The Anomaly (6/10)

(How .gif aren't a norm with movie posters today is beyond me.)

Starting right at the beginning when the production companies had their names out, there was already a boy screaming for help. Not a very good way to start off the movie as the two were both a distraction to each other.

But then, something very Memento-esque happened and that got me intrigued right away. The pacing from there was quite spot on and attention grabbing. And that mystery side of things pulled the audience in even more.

That's what Noel Clarke the director did well, using the mystery as a form of gimmick to keep the audience interested. But not only that, I was quite impressed with the slow motion fight sequences - albeit some parts were way too slow but still, they worked as a whole. I only wished Noel Clarke the actor, and Ian Somerhalder, had more training in terms of fight performances. While the choreography was there, the execution by both actors were not as convincing.

As the actor, Clarke had some out-of-character moments when directing himself. It seemed like both tasks had split his focus from either one.

Somerhalder's TV charisma just got swallowed up by the entirety of the movie. He wasn't magnetic like he always is in The Vampire Diaries, and that's a shame. This movie also introduced the audience to the third Hemsworth brother, but in such a small role there wasn't really much to see.

I would say the movie started off as an 8, and by the middle it dropped to a 7, but it was that final act things really fell apart for Clarke the director. I'll explain in the spoiler section below.

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Spoilers ahead.

As Clarke's character blacks out around every 10 minutes, it didn't take a guy with a stopwatch to see that his final 10 minutes felt more like 20. Especially when it was down to 4 minutes, that felt like it took another 10 minutes.

And the way Somerhalder was keeping Alexis Knapp as a human shield, and Clarke miraculously shot down a drop of goo that so accurately took away Somerhalder's fingers and left Knapp unscathed was way too easy and generous.

That whole showdown sequence just fell apart so badly that it was such a shame the first half of the movie started off so well. I was hoping this movie would be a very good.