The Fix

South Africa's "The Fix" is one of those movies that, had it a better cast, director and script, it might've been interesting at least. But as it is, I was confused throughout, and I don't know if it was caused by my boredom or if my boredom caused the confusion. In any case, I really didn't get it.

Had the actors been better-let's say Cate Blanchett in the lead instead of Grace Van Dien-the charisma and ability to comprehend emotions and bring a competent script to life would have done wonders. And how about deCaprio as the scheming scientist? Let's add a director like, say, Christopher Nolan to make exciting scenes exciting and dramatic scenes dramatic. And the script...egads, let Christopher pick. I trust him. Because honestly, I think this film had promise as a big budget whatever genre this was. But as a lower budget effort with only one seasoned actor (Clancy Brown in a small role), it just couldn't pull off what it was trying to accomplish.

I give it 4 stars for effort, but gosh it was a jumbled mess that I had no desire to rewatch in order to attempt to understand it.

In the near future, toxin in the air is killing the world. People need to wear respirator masks to survive. Big pharma Aethera has created AIRemedy which is the only known antidote against the toxin, but there may be a limited supply which must be taken constantly. Ella McPhee is the face of AIRemedy advertising. She is depressed over her mother and the world in general despite having a secure supply of the drug. At a party, she takes an overdose of a new drug without knowing the consequences.

This is a South African sci-fi. It is obviously referencing the recent pandemic. Some movies hit that note too hard making it fall flat. This is one of those and it's weird that the toxin has no name. The story is a bit messy. At one point, the movie turns into The Fly including the ear, but then it turns into something else. It wants to be bigger, but it doesn't get there.

In a dystopian future where air is toxic, a troubled young model takes an illicit new drug at a party and suffers a shocking transformation. She undertakes to reverse the effects of the drug, only to discover that her mutations may be the key to saving the human race.

Okay let's do the positives first... Right so now let's do the negatives: Poor acting, poor direction, poor editing, appalling dialogue, everyone angry and raving even when it's not warranted, choppy, messy and chaotic scene changing. Is that enough for you or shall I go on? I think th film tried to be clever beyond the abilities of everyone involved in it.

It's a decent flic, probably produced on a lower budget, definitely a 6 or 7, maybe a 5 if you don't like the concept, definitely worth a watch.

I wouldn't normally review films but it appears like something else is going on given the number of 1 star reviews. A scale of 1 to 10 it's a relative measure from the worst film ever to the best, which can be slightly be influenced by the reviewers preference and film watching experience. THIS IS NOT A ONE STAR film, it's so far away from that it's just insulting. I would argue against any 3 star reviews, there are so many rubbish films out there that you can't possibly put this as 3.

A more than decent premise that with a bigger budget and in the hand of an expert director like Luc Besson could have made a big entry into the sci-fi / mutation genre like Lucy did back in 2014.

Impressive are the idea of it, not the first though, but from a contaminated air point of view, nearly the first mutation average flick. Not so impressive are the plots, flow and ending of it that could be polished in a sequel.

• Screenplay/storyline/plots: 5.5
• Production value/impact: 5.5
• Development: 5.5
• Realism: 6
• Entertainment: 5
• Acting: 5.5
• Filming/photography/cinematography: 7
• VFX: 7
• Music/score/sound: 5.5
• Depth: 6
• Logic: 2.5
• Flow: 5
• Action/sci-fi/drama: 5.5
• Ending: 3.5.