Honestly, I don't understand the 1s (or the 10s), but it certainly wasn't as bad as the average reviews here insinuate. At the same time, it's far from a 10, and definitely a one and done kind of flick.
It's absolutely more thriller than sci-fi and relies heavily on the "mystery" of what's going on, which means nobody can just talk straight about anything. As a result, Fonseca is just frog-hopping from pad to pad, clue by clue, until she gets to one big reveal, which at least solves enough mystery to know who she can/can't trust and where to go next which ultimately leads her to the final reveal, which of course is not entirely what she had predicted. The problem with that method of storytelling is the supporting characters start to get frustrating fast. You'd think at least "government agent guy" would be a little more straightforward and less lackey villain in a suit, but unfortunately he comes across as the latter for a good 90% of the film. Also as others have pointed out in their reviews, the token ally character is both written as rather bland and definitely portrayed that way. However, the overall mystery is decent and does wrap up in the end, although yes, it does leave you with questions assuming you were engaged in the first place. Overall, not bad, just doesn't really add anything new in terms of story mechanics/plot formula for the genre(s). Lyndsy Fonseca was great in the lead though, it's just a shame she has to carry most of the other cast too. And Linda Hamilton's role is tragically short and almost pointless except to put her name in the credits.
It's absolutely more thriller than sci-fi and relies heavily on the "mystery" of what's going on, which means nobody can just talk straight about anything. As a result, Fonseca is just frog-hopping from pad to pad, clue by clue, until she gets to one big reveal, which at least solves enough mystery to know who she can/can't trust and where to go next which ultimately leads her to the final reveal, which of course is not entirely what she had predicted. The problem with that method of storytelling is the supporting characters start to get frustrating fast. You'd think at least "government agent guy" would be a little more straightforward and less lackey villain in a suit, but unfortunately he comes across as the latter for a good 90% of the film. Also as others have pointed out in their reviews, the token ally character is both written as rather bland and definitely portrayed that way. However, the overall mystery is decent and does wrap up in the end, although yes, it does leave you with questions assuming you were engaged in the first place. Overall, not bad, just doesn't really add anything new in terms of story mechanics/plot formula for the genre(s). Lyndsy Fonseca was great in the lead though, it's just a shame she has to carry most of the other cast too. And Linda Hamilton's role is tragically short and almost pointless except to put her name in the credits.