Ash

Solid 6.5 to be honest.

The story arc had great potential but it was not executed as well as it could have been. Some scenes just seemed out of place and made no sense, the alien reveal was not impressive nor was it presented well. The editing was not great with too many quick cuts that took away from the scene. I'm trying not to give anything away in spoilers, but I do disagree with another review that the acting was not as bad as they stated it was. I think for what she was going through that Eiza's performance was fine in representing the character's situation and journey.

All in all it was just not what I was hoping for. Not enough sci-fi and the horror was not all that horrific.

ASH is a sci-fi horror directed by Flying Lotus. It stars Eiza González and Aaron Paul and was written by Jonni Remmler. It tells the story of Riya, who wakes up find that the crew of her space station has been killed. She doesn't know what has happened or who she is, but has quick flashes of nightmarish memories as time progresses. When another crew member shows up to offer help, Riya isn't sure she can trust him. The movie is a mash-up of mystery, sci-fi, and horror, and some parts are executed well while others fall short of hitting the mark. It is also in many ways symbolic representation of battling one's own demons, and there are multiple times where lighting and other scene events leave clues as to what is going on. A re-watch might reveal even more instances of such clues. ASH is not a sequel or a remake, so I do give this movie props for trying to be something original (though clearly influenced by superior films that came before it such as The Thing and Alien). Unfortunately, the writer and director have trouble fully sticking the landing with the execution and the story as a whole, and I left the theater feeling a bit disappointed that I couldn't enjoy this one more. Quick Take movie review on my YouTube channel.

Otherwise, the movie is tension free and not enough of a plot for a feature. I was looking forward to this based on the mysterious description. After watching it, the movie is an extremely basic sci fi action thriller with robotic horror thriller events that don't work. It's formatted with a plot device that delays the inevitable reveal while establishing atmosphere without any dialogue for large portions of the film.

As such, I found the film relaxing and the script had the quality of a wandering mind. No, I don't think the explanation makes up for it and it feels inappropriate for the film.

It is indeed visually alluring, and I admire their passionate experimentations with the colour palette. Not the visual effects, though, I mean the CGI, as they certainly came off cheap and underdeveloped in some places.

However, if we keep all these flashy technicalities on one side and start judging the movie from a cinematic standpoint, shortcomings begin to emerge to the surface.

First and foremost, there is limited time allotted to explore the 'reason' behind the mysterious circumstances on the ship. Although there are a couple of scenes to depict the 'otherworldly' beings, they fail to meet the inherent necessities of the script.

Secondly, the majority of the characters are merely used as fillers, with Eisa and Aaron shouldering the burden for the most part.

And could someone please tell me why and how they managed to convince Iko Uwais to play such a trivial character?

Was it just to indulge him in a hand-to-hand fight scene that lasted for like two minutes?

Criminal!

Is an interesting idea, some cool concepts, stunning imagery, lot of great pratical effects and stunts, but it just drags on.

Elza Gonzales and Aron Paul are great actors, but they have no chemistry or charisma in this, specially to drag a whole movie, and the dialogues doesn't help at all, Iko Uwais is straight up wasted. It just feels like they got this concept for a short or something, and some executives made then stretch it into a movie... So this is what we got, but hey, at least they did the right thing about the expositions, which is to show stuff, instead of telling through narration.