This movie had a premise with a lot of promise but unfortunately it just doesn't deliver and it soon devolves into a dull, boring and uninspired production.
Also entitled "Dark Metropolis", the movie screams of very low production value, some awful scenes which should have been removed or re-filmed and perhaps some misguided casting.
Eric Scott Woods main character seemed completely miscast at first, he just didn't fit the part of a leader. Perhaps if they had more takes to choose from they could have made some of those scenes work better but as it is he comes across initially as a very bad actor and throws the movie off it's rails. Later on though there are some scenes where he does a much better job, showing he had potential all along but, whether it's due to a low budget and time restrictions preventing them from re-shooting some scenes, his performance early on in the movie leaves a lot to be desired.
There's also some cheap voice sound effects which serve to emphasize that a **SLIGHT SPOILER** Channeler is "possessed" or "inhabited" by an non-physical alien "spirit".**END SPOILER** It's the typical pitch drop effect which has been so overused in movies that it's outright redundant now and only serves to lower the tone even further.
Some of the scripting is awful too while other parts are acceptable. It's inconsistent and just doesn't work for the most part.
The one fight scene was unrealistic and appeared painfully staged. It was like a fight scene from an old 1950s run-of-the-mill cowboy movie, totally inauthentic and immediately laughable.
In terms of CGI effects, aliens or anything like that - they are virtually non-existent. There's only ONE static shot of the underground city which is actually regurgitated more than once in the movie and there's one (very poor) weapon firing effect. That's it! No more effects.
All in all, this turned out to be worse than most sci-fi TV movies. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, even die-hard science fiction fans. It felt more like a school play with adult actors who nearly all did a pretty poor job. A total waste of time and money. And what makes it worse is that they had the nerve to imply there was a sequel in the pipeline! An unforgivably bad movie. The only reason I gave it a 2 (and not a 1) is because all the actors showed potential, they just didn't fulfill that potential in this movie.
Also entitled "Dark Metropolis", the movie screams of very low production value, some awful scenes which should have been removed or re-filmed and perhaps some misguided casting.
Eric Scott Woods main character seemed completely miscast at first, he just didn't fit the part of a leader. Perhaps if they had more takes to choose from they could have made some of those scenes work better but as it is he comes across initially as a very bad actor and throws the movie off it's rails. Later on though there are some scenes where he does a much better job, showing he had potential all along but, whether it's due to a low budget and time restrictions preventing them from re-shooting some scenes, his performance early on in the movie leaves a lot to be desired.
There's also some cheap voice sound effects which serve to emphasize that a **SLIGHT SPOILER** Channeler is "possessed" or "inhabited" by an non-physical alien "spirit".**END SPOILER** It's the typical pitch drop effect which has been so overused in movies that it's outright redundant now and only serves to lower the tone even further.
Some of the scripting is awful too while other parts are acceptable. It's inconsistent and just doesn't work for the most part.
The one fight scene was unrealistic and appeared painfully staged. It was like a fight scene from an old 1950s run-of-the-mill cowboy movie, totally inauthentic and immediately laughable.
In terms of CGI effects, aliens or anything like that - they are virtually non-existent. There's only ONE static shot of the underground city which is actually regurgitated more than once in the movie and there's one (very poor) weapon firing effect. That's it! No more effects.
All in all, this turned out to be worse than most sci-fi TV movies. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, even die-hard science fiction fans. It felt more like a school play with adult actors who nearly all did a pretty poor job. A total waste of time and money. And what makes it worse is that they had the nerve to imply there was a sequel in the pipeline! An unforgivably bad movie. The only reason I gave it a 2 (and not a 1) is because all the actors showed potential, they just didn't fulfill that potential in this movie.