Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I guess I'm in the minority, but I was terribly disappointed. I loved Pontypool, X-Files, Stranger Things, etc. (films the hype machine around this film constantly mention), and appreciate a good slow-burn, but I found this film to be almost unbearable. Much too self conscious, from the sound design to the long takes to the (frequently stunning) camerawork, everything seemed designed to call attention to itself, rather than to reinforce the telling of a story. Callbacks to Welles and Lynch and Hawks and Altman come fast and furious, and are sure to ingratiate the film to the critics (who, predictably enough, have responded), but the collective effect is too much and yet too little. The biggest problem is that I have ZERO interest in the characters, who run through this landscape in what feels like nothing more than a formal exercise in filmmaking. Blood Simple was another exercise in show-off, formal indie filmmaking. But that film had a tightly wound clockwork story from which to hang all those cinematic nick-knacks. Here, there’s just a hollowed-out sci-fi shell. FWIW - ‘Cosmos’ is another low budget indie sci-fi playing on Amazon. It takes a very different approach, but worth a look if only for comparison’s sake.