fostermarkluis

This movie is largely a knock off of Indiana Jones and National Treasure, with perhaps a little Close Encounters mixed in. While there is plenty of action and high budget effects (they destroy several cars and employ a lot of extras), the plot is thin and the acting a bit forced in scenes where tension was needed. It often gets momentum, but it quickly falls flat with little payoff on a regular beat.

Overall I was expecting something a bit more believable, but you'll find the story never really developing on a scale in which the payoff could be highly anticipated. Rather, unbelievable fight scenes and some dubious decisions by what are supposed to be brilliant (shall we say) scientists drag this film down to a level 5 in my opinion- and that is likely generous.

The people of California, or more specifically, those who dwell in Hollywood, face the east each morning and look down upon those of us wallowing in our own stew in the other lower 47 states. There they stand, hands on hips, licking their chops as they see unbridled potential for taking $20 out of our hot little hands anytime they see an opportunity to produce drivel like that of "The Substance." Indeed. I fell for their trap and feel like the chump that they expected me to be.

Demi Moore, I'm still hopeful, must have been astounded by the bad decision to star in this science-fiction-off-the-rails piece of garbage when she sat through the final screening. Or maybe she saw the dailies and lost her lunch then. In any event, at 62, I'm sure the paycheck was more important than the artistic reward; but hey, we're all chumps and won't notice the integrity of your decision anyways, right Demi?

Wrong. This thing won the best screenplay of 2024 (or so the promo said). So I ask -- did the producers of this overly long and bloody saga throw away the last 90 pages of the script and wing it? I suspect they did. Or maybe it was rendered unreadable from all the fake blood.

What starts out as promising with just a few cracks turns into an endlessly ridiculous, far fetched crime scene of unbelievable and gross proportions. Apparently, the homage to the movie Carrie was thought to save this lumbering mess, but it was not to be. Instead, we have something unwatchable, unfulfilling and something that likely shouldn't have been made in the first place.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the poorly directed and ill conceived part of Dennis Quaid.

His one dimensional character could not have been any worse for an actor of his girth, but then again, that paycheck beckons.

Don't waste your time on this thing unless you want to analyze this in film class on how not to make a picture, or just to be awed by some (at times) truly amazing make-up. And I'm not talking about the eye shadow that glistens throughout this awful mess.

This movie is terrifying. Because it is sooo bad. Kirsten Dunst is in need of a laxative given the look on her face. The story is boring. The motivations are laughable. The action is non existent. While they were trying to be careful to not show a political side, the result was a lack of any caring or emotion for the characters. The ending of the movie elicited nothing but relief that this sagging garbage was finally over.

It is a real snoozer. I don't understand all the great ratings - but that's paid influencers I suppose. A real clinker that goes nowhere fast. I can't even recommend this for streaming.