Hunting the Phantom

I love sci-fi, so decided to give it a try - a lot of non-Hollywood sci-fis are kinda great. And this Kazakhi (?) feature seemed interesting.

Unfortunately, this did not hit a mark. It started rather OK, but quickly went sideways. Multiple plots, shaky camera, horrible dubbing... Even beautiful Kristianna Loken couldn't change the movie for the better. And the special defects were... not great. Asylum-level crap.

I don't think this was a low-budget production, to be honest. But, it really wasn't good. After an hour or so I started playing with the phone, reading news, checking tinder and all that.

Oh lovely Kristianna, why did you play here.

This action and FX packed movie was made in Kazakhstan; it is the first time I see a movie of that origin. I do not believe this movie had a budget that could compare to Hollywood (or a Hong Kong ) film; however the action is continuous and the digital sequences (perhaps needing some retouching) are spectacular enough.

Sadly the editing and some incomplete scenes give away the limited budget; it is far more spectacular that any recent B movie.

The acting is not that bad; but the dubbing for the American market does not help. It even has an aging Armand Assante and very beautiful Kristanna Loken doing some important but secundary parts both really correct.

A more worked script should had helped; but in any case is a B+ movie.

The storyline is all over the place, it started out with a bank heist, it turned to a kinda loose-cop-on-the-run then to an evil-corporate-organization-that-wants- to-take-over-the-world story. it's so convoluted at times, and characters teleport from one place to another with no explanation, but the characterization is handled well with effective flashbacks, and the pacing is good.

The action sequences are very entertaining and well-choreographed, especially the foot chase scenes. The cinematography is good; the camera-work is all right tho a bit shaky at times, the blue color grading is a nice touch, tho the contrast and saturation are a bit high as it makes the everything looks too radiant esp during outdoor scenes. The score is nice. the special effects are cheap-looking but good enough to not take you of the movie.

The performances are good at best, the two leads actors brought energy to their performance esp during action sequences, Kristanna Loken is effective as the villain as she's both beautiful and menacing and Armand Assante is solid as the estranged father.

in summary, Hunting the phantom is not a bad film per se, but it's certainly far away from being great. it's an entertaining action flick, that's all.

At first blush the plot seemed fine but it became fragmented for the remainder of the movie, the action segments were good but the story line was so fragmented it was very hard to follow and the main focus of the movie was so hit and miss you never followed what they were looking for in the first place. The story line was badly maintained keeping the viewer less intrigued throughout, I wanted more tech and less action but the tech should have been the star and it was lost to me in my humble opinion. Having watched this movie with English dubbing lost a lot of the actors emotion and plot. I would never wish to go see the film again as it seemed a waste of time and money.