Domain

Watchable once. Do not think to re-watch it someday. On a similar topic, Moon (2009) was way better.

Goof : One of the character is learning French. At 37', we see him reading an article about the French Revolution on the computer. The article is plagued with grammar mistakes.

The acting is great.

The character assortment works well, and each character is well developed.

The ending brings logic and reason to what I assumed were plot holes.

The film feels fleshed out as it steadily plods along.

The actors are convincing in their various roles and the dialogue and direction is decisive and uncliched. However, the "twist" is broadcast a little too clearly and a little too early to really be surprising. Furthermore, after the big reveal at the end of act two, the film loses most of its momentum and descends into mere exposition.

Some visceral reaction to the revelations of the final act would have provided much needed energy. Instead the film limps unsatisfyingly into the closing credits.

I was just lying in bed, trying to find something to put me to sleep, when I came across this interesting, if a bit overused, premise that comprises this movie. I figured it would be a low budget so and so sci-fi but I was surprised to find a well-acted, nicely shot, atmospheric dystopian suspense thriller.

There is a pandemic, and World Health Organization claims we are all doomed. Still, they have a plan. They will make half a million bunkers where lucky lottery winners will stay until the plague disappears. How long they'll have to stay inside? Could be decades!

After this opening set up we are following some of the lucky ones who made it to these small safe heavens. Dialogue is serviceable and not cringe worthy and the characters are interesting (some more and some less) while the atmosphere of the whole containment deal is pretty well presented. There are some clever ideas as to the ways those people choose to interact and keep a straight head during this unpleasant, but necessary lock up.

The film kept me interested to the very end. Some of the ideas come across as original (even if they are not really) which is very much appreciated from my side. Unfortunately, some of the actions of particular characters do seem strange and out of place which does leave a stain on the whole experience but it might be a bit unfair to hold it against the creators.

Interested to see what the Director/Writer has in store for us next. Small budget didn't keep him from making a solid first full length feature.

7 out of 10 from me.

There are a couple of problems with the trajectory of this story, but I will not be covering that because it would ruin the story. All I will say is there is a central plot point, which is highly unlikely once you get the full picture of the story. Does this make the film less enjoyable? I don't think so. The story is engaging because of the characters, and thankfully there is little painful over explanation by the characters to tell the backstory necessary for this kind of story, in fact there are some well-done expository moments in here that break up the monotony of the single setting.

Keep in mind, this isn't a fast paced film and the tension while there, is not as high as some might like, so avoid if you don't like slow-paced films, but the acting is actually quite good here, and the characters, even though they are not extremely fleshed out, partially due to the nature of the story, are interesting. I would call this a largely character-based narrative. I also think especially with recent events the appeal of a story where people chose to be quarantined for an undefined amount of time due to a plague that has wiped out the worlds population, might have a little more appeal than it would have last year.

I have watched many of these "single room" science fictions stories, be it "Cube", "Coherence", "Infinity Room", "Fermat's Room", "White Room", "The Exam", "Circle", and every single of those is a low-budget character-based dialogue driven film, except the awful White Room, The acting is better in "Domain" than each of the other afformentioned films(Coherence is the next best acting wise). In fact, I have seen Ryan Merriaman in several TV shows and films, and was quite surprised at the nuance and the way he handled his character, who he could have easily over-acted, but he kept it quite subdued, in the best way possible, to say more would ruin it. I actually really appreciate him as an actor now and believe he deserves much larger roles.

Again, if you like science fiction, particularly of the low-budget variety, there is much to like here. It isn't gonna blow your mind, but it is a solid story with some interesting ideas, and some of the best acting I have ever seen in a low budget film, it was refreshing to see for someone who watches a lot of low budget films.

Note, this movie is not for children, it has foul language, a good deal of violence, and there is some minor sexual content, if that bugs you, though you can skip ahead a minute or 2.

God Bless ~Amy