Monolith

This movie has its issues but it also has entertainment value. If you enjoy endless vistas of desolate mountains then even if you don't care for the film itself, the heavy reliance on breathtaking shots of the multi-coloured Utah (likely the Paria mountains).

Beyond the geology and macho car, the kid is good and the hopeless terror of the protagonist is sometimes genuine, other times humorously not.

The spine of the DVD says "Horror" on it. Totally inaccurate. Monolith is one part survival thriller (low on thrills), and one part science fiction.

Home-wrecking former pop sensation mom is worried her guy is cheating on her, so she drives his armored ultra-high tech SUV with toddler in tow to pay him a visit. She gets re-routed by her "smart" vehicle onto a shortcut... through the desert. She hits a deer (or at least something with antlers), gets out to check on it, and, well, her little boy, playing with her cell phone, puts the vehicle into lockdown mode, trapping him inside. That is some irresponsible s#!t.

I liked the idea of this car, and where car technology is taking us. For the bulk of this film, anyhow, it seems like a feasible place in the future to go. A vehicle that takes safety to the nth degree, and you can have a conversation with it! (complete with A. I. communication barriers).

Unfortunately, not much happens in this film. There is a character set up where you kind of grow to dislike bad mom, but at the same time feel a little bad for her. Then she gets locked out, and spends the rest of the movie making futile attempts to get back in. I actually thought the lead actress (Katrina Bowden) in this was good. She doesn't play it overly dramatic, and I think ultimately grew as a character to not take her son for granted. Then there's this total cop-out of a resolution, that I think is best left undiscussed. It does raise a number of unanswered questions.

I am a fan of movies with a very small cast, limited locations, isolation. It held my interest enough to give it 5 stars.

I'm Italian but I have not been part of it. The film is not perfect (many mistakes by the plot and the actors) but I was very convinced of the concept of the story, taken from an Italian graphic novel. The protagonist might be less stupid, but the things he does go hand in hand with the plot context. The film deserves, a great innovation in Italian cinema, and a good bet for foreigners.

The movie is not even close as bad as the user reviews are making it out to be. Seriously. There are syfy channel productions with a higher rating. And this is way above them. Nice idea, super clean cinematography (even though I normally don't like it like this) and the actress is also "ok". Sure there are cringe moments. But for a sci-fi TV movie that was all pretty much as passionate as it gets.

This car is so smart that that it has every safety feature possible, it can even differentiate between the adult and child passengers by their weight....and yet there's no feature that keeps you from locking your kid in the car?????? That part was just too unbelievable to overlook.

This chick is without question, one of the dumbest people in the world and has no business traveling unaccompanied with a small child. Because of course when I travel with my child through a blazing hot desert, I make sure he's in a furry bear suit. It had a lot of promise but ultimately you can't get through so many "I can't believe she's that dumb" moments.