Convergence

Rachel Hayward and Christopher Lloyd star in this much-misunderstood comedy of errors, set in Seattle, Washington. If you--like I--call this city your home, you will emit gleeful shouts of recognition time and time again as familiar landmarks appear on the screen. You'll see those trademark new Seattle buses, the green and yellow ones. You'll see white Seattle buses, with orange and red stripes. But wait--those aren't Seattle buses! While such visual jokes will really only make sense to Seattleites, there's certainly something in this film for everyone. People's faces shake. People take off clothes in laundromats. Other people get afflicted with the pesky ole' stigmata. Christopher Lloyd even talks theology with a nun.

Sit back with a friend or two, crack open bottles of MGD, and watch out for the scene where the mug hits the ceiling. It's a laugh a minute! I also found that this is a great movie to play with the volume turned down, at a party...your guests will thank you. Trust me!

I'm afraid that there wasn't much I cared for in this movie. While it was somewhat well acted, the plot was disjointed and there was very little action. And with the exception of a few streaks in the sky and a couple of expolosions, there were no special effects, (oh yea, a cup flew up and hit the ceiling). I guess if you are from seattle it might be entertaining but I would recommend the rest of us pass on this snoozer.

Having watched this film and wasted a couple of hours that could have been better spent, I searched online for reviews to see what other viewers made of it. To say I am finding it hard to believe the evidence of my own eyes is an understatement. So many reviewers have admitted to being confused, to feeling there was something missing, to having been given something to "think" about (yes, like what was this complete tosh supposed to be about?) but still ended up praising it, that I had to register and write a review of my own.

It seems that many people are very easily pleased. It seems that the great interest currently shown in paranormal and esoteric subjects means that chancers can produce a patchwork of psychological gibberish, give it a moody, rainy feel full of pregnant pauses, significant glances and enigmatic comments (except that none of it added up) where nobody behaved in a remotely normal human way, but all of this was supposed to (and apparently did) impress itself on the minds of so many reviewers, even though a number of them admit to being unsure of what any of it actually meant.

The X Files have been mentioned once or twice, and this is a good analogy. That was another example of throwing together a random set of unlikely happenings, irritating anyone trying to actually make sense of it, and at the end have someone say, "So what did it mean? Maybe we'll never know ..." (or words to that effect). Well my words would be What A Cop-Out! Throwing together a bit of this, a bit of that, cups hitting the ceiling, rooms shaking, yada yada yada - does NOT constitute a plot, or even a point. Anyone satisfied with rubbish like this needs their own heads tested. Even Christopher Lloyd mumbled his way through it (no doubt due to extreme embarrassment and in the hope none of us would be able to understand what he was saying). Avoid this film like the plague unless you only have two brain cells that will overload if faced with intelligent entertainment. Do yourselves a favour, and watch the genuinely creepy and disturbing Carnival of Souls (1962) instead.

This movie was really bad and a complete waste of great actor's talents. The plot was too simple and I couldn't stand how choppy and poorly made the film was. I've seen much better on the Science Fiction television show "Outer Limits".

Since the X-Files, supernatural thrillers have become a staple for television, the cinema and, of course, direct to video release.

Convergence is one of the latter, which in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, there's often been a tendency amongst this genre for the lower budgets to yield higher rewards, but alas with Convergence this is not the case.

The plot centers on the exploits of a pair of tabloid reporters (Bear in mind we are talking American tabloids here, whose staples are UFOs, big foots and Elvis sightings), who get caught up in more than a few strange incidents themselves. Things seem to start moving when Ali (Cynthia Preston) suffers peculiar delusions and starts wandering across town, as if being called to a certain location.

After this she moves into a new apartment, near this location and starts to become a focus for paranormal events, attracting the fatherly concerns of her editor, Morley (Christopher Llyod) and the more direct attentions of her new landlord (Adrian Paul).

The plot twists, turns and spins in several directions before flying off, seemingly at random. The film then builds towards a climax, built upon the notion that 14 years previously something happened that shouldn't have, and the world is somehow trying to set things right.

If you have had any problems following what has been explained above above then you'll probably be completely lost when it comes to watching this film. There are some good ideas in here, don't get me wrong, the notion of 'convergence points' for Earth's ley-lines isn't original, but could have been used to great effect here. Also the idea of fate trying to reassert itself is interestingly used (if slightly flawed, and nowhere near as polished as in Final Destination).

Unfortunately the whole thing just doesn't sit well together. The cast is uninspiring, with only Lloyd rising to the occasion, and even then we've seen him do much better. Adrian Paul, perhaps better known as TV's 'Highlander' is truly appalling in his role, the idea of conveying any type of emotion whilst in character seems somehow foreign to him.

In short, Convergence tries for depth, it tries for meaning and it skirts interestingly around the edge of the paranormal. There are no real thrills here though, little suspense can be found and the only real conspiracy you wonder about is the one that got this onto the shelves in the first place.