I gave this 2 stars because of its potential.
There is a big problem though. That problem is laziness. There is a phrase where something is greater than the sum of its parts. In this case, the failure is greater than the sum of the smaller fails. But the whole film is riddled with laziness. That I find hard to accept.
The story has the potential to be riveting, it could be a slow burn kind of riveting, but it could have been great. However there were corners cut for no apparent reason. This has nothing to do with budget.
When the woman gives up her car to save the family, there could have been a moment of human understanding, there could have been pathos, there could have been emotion... and it would have only require the existing lines to have been more thought out, and the emotions explored in only a few lines more.
When the casting was carried out, it would have not taken much work to ensure that the daughters actually looked younger than their mother.
The director could have worked with the cast to explore the emotions their characters were feeling.
The effects were obviously done on a budget, but that has not stopped other films becoming a cult classic. But that was because of the work put into the other areas of the respective films. In this example that extra work was not done.
The big shame is that this film could have been so much better, but failed to meet that potential because of laziness. This is the visual equivalent of the student who has a full term to complete their thesis, but has spent all their time and student loan on parties and social events, then tries to scrape a pass with several litres of coffee and a couple of late nights.
Then there are the stupid errors. The cave leader who did not take notice of the environmental issues. This is the kind of mistake that an amateur caving team makes before hitting the news as 'cavers killed in flooded cave' or, if they are lucky, 'cavers rescued from flooded cave'. (as someone who used to enjoy caving, when I was a lot slimmer, this seems to be an accurate analogy). Or when Peter reaches for the central console to hang up a call in his Merc.... I drive that model of Merc, and know that the phone controls are on the steering wheel!!! Why the stupid mistakes?
As mentioned earlier, the failure of this film is greater than the sum of the individual failures throughout. Therefore the only word that describes this is lazy. The biggest issue I have is that despite the poor casting and despite the limited budget, it could have been a brilliant film. That is the biggest fault.
There is a big problem though. That problem is laziness. There is a phrase where something is greater than the sum of its parts. In this case, the failure is greater than the sum of the smaller fails. But the whole film is riddled with laziness. That I find hard to accept.
The story has the potential to be riveting, it could be a slow burn kind of riveting, but it could have been great. However there were corners cut for no apparent reason. This has nothing to do with budget.
When the woman gives up her car to save the family, there could have been a moment of human understanding, there could have been pathos, there could have been emotion... and it would have only require the existing lines to have been more thought out, and the emotions explored in only a few lines more.
When the casting was carried out, it would have not taken much work to ensure that the daughters actually looked younger than their mother.
The director could have worked with the cast to explore the emotions their characters were feeling.
The effects were obviously done on a budget, but that has not stopped other films becoming a cult classic. But that was because of the work put into the other areas of the respective films. In this example that extra work was not done.
The big shame is that this film could have been so much better, but failed to meet that potential because of laziness. This is the visual equivalent of the student who has a full term to complete their thesis, but has spent all their time and student loan on parties and social events, then tries to scrape a pass with several litres of coffee and a couple of late nights.
Then there are the stupid errors. The cave leader who did not take notice of the environmental issues. This is the kind of mistake that an amateur caving team makes before hitting the news as 'cavers killed in flooded cave' or, if they are lucky, 'cavers rescued from flooded cave'. (as someone who used to enjoy caving, when I was a lot slimmer, this seems to be an accurate analogy). Or when Peter reaches for the central console to hang up a call in his Merc.... I drive that model of Merc, and know that the phone controls are on the steering wheel!!! Why the stupid mistakes?
As mentioned earlier, the failure of this film is greater than the sum of the individual failures throughout. Therefore the only word that describes this is lazy. The biggest issue I have is that despite the poor casting and despite the limited budget, it could have been a brilliant film. That is the biggest fault.