it seems it is in the director-writer-cinematographer's too. This rare subgenre of sci-fi I call the "corridor-thriller" when the main character is not the actors, not the viewers but a piece of the set, which is also presented on the cover variaton where the film is called Ascension.
So an old, sad and lonely corridor in space suffers in bad conditions, surrounded by slighty crazy people who are into poetry. I feel that. Who wouldn't? The music strongly supports the mood as the flesh people roaming these tight ways spiral closer and closer into madness, and apart each other.
When it's best it feels like an uncredited Philip K. Dick short story or a retelling of a Lovecraftesque RPG session. When it's worst reminds me of the 2006 Doom movie's scenes without violence, Rock and Éomer.
I think I get the message, but also because I feel the structure the director-writer-cinematographer was going for is too open ended sometimes. I works like LEGO, all the sets are thrown around and if you want and care you can create your own version of the story by watching it again and again, but I think its as risky as the LEGO pieces because you can step on something unwanted and feel a certain, childish pain... If you want that.
I also think the ending should have been visually more brave like a the Fountain's or Dante 01's. Even if they didn have the budget, in 1999 something with early CGI could have been made. So I do imagine the storm ripping away metal and flesh alike and the corridor finally becoming free, but That's where the movie loose one star for me.
If you start brave, be brave until the end ... no matter what.
It was a movie night day with my fellow movie knights, and when I presented my loot for them everybody agreed this will be (the first) movie that night. And than it started with a strong homage of Blade runner, with a slash of Total Recall, continued as a Solaris ripoff, with hints of Alien.
All of them are right at my alley, and it seems it is in the director-writer-cinematographer's too. This rare subgenre of sci-fi I call the "corridor-thriller" when the main character is not the actors, not the viewers but a piece of the set, which is also presented on the cover variaton where the film is called Ascension.
So an old, sad and lonely corridor in space suffers in bad conditions, surrounded by slighty crazy people who are into poetry. I feel that. Who wouldn't? The music strongly supports the mood as the flesh people roaming these tight ways spiral closer and closer into madness, and apart each other.
When it's best it feels like an uncredited Philip K. Dick short story or a retelling of a Lovecraftesque RPG session. When it's worst reminds me of the 2006 Doom movie's scenes without violence, Rock and Éomer.
I think I get the message, but also because I feel the structure the director-writer-cinematographer was going for is too open ended sometimes. I works like LEGO, all the sets are thrown around and if you want and care you can create your own version of the story by watching it again and again, but I think its as risky as the LEGO pieces because you can step on something unwanted and feel a certain, childish pain... If you want that.
I also think the ending should have been visually more brave like a the Fountain's or Dante 01's. Even if they didn have the budget, in 1999 something with early CGI could have been made. So I do imagine the storm ripping away metal and flesh alike and the corridor finally becoming free, but That's where the movie loose one star for me.
If you start brave, be brave until the end ... no matter what.
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