I slept so soundly watching this. It's essentially one set and they bicker about things. This goes on for what seems like 4 hours but it's not that long. As a scifi movie it's sort of ok, i mean there isn't much science and the fiction isn't too far out. Those pesky humans have wrecked the planet, I know right, so original. There is some military plot to do something. There's a bit of conspiracy that they knew it would happen. There's some fights. Then somehow there's a kid on board followed by the most annoying closing theme music imaginable, due to the constant varying of the volume which just hurts your ears.
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fluffchop23 January 2023
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kevinleenorwood25 August 2022I love to watch any movie that centers itself around space. There are a lot of them that I have seen that blow this away, but there are some that would fall under my opinion of this one. Does get boring in spots, and when it comes out of the boredom, it flatlines a little. Almost turned it off about 45 minutes in, but glad I finished it.
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Tweetienator19 October 2022If a boring and dragged story is a trademark of a movie for a grown up audience, Rubikon is a well made and well composed movie. Sadly, I got to say - production and acting wise, this is no bad movie, but the story itself has not much substance nor is it much sci-fi. What we get is an end of mankind scenario like so many movies provide these days and than we watch some guys in space talking and do some talking more - by the way, how a space crew should save the world or survivors of a catastrophic event of global scale (with the technical resources at disposal ) a mystery to me. For what reason should they even consider to go back to Earth? The ending is also rather a cliche. Anyway, I guess Rubikon is watchable, but I won't recommend watching this one.
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pontram3 July 2022Rubikon is a very captivating movie that caught (at least) me by surprise, like "Quiet Earth", back in the 80s.
The pacing is a bit slow, but doesn't steal your time. The acting (especially Julia F. Richter, you may have never heard from her before) is great. Directing, camera, cut, all decent. Setting and special effects are on par with a-list productions (where today CGI is often looking great, regardless of the budget).
Storywise, you may know what you get from the trailer. Earth is suddenly devastated by the appearance of a toxic cloud, and there is a conflict on the station about going down to save survivors, or staying.
Of course, this is not a space opera, there is no shooting and only very small amounts of fighting. It is a three-person- chamber drama that explores a possible future, and how a few survivors would come through.
This is all laid out very convincing and atmospheric. Of course it is not perfect, there are some strange moments or reactions, one may not understand at first´and a few inconsistencies. But it all plays out.
People who criticize acting and direction have to consider that this is a European production and therefore different in tone and expression from North American ones.
I clearly give it 8 points.
People who criticize acting and direction have to consider that this is a European production and therefore different in tone and expression from North American ones.
I clearly give it 8 points. -
vasvadum3 August 2022Whew, that was a lot of boring to sit through. This movie was just so dumb, like they made it up as they went along not knowing what they were doing.
Director: "Guys, I wanna make a movie about space. Lets begin and fill in the blanks as we go along."
You want to know what happens in this movie? Alright. I'll tell you in the best way possible that saves you the time of watching it.
"Oh we've come here to steal the station" "No wait, nevermind, Earth is dead so now, so lets live up here." "No wait, survivors, we should save the humans even at the risk of my baby." "No wait, nevermind, F the humans, I want this baby." "No wait, nevermind, boyfriend killed himself, so time to save the humans." "No wait, nevermind, F the humans again, my baby is still more important." "Oh hey, the humans survived anyway."
With some corporations are evil jargon mixed in here and there. -
ianclarke3401 July 2022On first hearing the plot and storyline I had high hopes for this one but it really doesn't stand any type of scrutiny at all !
Yes, I realise you have to suspend any tendencies to disbelieve but there has to be some level of accuracy otherwise it's just nonsense, this had an excess of nonsense !
If you are writing a story that relies on physics then you really need to understand the physics involved, it's no good hoping people won't know any better ! As for entertainment value well this is just a misery fest for the sake of it and every attempt by the victims to rescue the situation fails for no clear reasons ! In the beginning there is a navigation issue with no explanation which gets ignored, then there is the main atmospheric issue which again gets no clear explanation. Then there are technical issues that can't be properly accounted for and of course the old element of 'human error' despite the fact that astronauts are carefully selected to avoid these issues !
Wooden acting, lousy dialogue, all the actors seemed to either hate each other or hate what they were doing ! There is so much wrong with this, it's just a mess and leaves you with the distinct feeling that they had nothing better to do and a huge budget weighing them down so they just made it up as they went along !
Garbage ! -
deacon_blues-8863211 June 2023Drama, drama, drama!!! Oh! Boo hoo!
Don't make a rational decision to preserve the human species, just create false moral dilemmas so actors can emote for the cameras!
If the choice is between preserving the human species or risking the entire species to save some survivors, the choice is clear! Don't risk the future of the species in an endeavor that would likely cause the death of all humanity!
By the end, it turns out that the situation on earth was not as catastrophic as first supposed anyway, and people do survive the catastrophe without the intervention of the crew on the Rubikon.
The Gavin character kills himself in an attempt to end all human life just because he feels guilty about not being able to risk everyone's life to save some survivors on earth; not to mention those survivors ordered the wholesale death of all the military personnel who were responsible for their survival!!!
I have no idea what this movie was trying to accomplish, other than wasting my time so that a few actors could have some contrived situations to emote about. -
smartypantsz5 July 2022I love a good Sci-Fi space movie, so I just had to check this out. If it was in the 2 to 3 IMDb rating-range, I wouldn't, but above 4 - and it being up my alley, I had to give it a go. The story leaves something to be desired, but the effort is all-the-way I think. The special effects, the atmosphere, the cinematography, and look and feel of the ship were worthy of holding my attention alone, and the acting was decent by all 3 of the leads, espcecially Julia Franz Richter. What REALLY helped with the mood and feel - and the gravity of the situation - was the soundtrack! An excellent job by Daniel Helmer and Wolf-Maximilian Liebich.
This being Magdalena Lauritsch's first featue-length film, I must give her props for putting together a cohesive film, with very strong effects and mood. Not an Oscar-winner by any stretch, but if you like Sci-Fi thrillers in space, then this is definitely worth the time and forgiving the not-so-stellar storyline... -
namob-436732 July 2022After reading the plot-line and seeing a trailer I thought this could be pretty good. Sadly I was very much mistaken.
The positives are that this feels well-made with decently high production value. Cinematography is mostly great. Music is okay and serve its purpose. And of course the idea of having a claustrophobic space station with, perhaps, the final humans alive looking down on a "dying" earth wondering what they do now. Psychologically very interesting, and although not a completely new idea it is fresh enough.
Sadly I constantly got the feeling that the above positives was all they had and they tried to make a movie out of that with no real thought process. The actors are pretty bad, but it is not only their fault. It is clear that the directing and editing make their performance look worse than it actually is. The idea behind the movie is never fully explored and in-between my yawns I could never see a explanation to anything going on - which would be fine if they could manage to explore the psychological aspect and the "In Space No One Can Hear You Scream" sort of feel that I thought this would be, but nah. There is like 3-4 plot threads in this movie and none of them are pulled on or explored or get any form of conclusion.
This is messy, badly acted, horribly directed, and idiotically produced.
Was there even a script? Did anyone involved with the movie actually know what this was about? Did anyone bother reading up on science? The answer to these three questions have to be a No.
I give this a 3/10 which is kinda generous, but this has a few redeeming qualities and it is not completely awful. But I cannot recommend this and you should stay away. -
To me Rubikon should have a higher rating. This shows again that you can't always rely on these ratings. Rubikon isn't a high budget movie but it doesn't look cheap at all. The plot is interesting, pleasant to follow, with a little bit of suspense every now and then. Maybe a bit too slow paced at times. As for the acting it was okay, sometimes Julia Franz Richter didn't look very convincing but overal it wasn't bad. For the fans of sci-fi and space movies this one is worth watching.
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Ckn4811 September 2022No reason is given for this toxic fog rapidly covering planet earth Other than humans have been screwing up the planet since industrialisation.
The will they, won't they, gets a bit much after a time.
The Gravity (low budget) is mysterious.
This movie fails to explain most of the plot.
Cut to 10ish years later, one initially assumes, why... as in, we are condemning the inhabitants to a long slow lonely death. Then we hear a radio signal from a group in the southern hemisphere who can walk around outside without breathing apparatus.
How the oddball family unit is supposed to get down to the planet is never explored.
The movie makes no sense, doesnt explain anything and is achingly slow.
The Plot is mediocre The Script is mediocre The sound is OK The Photography is mediocre The Acting is mediocre
The Plot is Boring 😴 -
Top_Dawg_Critic2 July 2022So this probably wont be for the those sci-fi fans, of which I am, but, it still delivered the goods as a compelling somber sci-fi with a deep-themed morality story about the deadly consequences of human behavior, and it was done so well, I really enjoyed it.
This is Austrian novice-filmmaker Magdalena Lauritsch's first full length feature film debut as co-writer (with novice writer Jessica Lind), and director, with only three prior short films. For an international low budget B-film from novice filmmakers, this was breathtakingly shot and directed, with a story that had constant tension and suspense.
I'm not a fan of slow paced films, and at 110 mins long, it should've been cut down to around 90 minutes, but nevertheless, the story was told very well and very cohesively. The cinematography was perfection, and the visual effects and sets were stunning. The score was absolute perfection, especially considering it's a B-film. Casting and performances by all were spot-on and convincing.
Aside from the slow pacing and long length, this film was otherwise near perfect. Sure I would've liked some more "sci" in the "fi", but as entertaining as that would've been, it may have taken away from the theme Lauritsch wanted to tell her story. For me, this rarely works, but she managed to pull it off, because I usually either walk out, fast forward or end watching slow and/or long films, and I stayed eyes wide-open until the ending, of which some may say was incomplete, but I say it was perfect. In a genius sort of way, the last minute of the film is deep and says a lot more than what it doesn't say, so mad props to Lauritsch and Lind for closing it off that way.
It's too bad the critics went hard on this one - it has almost every component that defines a great film, and I appreciated it that much more considering this was put together by new filmmakers on a tight budget. I hope that Lauritsch and Lind's ending that may have left an open window to a Part 2, comes to fruition. It's a well deserved 8/10 from me. -
rago-522194 July 2022Soooo tired of the experts reminding us of similar movies made before.. seen dozens of " Top Gun" type movies so does that matter? Should I skip Top Gun?
If I never saw it, then it's a new movie for me regardless of similarities of other sci fi types. How many White Shark movies have been made?,, we still watch most of them.. don't let the " we know what's best" critics ruin every movie that comes out.. -
Thanos_Alfie8 March 2023"Rubikon" is a Drama - Sci-Fi movie in which we watch the crew of a space station trying to decide whether to return to Earth and search for survivors after a toxic fog covered it or stay safe inside the space station.
I did not find interesting this movie since its plot was simple and quite shallow. The direction which was made by Magdalena Lauritsch was not something special or innovative, it followed the safe pattern of a Sci-Fi thriller movie and used some suspense with a little bit of mystery to gain the interest of the audience but it failed. The interpretations of the cast followed the same pattern and they could not save this movie even though they tried to do so. In conclusion, I have to say that since I did not have any expectation from "Rubikon", I was not disappointed by it but I won't also recommend it to anyone since it wasted my time. -
DavidWurawa24 September 2022I had high hopes for this movie. The plot and storyline were very promising, but the movie didn´t deliver. It explained little to nothing and the performaces all-round were subpar, with zero surprises.
The cinematography, CGI, and production design are excellent. The sound track was very good, it drove the movie. It´s a good effort by Ms Lauritsch as I believe this is her first feature. She is most definitely a talent. I'm impressed by the film makers who were brave enough to try something different which is not so easy in the Austrian film industry.
Never the less go and watch it, might appeal to you.
Help support local talent.
I give it a 5 star for effort. -
Absolutely_Positive7 July 2022... Ugh! Are you kidding me.
Viewers want to root for filmmakers and actors. Viewers want stories to come together and make sense. Viewers do not have to agree with everything but at least a story has to have parts that fit with each other. Viewers can take a lot of abuse but don't want to be insulted.
I literally suspended disbelief for most of the movie but now I feel as if they thought they could take advantage of that. Characters flipped personas, technical concepts were rushed thru, people that believed in saving lives were willing to entertain suicide! But the fact that they want the audience to believe the characters did not look out the window for years was the last straw.
I wasted my time so you don't have to waste yours. -
pigdogg6 November 2022Rubikon(2022) - Science Fiction - Austria - 1 hr 50min - Set onboard an orbital Space Station this otherwise well done production was apparently written by a collection of hysterical emotional amateurs. When the opening minutes of the story begin the viewer will immediately perceive the skill with which the film has been crafted. Cinematography, color balance, lighting, set design are all composed with experienced professionalism. The acting is convincing and the directing on target. One will believe that a decent Science Fiction movie is on its way. Sadly it quickly becomes apparent that the writers have emotional problems of their own and have mercilessly incorporated those hysterical mental issues into the actions of their characters and the progress of the plot. Professional astronauts acting like bitter demented children having one tantrum after another. It makes no sense to the viewer. There is nothing believable or realistic in the actions of people that would normally be selected for their intelligence, calm demeanor and performance under extreme situations. It is as if the authors have absolutely no idea what it takes to become an astronaut. The overall result is ridiculous and almost unwatchable. Production 8.5 Acting 7.5 Characters 4.0 Plot 2.0 OVERALL: 5.0 (this review 2022nov.05)
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You'd be out of scale because you'd need like 30-stars range of rating. Such bold reviews and high rating in movies like this makes me think that they were given by people involved in the making of the film. Even if you saw only 10 random movies in your life I daresay you wouldn't give more than 5 stars to this one.
It really takes a skilled director and very good actors to achieve satisfying outcome with this kind of intimate and no-action scenario, but such assets were not provided for this film.
The movie is boring (and I didn't expect laser fights), poorly acted and could be filmed equally in either some house or basement as it gives no impression of being in space at all.
There's another low budget sci-fi movie released this year (2022), Deus, and that one, however not great, is a way better option for your lazy movie evening.
I give to this one a generous 4/10 because it doesn't really deserve any worse and in spite of all it was done with good intentions to deliver a wise (?) content to a viewer.
Not recommended. -
14% negative rating (1 point)? I don't understand. It is a remarkable science fiction film, with an interesting script, effective electronic score, convincing performances (especially George Blagden) and some great special effects.
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sjarja2 July 2022Well, that says it all. There is zero surprise when it comes to its story. It feels ... old.
Delivers only tropes and old story ideas of so many movies before. (small isolated group in a hostile environment confronted with a moral dilemma)
Nothing out of the box .. and pretty non innovative for 2022. -
thesweeze14 June 2023Acting was well done, hardware and special effects were top-notch, plot was pretty good, and different than many sci-fi movies in the mainstream, but one thing bothered me...at times, the actors spoke in their native tongue, sometimes at length, and it was impossible to understand what they were saying.
I tried subtitles, to no avail, it only showed the words spoken in English.
If I clicked on the subtitles "with descriptions" it translated for me, but was too annoying listening to their every move transcribed.
I felt with so much banter back and forth in Austrian/German, it really had me feeling out of the loop.
Surely they would have thought of that? -
Rubikon is a semi-enjoyable space drama. The science-fiction balance is heavily tipped towards fiction since the technical side is messy.
The film is an excellent example of what would happen if 'Prometheus' or 'Alien Covenant' astronauts were sent on a critical mission but with no xenomorphs. Everyone acts extremely selfish and unprofessional, no sane analysis is carried out, and no problem-solving is undertaken. Everybody pursues their selfish interests, some of which are closer to humanity's saving, and some are far away from it.
The film's weakest element was probably the acting since the production quality and design were pretty good. The main lead cannot act, and her voice lines convey no emotion whatsoever. And considering her choices, she fits pretty well; she is just a fictional person you wouldn't want to be in charge. An attempt to reach the pinnacle of a strong female lead in space - Ellen Ripley - failed miserably. You can't top this character's strong will and solid feminine mother side (especially with this kind of acting).
The film pushes a message of inequality among people, solidifying it by doing the same. The possibility of pregnancy is far more important than providing a life-saving opportunity for (at least) 300 people. It's ok to abandon them since they are CEOs. The fact that they would do the same justifies the inhuman treatment - an excellent screenwriting choice.
Overall, while the film left quite a bitter aftertaste, which wasn't intentional, it was still an ok watch. Some scenes needed more tuning and tighter editing, but the core is there. If not for the acting, I'd appreciate it much more.
I'd give it a (10 - 3 for the acting, - 1.5 for the slow pace and wasted run-time) = 5.5/10. Excellent production, interesting (but horrible) ideas, some thought put into it, but not quite polished.
As for a recommendation, it's hard to recommend this to sci-fi fans since it's closer to a drama in space rather than an entertaining sci-fi. Rubikon would probably play well for female audiences, especially those unfamiliar with science fiction. -
computer2computer7 July 2022Everything about this movie was great: plot, acting, special effects and even the small details... yet somehow the rating (under 5/10) is low to a degree that raises serious questions about who's behind those stupid numbers.
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supermellowcali8 July 2022I get the impression that the low review scores are from viewers expecting space action... this isn't that kind of movie. This one requires some attention to follow the important decisions and the information that comes to light which changes the decisions... and the ironic consequences. I thought this was a thoughtful and successful storytelling.