I've been wanting to watch this movie for a long time, and when I did, I was quite happy.
The story is quite interesting--a blind pilot crash lands on a barren and hostile planet and has to rely on a female android for survival. The location is stunning--it conveys the hostile and barren environment perfectly. The costumes were also good, especially those of the Grandlibon troops. Special effects were poor for the most part (forgiveable, since it is a low budget flick) except for the silver Attack Eagles in the sky. The digital gunfire was also more realistic than in the director's previous film. The pseudo-love story between the pilot and the android was interesting. The action scenes were short, few, and somewhat slow-paced, which lead to some disappointment because the trailers on YouTube made it look like a big action flick while it is almost more of a drama. The alien creature was brilliantly designed. However, once we see the full thing and its slimy fur body, then it becomes dismally obvious that it's a guy in a suit (this was because the alien creature wasn't finished and the director could not delay filming, so they had to go with what they had). The back-line for the plot is also very well-developed--perhaps too well developed. I wanted to see the Grandlibon-Kamoorsta conflict explored more. The movie itself was too short for my taste, at only about 78 minutes of running time. The Off World documentary that came with the special features was also too short, less than half the lengths of the documentaries of the director's previous two films. The score was real good, a nice combination of electronic and orchestral sounds and instruments.
Despite the complaints, the movie itself was still really good, especially for its budget. The plot was original, the creature design was great, and you can see that a lot of heart went into this production. It may not be as fun a ride as Mike Conway's previous film, The Awakening, but it's definitely a step up.
