So another hiking friend recommended this movie to me, him and one of our other buddies argued for an entire hike about if the movie was good or not, so I decided to make the decision for myself. The first thing I noticed are the colors and gradients, it really fits the theme and atmosphere of the movie, which is also really well done. It’s set in a steampunk type setting, so early 1900s fantasy-mecha type of world. It’s a romance story with a twist that might turn some people off, but I thought they did a good job with it. Acting was great, characters were interesting, ending was a little cliché, overall it was a well made movie.
It’s the story of a lonely deaf girl that works as a cleaner at some type of secret government facility that one day brings in a sea creature of some sort. There’s a subplot that involves Russian spies that gets pretty interesting, but the main plot is about the rescue of this sea creature and the budding romance between it and the deaf girl. The antagonist is a government agent that captured the creature in the first place and will stop at nothing to eliminate it after he’s done performing his tests. There’s also the lovable old man sidekick and the sassy best friend tropes that are often present in romance fantasies, but doesn’t come off as too unoriginal in this instance.
There’s a number of interesting side characters with their own subplots that makes the world created in the movie feel authentic and fleshed out, it’s not just about the two main characters and their drama. The creature’s design was really well done, it didn’t look cheesy or unrealistic, the way it behaved and sounded was convincing as well. The plot is a little predictable, but there were some decisions and developments that I didn’t expect. There was also a big plot hole that developed at the end, but other than that, I enjoyed it. Nothing remarkable but that’s also because I’m not a big fan of fantasy unless it involves battles and betrayal.
Some things that I did enjoy from this movie was the Russian subplot, I kind of wished they had done more with it but I can understand not wanting to take away from the main plot. The spy was the most interesting character to me, he had some nice development and the actor had the second best performance of the movie. I also really liked how they showed the husband of the coworker of the main character instead of him just being someone the wife complains about the entire movie. He also does something so in character from what you’ve heard about him, but it still really makes you frustrated with him, something that is the mark of good writing.
I give it a 7/10. (Word count: 477)
Baphomet's Theatre 