Interferenze

"UFO" definitely went under the radar, no pun intended. I had not heard of the film until browsing the Internet. I was intrigued by the plot description and after watching the film I can say it did not disappoint. First off I was excited to see "UFO" took place in my town of Cincinnati. The story was clearly inspired by the real life events at Chicago O'Hare airport in 2006 where dozens of airport personnel, pilots and passengers witnessed a saucer shaped object hover over the airport before darting up into the sky at an incredible speed. In the movie after a similar event at CVG, Cincinanti's largest airport, both the government and a brilliant math student race to resolve a mysterious binary cipher delivered by a craft that briefly appears over the airport. The story is fascinating and mirrors the aftermath of the Chicago sighting, when the media was quick to label it simply a weather phenomenon but many silenced witnesses were left frustrated with what they know they saw. The director takes a refreshing approach in actually delving into the topic, rather than exploiting and ridiculing it. You won't see any crazy special effects or Amy Adams talk to a genius octopus, just ordinary people trying to make sense of an extraordinary situation. The film has a satisfying ending but you will be left wanting to know more. I highly recommend this film to the UFO enthusiasts and the skeptics alike, as well as those just looking for a smart and interesting SciFi movie without Matthew McConaughey getting stuck in the wall.

This movie ultimately looks and feels like a pretty good student film, it has a pretty interesting story at it's core, and is made on a low budget, it also has some fine acting in it, but at the end of the day, it delivers little i would call cinema worthy. Now i didn't see it in a cinema, but still, a movie is a movie.

This film kind of feels like an episode of a TV show, in it's editing and it's camera work. It's a movie that is made almost entirely on autopilot it seems, it delivers a formula you have seen hundreds of times before, it delivers very few surprises outside the plot itself which could go anywhere to be honest.

And that is what saves this film, that i didn't know exactly where the main story would take me, and this raised the suspense, so i was never bored watching this, at least not much. But Gillian Anderson and David Strathairn has way too little to work with here, it almost feels like they are in this to either cash in on some easy job, or to maybe support an up and coming director, because they are both fine actors, and in this film, you couldn't tell if you had never seen them before.

It's a decent end of the day film, it keeps your attention for the most part, but it wants to be something more, but there just isn't enough money involved to take it to the next level, so it tries to just stay on the ground, tries to keep things small, though ultimately the story itself is HUGE, so it sort of clashes a bit.

So a decent afternoon flick you can watch while having some food or just feeling bored. Not a bad movie, but nothing special either.

6/10 - Fair

This was a very decent film and definitely worth watching - the acting was underplayed and there were no stupid special effects - just a good interesting plot and story.

I have no idea if the math was accurate but it seemed quite plausible and the mystery kept me waiting until the end - I almost felt like a math genius just watching it unfold.

The acting and direction was good - the usual aspergers/autistic type math genius that gets to prove his point by solving a really hard problem - made me think that the future of human kind will probably be in the hands of someone like this.

Not the average action packed sci-fi alien squealing fest but very entertaining.

Enjoyed this slow burn which inspite of being so doesn't bore you for a minute and keeps you engaged. Thoughtful, geeky fun.

6.2 star average in IMDb is it bit more on the money than the ridiculous 2.8 on Letterboxd, but viewers have really missed the boat on the definition of an overlooked gem. Despite its pedestrian title, UFO is an excellent science fiction drama which somehow manages to make mathematics suspenseful by virtue of inspired casting, a tight, literate script, taught direction, and very good, sincere acting on everyone's part. The score is low key, but effectively adds an additional level of tension.

While not conceived on the grand scale of high-budget concept-driven productions such as Arrival, Annihilation, Interstellar, Ex Machina, and Predestination, UFO nonetheless joins the ranks of these films as part of the cycle of intelligent science fiction we've been enjoying in recent years.