I'm really confused. The main characters are pre-teens so you would think the movie was aimed towards that age group. But no, between the violence, profanity, and innuendo, I would definitely not let a pre-teen watch it. But again, the characters are kids. It isn't funny nor charming enough for adults, the action sequences were horrendously bad, and most of it made absolutely no sense. However....I was slightly entertained because of these inconsistencies. If it's free and you're very bored, watch it.
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radaja25 May 2019
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How do I begin with this review? First, I always review movies by 5 standards: 1. Plot/Story, 2. Characters/Acting skill, 3. Cinematography/Directing, 4. Sound (both music and general), 5. Overall enjoyability. Each of these categories can yield up to 2 points for a total of 10.
Characters/Acting Skill: 0 The characters will get an absolute zero because I cannot award decimals. Miya Cech (ZhenZhen) was easily the best character out of the whole group. There was something about her silence that really made her interesting, even though it was sloppy writing. There are a LOT of character tropes and stereotypes in this movie, with a heavy dose of racism at its finest. Just because a movie has meta moments does not excuse the way they treat all of the represented races, especially in the beginning moments at camp. The movie tries to bring us these great character developing scenes, but they mostly ring hollow and completely unnecessary (I'm talking to you, bedroom scene). There are some un-freaking-believable character turns that come way out of left field. For example, Dariush constantly reminds the viewer that he is all about self-preservation, but he makes a brave (stupid) decision later on in the film that puts his life in immediate danger. At the very end, Alex has all of a sudden conquered his fear of heights by climbing up a radio tower, then...you guessed it, he ziplines down. The villain looks like a combination of Venom, Machamp from Pokemon, the Predator, Wolverine (which is actually referenced), and Lord Zedd from the Power Rangers show in the 90's. But you know, I'm glad they added a companion for the symbiote-like alien. It's not every day that we see an alien with an alien dog running around (cue the sarcasm).
Plot/Story: 0 I'm not sure exactly what is going on with the story. I guess there are aliens that want to invade earth for reasons, have spacecraft flying around shooting, and have Venom running around to take on the world by himself. There is a magical key that somehow triggers satellites to shoot the mothership because...zzzzzzz.....sorry, I fell asleep while writing this. Um, yeah, the kids have to traverse mainly by foot to get somewhere and punch in some things on a computer to do some things. We are really lucky to have a character bleeding out morse code, or else the story would have been screwed. Seriously, morse code from drops of blood from a dead person is very impressive. I felt a little déjà vu while the kids ran into a kitchen at some point (cough, Jurassic Park), then into an outhouse (cough, cough, Jurassic Parkish?), rode some bikes (there you are, E.T.), and ran into some masked villains (hey, where'd you come from Purge?). Machamp was all over the place the entire film. At times, he'd be sticking his fingers or reproductive member into a kid's mouth (?), killing adults quickly and stalking around children, and then surprise everyone by Ex Machina'ing by killing Buffalo Bill (some guy in jail).
Cinematography/Directing: 1 This will sound kind of counter-argumentative, but here it goes. There were brief moments in the beginning where I thought this was going to be a beautiful movie. I even looked at my wife and stated, "That's one thing Netflix always gets right (cinematography)." Whoops. I feel as though there were a hodge-podge of directors and cinematographers working on this thing at once. My biggest issue was the color filters. Why do you have to use yellow, blue, and purple filters in the first place? This was so jarring that it felt like a different movie altogether. Most of the set designs were God-awful, and that is putting it mildly. There were some competent moments, but not many of them.
Sound: 1 Although the score was similar to a Kid's Bop version of Hans Zimmer, it wasn't all that terrible. I think some of the music was enjoyable, even though it was forced so hard down our throats similar to the alien sticking his reproductive member down someone's throat (there it goes again, you're welcome). There were rare times when the voices did not match up with the character's mouths, and that was unfortunate. One time, this was covered up rather obviously through a quick edit. Many of the sounds were generic, which is just acceptable.
Overall enjoyable: 2 You're probably thinking, "You just trashed the majority of this film, so why are you giving it a 2 for enjoyability?" Well, because many of the lines caught me laughing at times. This movie does not know what it wants to be, really. The constant back and forth with the childish and adult dialogue was strange, to say the least. All of those funny times, mixed with the ridiculousness of the plot/tropes actually made me treat the overall movie like a joke. There was one point where I wondered if that was the writer's intention all along, kind of campy and not meant to be taken remotely seriously. Even though I enjoyed it in a terrible kind of way, I really felt depressed because they had a great opportunity to make this a great movie. Just because I gave this section a 2 does not mean that I recommend this garbage in any way. Also...product placement by Adidas does not make this cool. -
btmckeever-7153725 May 2019After reading reviews promising a throwback to 70s/80s Spielberg films I was eager to watch this movie with my family. We were very disappointed. I couldn't believe the inane dialogue, Not clever or funny. All of the characters were so over-the-top stereotyed based on their various ethnicities. None of the kids were likeable. Crudeness for crudeness sake (adult female camp counsler ordering 13 YO boy to "stick it (his phone) in my box"). The plot was so poorly formulated that it is still making my head hurt the morning after. No one is stupid enough to accept the leaps that had to be made to get these kids from Point A to Point B. Insulting the intelligence of the audience. Sad, lazy writing. Zero heart. Not even close to approaching the Spielberg classics or well done homages like "Stranger Things". Beyond disappointing.
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...as it was intended... this was a FUN SciFi movie not meant to be taken seriously like Independence Day (for example). If you understand that, you will appreciate this movie for what it is. The cast was great. The effects were great. The plot was unbelievable---because it is FICTION---yes, there were some forced politically-correct themes in here and forced sympathy dialogue that could have been removed, but apart from that, I recommend watching it.
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raduculusa26 May 2019This was the longest adidas commercial I've seen so far...
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This film is packed with jokes, puns and innuendo that are funny but more "adult" than a lot of kids movies in the past. It's also full of plenty of clichés and new age tropes that get tiresome but it does pack in a good bit of lessons on life and morality so it's not all bad. It will definitely keep the kids entertained!
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grzywa25 May 2019I have started to wonder why I'm still paying for Netflix.
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justinmaikranz24 May 2019I wouldn't call this kids movie. It's funny but the language and sexual innuendos are borderline R. Just be prepared if letting kids watch.
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tamigirl196816 June 2019I found my self cringing at some of the words coming out of the young black man's mouth. Most of his dialogue was extreme and unnecessary. Why? Its definitely not for kids. I thought I was going into sort of a Stranger things type movie. But nope! Soooo...
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bballa-7476525 May 2019I'm through half of the movie right now and I can't believe how dull people are on here. Get a sense of humor, please people, this movie is hilarious so far. Not every movie was made to be the next 'Godfather'. Yes it's a goofy movie but definitely entertaining, that's what movies are for, for cryin out loud!... LIGHTEN UP
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This film gets butchered in the reviews. I really do not see why! Solid direction by McG. The acting is decent, so are the special effects. The main characters are likeable. Pacing of the movie is good, and the adult humor adds to the flavour. I see why people compare it to a lot of other similair movies, but this film has it's own unique style and doesn't takes itself to seriously. Popcorn entertainment for sure, but really well done. A solid 7
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southdavid30 July 2019I decided to watch "Rim of the World" as I heard the writer on Kevin Smith's podcast recently and though he seemed like a lovely guy, with good ideas, I was really disappointed with the film.
Alex (Jack Gore) is an intelligent insular child suffering from bouts of anxiety since the death of this father. He's forced by his mother to attend summer camp, at "The Rim of the World" mountain range above Los Angeles. Though struggling to make friends, he's forced into a bond with three other children when an Alien invasion happens. With the location of the mothership in their possession, they must avoid perils both extra-terrestrial and human to deliver this information to the military.
You could forgive a lot, in this sort of film, if the child stars were charming or endearing, but unfortunately this is not the case. I'm not going to be too harsh on the actors themselves as the faults lie mostly in the way they are written. I'll use a word you're going to hear a lot in this review "Cliché". The characters, particularly Miya Chen as Zehn Zehn and Benjamin Flores Jnr as Dariush are pure cliché. She is stoic, largely mute and ever capable - he is wisecracking, cowardly, and oddly sexual, given that he's supposed to be 12. Away from the tropes that tonal issue is one that plagues the film, it should be a family friendly action adventure, but time and again the boundaries are pushed in terms of language and violence - the film has a 15 certificate in the UK. Thematically, it's too basic for adults, but content wise is too much for most younger children.
But it's the plot that really ruins the film. I feel like they were going for "homage" but in practice they just steal liberally from other films, there's a sequence lifted entirely from Jurassic Park. There's so much stolen, so many clichés that I was convinced that this was going to be part of the plot. I thought that the kids were going to be involved in some sort of virtual reality video game, maybe even some sort of way for Alex to deal with the trauma caused by the death of his father, hence the stolen plot and cliché characters would be justified by the lazy "in film" game writers. I thought my theory was further validated when his late father's car appeared out of nowhere. I don't suppose this is a spoiler, as it was just my theory, but none of this is the case.
I know that product placement offends some people, though usually I am pretty oblivious to it. However, the 5 minute Adidas advert that sits in the middle of the film is perhaps the most egregious example I've ever seen of it. Literally the film stops for an advert, and then starts again once they've pranced around in the clothes.
The film is both badly made and lacking in a target audience and even if you consider it a "Netflix Freebie" it's not worth your time investment. -
ekrones25 May 2019Poorly written,executed and acted. Darius character should have been killed during first 20 seconds of the movie. That would eliminate a lot of annoyance and stupidity but wouldn't save this debacle.
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cellec-896-19735024 May 2019Don't compare it to Stranger Things, it's completely different as this is for the kids. That being said, it's a fun ride that starts off a bit cliché in terms of characters but develops into a fun popcorn flick to watch. Don't overthink it, just enjoy.
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japrice-7823231 May 2019How can a movie featuring kids obviously aimed at kids be rated TV 14? Because kids shouldn't be watching it. Bad language constantly. Don't let your kids watch it. Don't even recommend adults watching it.
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gcalia-9-93163125 May 2019Again, all that hate from keyboard lions here. Why? The movie is enjoyable and fun to watch. There's so much worse out there. Yes, cgi could have been better, the sponsored sportswear a bit too obvious, the plot has holes, the physics, the logic... but hey, the main message is what? Post millennials internet spoiled solo kids with zero social competence band together, survive together and save the World... and become best friends for life! Apart from that, you get decent monster scenes, jokes, gore, some independence day alien show stuff... a fun & sometimes scary movie to watch with your kids and young adults! Lighten up ! Get a life ! Enjoy more ! It's a popcorn movie, not an Oscar candidate!!
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shreyasubale24 May 2019Bad writing, out of the blue dialogues, plot holes ( more holes, less plot ) , random-forced chemistry and a certain aloofness of characters to everything around them.. This has bad points from every bad movie.
Also did i already cheesy and badly written dialogues ?.. Ugh ! -
tempest1956-753-47089225 May 2019Man, all the bad reviews. Lighten up. This is a Spielberg movie without the Spielberg budget. Totally enjoyed it.
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jeffntt30 May 2019I can't figure out if it's a kids show with adult overtones or an adult film with childish overtones. It's not the worse movie in the world, may be better if I was 13
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bobby_burnsville26 May 2019All these reviews complain that they were disappointed by the cheesiness, however all 80's movie were cheesy. It is an alien movie and stars kids!! It is worth the time
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Don't go into this expecting a giant blockbuster Hollywood film. It's a fun adventure movie with humor. Much of the humor isn't for children.
The movie borrows elements from older blockbusters. Some people may hate it, but I thought of it as an homage. -
emanueltraining30 January 2020Shame on the screenwriter(s) and director of this film. The stereotyping of the white / asian/ black / hispanic kid - just shameless. And then the black kid's lines are appalling. We watched with my son and we had to use the mute button every time the black kid's lips moved, because of the innuendos - clearly directed at an adult audience, and terribly bad even for that. It's awful. I wish I could change the rating to 0/10.
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kjnorman26 May 2019I could not make it through the first 15 minutes. I did not realize that they could make films this bad.
The characters are just awful. Full of stereotypes. As for the attempts of humor, it just wasn't funny. Just crude. -
jim_christine25 May 2019This might be a teen kind of movie but I found it actually pretty enjoyable to watch. The acting is decent and the quality is surprisingly good. The humour had enough adult content to make us laugh. Give it a try.