Phantom Force

Try as I might, as much as I do dislike a lot of the SciFi/SyFy Channel original movies, I did actually want to like Phantom Force. Although the idea was somewhat derivative it did interest me in seeing it. But I just didn't like Phantom Force at all. It seemed as though it was striving to be a more gruesome and dramatic version of GhostBusters(though I acknowledge it may not have been), minus the sense of fun and great effects that film had. The set looks as though it was left over from something like Deep Shock and the whole film even for a film of the genre looks too drab with editing that is lacking in any kind of fluidity. The effects have been far worse since this film, but they are just alright here. But the visuals aren't the worst part. The worst asset despite the potential, was the story, dull in the pace and sometimes convoluted such as if the crew were eco-kinetic why couldn't they see the demons being I imagine in the same dimension as them? It also tries to make something out of the oft-done submarine scenario, but does it with no element of suspense, and the climax is underwhelming to say the least. Aside from the story, the script is terrible, cheesy and lifeless a lot of the time(the whole sitting down and chatting scenes are poorly written and slow the film down) and sometimes even incoherent with the overbearing sound effects and the actors mumbling the way through their lines. The characters, especially the crazy scientist character, are clichéd and despite efforts through flashbacks to give the characters some depth you just don't care for them. The actors also don't seem to do anything with their roles, Richard Grieco especially plods and mumbles his way through the lead role. Overall, had some potential but wasted it by how non-involving the whole film is. 1/10 Bethany Cox

OK, it was a quite night on the satellite, so with my lack of attention span, i surfed past the Sci-fi channel.

The start was rocky, it had obvious made-for-TV movie production values, and the acting and combat was sub x-files to say the least, however, the actual concept wasn't bad, and there were some technical accuracy you don't get in most action films.

Grieco really needs to be told to speak clearly, i mean, the Guttural Whisper thing is a tad tacky and gets boring after hearing him mumble his way through a sentence, and this film won't be winning him any Oscars, but overall, he fit into the big hero-shaped hole in the film.

It felt very much like someone had been playing Doom recently, the plot stank of the current occult-terror video games out these days, but as a whole, the Plot hung together, but there was a hell of a lot the directors didn't take advantage of and could have done so much more with. effects ranged from the bland to the quite nice, but the inconsistency didn't help matters.

Worth a watch, just for a one-off, shame it wasn't made into a series, after a false start it could have been polished up a bit.

I love good horror movies, especially ghost stories. From the previews, it looked like it was going to be a good story with some decent special effects.

Wrong!

The acting was ok...but they couldn't do much with the push-button script. The few special effects they had were good, but there could have been much more of them.

The plot was, for the most part, predictable. Although, I can usually predict who lives and who dies, but I must admit they surprised me on that one.

All in all, I was very disappointed.

It looked like it was the pilot to a sci-fi series, which wouldn't be bad...it is a great premise.

I saw this movie on the sci-fi channel before writing this comment. I liked it, but I guess it was only because I am a Richard Grieco fan. I have to admit, there are a few gruesome scenes, so I would not suggest letting your 5 year-old watch it. The plot was hard to follow as well. In other words, my 5 stars are for Richard Grieco. This movie reminded me a bit of Ghost Busters, but a more gruesome and dramatic version. I bet that most people who saw it thought the same thing. It's worth taking some time to sit down and watch if you are a big fan of ghost stories. In conclusion, if you think that you are getting ready to watch a super-great movie, you will be disappointed.

This was, as stated previously both predictable and an excellent pilot for a TV series. Alas, no TV series will follow.

Why, then did I give it seven points? It is an excellent execution of a simple plot. Moreover, the Big-Evil-Thingy-In-Question (to avoid a spoiler), has a potentially Lovecraftian, distant, unknowable sort of horror to it.

Of course, the script-writer completely failed to exploit it and makes it tangible long before its potential horror has expired.

If you like single-concept science fiction, punctuated by insufficiently bloody violence (aka B-movies), you will enjoy this as much as I did.

Ich_Yama's SciFi-meter:

(BBB: 2 primary characters)

(BEM: Spectral and Humanoid)

(World: Present/near-future)