Circle Line

In an ordinary subway car, people hurriedly get on and off, some immersed in their phones, and nobody noticed what was about to happen. Jesseca, with her daughter, faces unknown giant monsters emerging from the darkness. It feels like the sharp claws of a steel rhino. In the midst of chaos, from a third-person perspective, there are likely two scenarios: some would run frantically, while others would actively search for an escape route. When faced with such situations, Lucas's reaction in the movie can offer valuable insights. Unlike Jesseca, who confronts the monsters directly, Lucas observes more and tries to identify the weak points of the adversary. Perhaps, it's not about oneself but about setting up a strategy or a trap that can turn the tables.

I happened to stumble upon the 2023 Singaporean movie "Circle Line" by random chance. Needless to say that with it being an Asian movie I hadn't already seen, then of course I had to sit down and watch it. And I have to admit that I was initially drawn in by the movie's cover.

Writers Tang Chi Sim, J. D. Chua, Siew Pek Chye, Juan Foo, Allan Ho and Andrew Chiang Meng Ngin put together a watchable movie, I will say that much. Now hold on, while "Circle Line" certainly was watchable, it was an incredibly weak and laughable storyline that the six writers had mustered to conjure up. However, I am amazed how six writers could collectively manage to come up with something so weak of script and storyline.

There were so many plot holes that even Swiss cheese would go "you got to be kidding me!" How could a creature manage to live hidden underground for 20 years? What was it feasting upon all those years? Why were the unlit subway tunnels so miraculously bright when they should have been pitch black? And that leads us to the main problem with "Circle Line"; the absolute lack of a point to the storyline. Yeah, I kid you not, the storyline had no focal point, and it just simply made no sense.

I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in "Circle Line". But then again, I am not well-traversed within the Singaporean cinema. I will say, however, that the acting performances in the movie were fair enough, taking into consideration that the cast virtually had nothing to work with.

"Circle Line" is the type of movie that invites you to fully shut off all brain activity and just lean back in your seat whilst munching on your selected choice of snacks.

Visually then I will say that "Circle Line" was good. The creature design was good and it looked realistic. Sure, it made no sense how it would have managed to survive for 20 years without any food source, but hey, this is a movie, after all.

While I managed to sit through all 80 minutes of what director J. D. Chua delivered here, I was only mildly entertained. And believe you me when I say that this movie most certainly does not encourage a second viewing, especially since there wasn't really enough contents to the storyline to support the first viewing.

What keep "Circle Line" afloat is the special effects, pure and simple.

In all honesty, then I have to say that I found "Circle Line" to be really, really disappointing. And if you enjoy a good creature feature, then there are far better choices readily available out there. Especially since "Circle Line" had no storyline and only managed to remain watchable because of the CGI.

My rating of "Circle Line" lands on a very generous three out of ten stars. The story warrants a single star only, but the special effects in the movie generously nudges it up to a three star rating.

The acting is so bad, especially the mother, the actors like the supervisor is a much better actor than her. Who the hell open the door of an old rusty car when you are trying to get out of sight of a monster? Come on people, the story line has so much potential but whoever the director is, freaking ruined it.

Contrary, the junior college lady is a really good character. She is pretty as well, comparable to the mother who doesn't know how to act scared or frustrated. And come on people, on such situation, she is freaking day dreaming. A lot of times, she froze on her spot like who the hell does that? It is an emergency and you got a kid to take care of, but you chose to look at the carnage. And she also told the junior college lady that she was a nurse, and that is an emergency, she surely doesn't fit in. Arggghhh I hate this movie so much!

Although it's better than most modern jack neo films, it feels like a 1 hour 19 minute short film. Unpolished, undescisive, and plain boring. A lot of people would be less critical when it comes to the vfx which I don't think they should be. Remember, most horror movies have low budgets! If you insist on making a horror movie about monsters, maybe go for a practical approach OR dont reveal so much of the monster and let it be a mystery! Horror movies now adays give away too much anyways. And not to mention the sound design which is way too excessive and meaningless, the beginning didnt need to have a touching and sweet song to create a connection to the characters we dont even know!

The plot for this Singaporean horror film is simple.

A reptilian beast is released by the mother of it's owner after her child dies (implied); where it takes up residence in the subway system; and accidentally triggers a switch, to route one of the trains onto an unused track...where it gets stranded...and open to attack by said monster.

But not a whole lot in the film makes sense.

There are so many questions that go completely unaddressed.

First and foremost, what the hell the alien looking beast even is.

How the kid in the intro came to own it?

How big it got before they released it?

How long it was running rampant in the underground tunnels for?

How it survived?

What it was feeding on?

Not to mention all the gaping plotholes we are supposed to ignore.

Mainly...how you could conceivably "lose a train" in a modern subway system, in this day and age.

How the student's father was able to find them...while the rest of management was left in the dark about their location (despite the fact he told them where he believed they were).

And how they lost contact with him.

Not to mention, how the beast managed to procreate...when there is only one of them.

Though, I guess we are to assume it possesses the capability to reproduce parthenogenetically.

It certainly requires quite a bit of assumption, to simply engage with the storyline.

Which isn't exactly "good" writing.

(I won't even get started on the lop-sided character development)

On top of this...the monster is rendered with rather choppy CGI.

To be fair, it's not the worst CGI I've ever seen.

It's certainly better than the what we see in Cocaine Bear (to offer a reference point), for example.

That's for sure.

But they were way too ambitious with the action scenes...when their tech (or budget) just couldn't handle it.

Plus...the acting is quite bad.

Particularly in regards to the mother and son characters (who are the main characters in the film).

The kid was so damn annoying...I found myself rooting for his death.

I just wanted him gone.

And the mother wasn't much more tolerable.

But, alas...

I don't think you can blame Singapore for this.

It was a valiant effort.

I place the blame on Netflix for producing this type of high concept trash on the reg.

It's always been their policy to aim for quantity over quality.

I've no doubt this was a one-line pitch when it was green-lit.

Cause it shows.

2 out of 10.