... told with diction and backbone. *This is a zero spoiler why-you-should-watch-it style movie review. Why people waste time posting anything else on imdb unless its a full blown movie analysis.*
This is a great movie from a cinematic point of view. Its biggest strength lies in it's characters. The main protagonist is an absolute alpha: one of the strongest characters presented to me on screen in a long time. I mean that quite seriously. And the thing about the characters in this move is that they're just that- characters. I feel like too often do directors try to create these ideal heroes or people who just end up spewing ridiculously predictable lines. This movie successfully breaks that mould. The characters really have personality, properly dictated by exposition, and for that reason their word choices might surprise you a little, in an extremely well acted way. Same with the girl. She really doesn't look like much other than a pretty face, but goddamn, she ends up delivering every single line with a punch. I'd honestly give the lead acting in this movie a deserved 10/10, and sadly I cant say anymore without dropping a spoiler. Skip to the next paragraph right now if you dont want this extremely mild spoiler. Watching the two get closer is honestly beautiful, and while romance is not at all a focus here, it feels incredibly genuine; more so than just about any movie that isn't specifically labelled under the genre "romance".
The plot and its elements are also very good. There are twists and turns that feel realistic and original. I want to praise this movie for doing its homework, and providing a lot of details that are reminiscent of the "real" abduction stories a lot of viewers may have already heard. That then gets transitioned into pure sci-fi very smoothly. For the first 30 minutes, it might feel like a legitimate documentary, which I think is the sign of a good sci-fi.
They also do a great job of setting a spooky atmosphere in the first half. Seriously. I do feel like this was kind of lost for the rest of the film tho, and if it had been maintained, would've made this a legitimate horror sci-fi, which is my favorite genre. It should still be said that the movie is a little spooky.
The CGI is next-level. What a treat. Seriously, so good. I do have a quip tho that when it comes out, its almost like the directors are saying "Oooh, look at this. Isn't this pretty?" and cease to tell a story for a minute. That was a loss in my book. The CGI bits could've had a little more direction.
The biggest downfall is the timeline not being nailed perfectly, and I had an issue with the characters catching way too hard of a break one time. There was a time when I was like "Wait, what is going on here. Why are we doing this." but it got cleared up eventually. The movie could've been longer in total with very little cut out, and with one or two more major events thrown in before s*** hits the fan, it could've been a 10. It should be said that most movies of comparable ratings need 10x or more the boring crap cut from the final product, and that's a big reason why I stand by the fact that this movie is heavily underrated. My complaints about pacing would definitely be more aimed towards "it needed more/a better explanation" than "that part was boring and predictable." Ok, I am about to throw one final small and vague spoiler in so skip to the end of this paragraph if you want ZERO spoilers, but its something revealed maybe 20 minutes in and referenced throughout the rest of the movie. Kay. Well there's a major event that's being panned out to happen towards the end of the movie. It's like the movie is saying: "There will be a climax. It's coming in X amount of time." And then it keeps reminding you throughout the film. Thing is, we get some very interesting events leading up to it. That is awesome. It's like, yea, something wicked is on it's way, and oh look, is still going down in the mean time. Love it.
Bottom line: A very good story told in a compelling, yet slightly meandering way. Phenomenal lead actors are not dragged down by a bad script or bad secondary actors, leading to a very strong connection to the both realistic and original characters. Superb CGI, which the characters even interact with very well. If the story had had just one or two more interesting elements, and the pacing had been nailed down slightly better, it would have been a masterpiece, but you would still be an utter fool to call it empty or aimless as is.
This movie deserves absolutely no less than 8/10, and is a must watch for fans of sci-fi who enjoy quality cinema.