Encounter

I wasn't expecting much from this, so the stilted dialogue and intermittent ham acting didn't bother me. Frankly if you look past all that it wove a pretty good yarn. Add a fairly charismatic Hemsworth and a couple of half decent experienced actors and you get a nice little story. I've found it harder to sit through some Hollywood blockbusters recently so lets not be too hard on this low budget effort.

This was one of those "makes you wonder" kind of movies. The story line makes you wonder, in a good way. About life, death, what we think we know, what we're afraid of. Theoretically it would provide an opportunity for the actors, writer, director, to sink their teeth into it. The actors did a good enough job; but the characterizations were so inept, obvious and, well, stupid, that I'd expect most people will spend the first half hour yelling at the screen, wondering why they're watching it. Don't worry, it gets better. Hah! Just kidding. It doesn't, but you get a little numb to the dialog and the characters as the story starts to emerge. So yeah, it's ok in that the story does manage to escape the movie's clutches.

Right, well given this 2018 sci-fi drama's low rating on IMDb, I must admit that I was somewhat hesitant about sitting down to watch it. Especially so since I am not a big sci-fi fan. But still, it was a movie that I hadn't already seen before, and I had the chance, so of course I gave it a chance.

I must say, first and foremost, that "Encounter", from writer and director Paul Salamoff wasn't exactly a super thrilling or exciting movie. The movie was actually unfathomably slow paced, to the point where it was starting to become a boring movie to sit through.

The storyline told in "Encounter" was straight forward, but it was just way too uneventful. It felt like I was sitting down at a prolonged dinner party with people I didn't really want to hang out with. And that made the movie feel particularly slow paced and long to sit through. I think that the storyline might have been way more interesting on paper, but it lost its appeal in the transition to the screen.

"Encounter" has a nice cast ensemble, but the actors and actresses were just restricted in giving stellar performances by a sluggish storyline and uneventful directing. It was actually supporting actor Tom Atkins whom brought me the most enjoyment of all the people on the cast list, given his performance and on-screen charisma.

Visually then "Encounter" was adequate. By that, I mean that the special effects - which were practical ones - were adequate and served their purpose well enough. These are not, however, spectacular effects that will blow you away in any way. The feel very much like something you'd see if the movie was made in the mid-1980s.

I was initially going to give the movie a three out of ten stars, but I liked the ending, and it lifted up the movie a bit, but still it wasn't enough to make the ordeal a properly entertaining movie. As such, my rating of Paul Salamoff's "Encounter" settles on a less than mediocre four out of ten stars.

I found it captivating and well done. I'm 69 years old and not a fool and this had all the earmarks of a very good movie due to the fact it didn't need gore, violence, sex and unreal cgi to make it that way.

Take a little X-Files, Attack of the Body Snatchers, and (Rin Howard's) Cocoon and put in a cheep blender. Like any good mix, this is best served with a generous helping of vodka to make it more enjoyable.