Schrödinger's Girl

9 August 2016. This movie apparently takes an odd resemblance to Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd characters from James Bond's Diamonds are Forever (1971) who play some multi-dimensional caretakers. Add mediocre acting, and eventually some pretty poor special effects and you get an unfortunate presentation of a blurry version of an episode from the television series second season of Fringe (2009). There is an attempt at the character parallels better presented in the time travel movie entitled The Thirteenth Floor (1999). What allows this movie to edge out a slightly above average rating is its nice conceptual outline of parallel worlds. But the script and direction suffer and pretty dumbs down the outcome.

Seduced by the cover art showing the lead female brandishing a shotgun, one could be fooled into thinking this would be about a British 'Nikita' laying waste to hordes of foes on her way to killing three targets. Unfortunately, 'Triple Hit' turned out to be a dull sci-fi tale about three female scientists (all played by the same actress Abigail Tarttelin) in three alternate universes and the incidents they encounter as they travel from one to another. The main problem as the previous reviewer had noted is the lead role would have been demanding, even for skilled actress. Consequently with the lead in the hands of the uncharismatic and utterly unconvincing Abigail Tarttelin, the film falls flat before it even really gets started. According to her IMDb page, Ms Tarttelin may have done very well in her school examinations, but on this showing she must have got an 'F' for drama! The other actors in the movie are also cursed with the same deadpan wooden delivery of their lines, so despite the decent visual effects, 'Triple Hit' feels like a bad episode of 'Dr Who' without the Doctor. What really does annoy is the praise that has been heaped on this rather undistinguished movie on several British based sci-fi sites. It is good to promote British movies, but trying to pass off such a poor film as one worthy of attention does the industry no favours. The director does show promise, but he and his screenwriters need to take note that no amount of plot twists and pseudo-scientific claptrap will hide a weak story and uninspired acting.

The most staggering flaw of this film is its lead actress. I haven't seen her other performances so I can't determine if this was her usual calibre or anomalously poor. The role she is cast to is difficult to believe to begin with (the 24 year old quantum scientist professor, really?), then she is challenged with playing her "alternate" selves from other parallel universes. Not a new concept by any stretch of the imagination. The funny thing is she wasn't believable in any of the characters. The supporting cast was remarkably two dimensional in their performances. Considering the budget of the film they did a pretty good job I suppose. Special effects were rudimentary, but acceptable. The audio quality was pretty poor overall.

The script had some interesting points to it and could have done better. Perhaps it would have had more success adapted as a two part episode of Torchwood or Dr. Who. So unless you are desperate for your sci-fi fix I recommend missing this one.