Divinity

Divinity (2023) is a science fiction movie produced by Steven Soderbergh and it was certainly an experience.

Positives for Divinity (2023): The movie looks fantastic with the black and white cinematography and it feels very old school. The performances from the cast are good enough for what the movie asks from them. There are moments where you get some artsy imagery sprinkled throughout the movie. And finally, the movie achieves its main goal with its plot even if not everything worked for me.

Negatives for Divinity (2023): The movie is a little too weird and artsy for me. There are scenes where I was scratching my head in confusion because I didn't know what was happening. The movie is very small paced, but in a way that felt forced by the filmmakers. And finally, this is a movie that I won't be rewatching anytime soon.

Overall, Divinity (2023) is a movie that won't be for everyone, but I'm happy that I did watch it because it was an experience that I will remember.

It struggles to be an artsy presentation but fails. Bakula's performance is good. That is the only good point, and the only reason I give 4 stars. I do not give points for effort when the production directing efforts seem to be more about how to make it as cheaply as possible while pretending it is an artsy film. The black and white is extremely poor quality throughout the entire film, grainy and unwatchable, as if that is supposed to make me appreciate this more. Put it in color and teach the actors how to deliver lines, I'd give it a better score. But, they obviously wanted it presented this way, and thought people would love it. The actors (other than Bakula) each move and speak as if they were born without emotioin, live without emotion, and die without emotion. WAKE UP. If people were really like this - they wouldn't CARE about living forever.

Starts out okay while you wonder what is going on.... but once you piece the story together you can't stop looking at the horrible practical effects. By the time you are ready to see the story move to the next level, you are all of a sudden watching a claymation celebrity death match with horrible stop-motion... the only way to truly understand the crap ending this movie has, is to sit through it yourself. We are left with a horrible mess of a film that leans too heavily on 50 year old film tropes to help trod along this story's narrative. The filmmaker got lost somewhere along with way with this movie, as the very ending makes no real sense. Though I'm sure there are people who will come up with their own explanation and say "see, this us what he meant". But no no, he was actually just confused.

I watched Divinity (2023) in theaters this evening. The storyline delves into a futuristic society where a new serum grants immortality, but at the cost of rendering people unable to have children. When the serum's creator is kidnapped one night, it raises questions about the secrets he holds that led to these actions.

Directed and written by Eddie Alcazar (Perfect) and starring Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap), Stephen Dorff (Blade), Bella Thorne (Blended), Karrueche Tran (Claws) and Caylee Cowan (Willy's Wonderland).

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It evoked shades of several other films such as Infinity Pool, Logan's Run Sin City, and Equilibrium. It's a clever and unique addition to the science fiction/horror genre, with an excellent villain transformation sequence that casts a shadow over the entire film. The concept is highly original, and the setup is intriguing. The film boasts some intense fight and bite scenes, with one fight sequence that I enjoyed but had to deduct points for. 😂 However, the absolute ending is pure science fiction gold.

In summary, Divinity is a movie that will likely find its passionate admirers and harsh critics, but as a fan of new science fiction concepts, I thought it was worthwhile. I would rate it a 8/10 and strongly recommend it.

Eddie Alcazar's Divinity is one of those hyper-experimental films where you're either joyously in or vehemently out in the first few frames, the sort of cosmically unhinged arthouse scifi-shocker madness that filmmakers like Panos Cosmatos or Alejandro Jodorowsky traffic in. This type of work is so insanely stylized, visually blown out and structurally impenetrable they're really not for everyone but if it's your thing, you'll know it. Stephen Dorff plays the half mad heir to a pseudoscientific cosmetics corporation founded by his guru father (Scott Bakula, of all people) that specializes in life extension techniques with some, shall we say, mildly egregious side effects. When he's kidnapped by two radicals with a murky agenda and force-fed a gargantuan dose of his own formula, he begins to... change and the decision to shoot him up with it backfires spectacularly. Elsewhere, his odd bodybuilder brother (played by that super jacked influencer guy from all those great slow motion memes with the slowed down version of "baby don't hurt me" in the background) ponders his absence and launches a hilariously theatrical rescue mission. There's a healthy dose of gooey body horror as Dorff transforms into something monstrous, an extended cameo from Bella Thorne who has still not learned to read a line without sounding just so awkward and it all culminates in a visually delicious stop motion animation battle that would make Ray Harryhausen proud. This kind of thing will always inevitably get accused of being style over substance and, well, I'm a style man myself so my response to that is when you have style this good, the style *is* the substance and you really don't need much else to make it work. Aesthetic is everything, as they say. Well, as I say. This works, if you're in the mood for something thoroughly weird, like a cassette futurism nightmare with a stark black and white palette and berserk full moon energy that doesn't let up.