400 giorni - Simulazione spazio

OK. So it's about a science experiment to investigate the effects of prolonged time of isolation of a group in tight space as preparation for space travel, where long periods of no contact with the outside world are expected. Exactly 400 days of said isolation.

They pretty much cast a whole lot of actors from the hit TV series Arrow and The Flash, namely Brandon Routh, Carly Loitz (which I lovingly call 'The Chin'), and Tom Cavanagh.

These actors as well as the endearing premise caused me to watch that movie. And....my hopes pretty much fell apart.

The movie follows a long the typical low budget mystery and 'horror' plots of the 'isolated people' genre. Nothing, and I mean nothing original here with regards to script and direction.

The whole movie gives off the vibes of a Outer Limits episode. The sets feel very cheap. The story leads to nothing. No pay off at all. And at a runtime of 90 minutes it still felt very boring at long periods. Flashbacks try to establish some deeper characterization. But again, no relevance at all for the non-existent character development.

There is only two positive things I can say about the movie. First, the actors try at least a little bit (Brandon Routh and Tom Cavanagh are most often likable, even if they have absolutely nothing to work with from the script). Second, the premise remains interesting. But executed in such a way, it just is a giant case of wasted potential.

As a TV episode or short movie, OK, but with these 90 minutes, you should do something else...watch like 2 Outer Limits episodes.

I must be a masochist because I almost wanted to watch it again to figure out what was going on and if I missed some vital clues to figure out the ending of this low budget fiasco. I like what one reviewer said: Watch Moon it was a lot more interesting . My criteria for a decent movie is that I'll add it to my library and watch it again in the future, I almost felt guilty passing it along in a yard-sale for .50 cents . It really did steal from many other movies: Moon, 2001 Space Odyssey and OMG I even saw a "morlock" from the old Time Machine movie .Really as my son would say : It was just silly. Final analysis: Avoid Like The Plague!!!

The best part of this crap was going "oh, I remember him from that movie" and "wasn't he in that Dylan dog movie" calling this pile of trash a b- flic would take some of the quality away from actual b-flics. 70% boring, 20% tired cliché and 10% credits. The writers/directors/producers were like " lets take the idea of the movie Moon, crap all over it, regurgitate some failed movies of the past, eat it, then crap out 400 days." When I had the unfortunate experience of wasting 1.3 gig of bandwidth on this travesty, I did not know I was going to be investing 100 minutes on what turned out to be horrible 80's "c" style movie. Money will be lost, people will be fired. It seems like Brandon Routh is doing everything in his power to ruin his career. Do yourself a favor, go watch "Moon" instead.

Well, it wasn't terrible, and considering that the budget was obviously limited I was inclined to be slightly more lenient. I did find the plot somewhat entertaining, it reminded me of an episode of the outer limits or the twilight zone. The acting was fairly decent and the scripting was adequate. But there isn't enough here in the way of originality or ingenuity to make it shine.

The director does a pretty good job of pointing the camera. However, I generally think it's a bad idea to directly reference classic films made by genius directors unless your own film is at or near the same quality, because it seems like compensation. So the references to Kubrick through the use of slow tracking shots, deep focusing and a direct dialogue reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey, were unjustified and annoying.

The film develops a story that has no logical explanation, interspersed with continuity errors. But these weren't severe. What was more irritating was that the ending seems intended to create suspense but it's actually just a cliché. Much like the night-vision POV shots towards the end, there was no real reason for it.

The film isn't terrible and it's entertaining enough for casual viewing. But it's far too much an example of someone trying on purpose to create a film thats supposed to be 'mind-boggling' and creepy just for the sake of it, throwing in too many stereotypes in a kind of aping manner.

The psychological break-down of the crew was little more than a lower quality imitation of films such as Solaris and it pretends at subtext, but produces none.

Like I said, I've seen far worse, the director seems fairly competent and the story was bizarre enough to be somewhat interesting. But it's certainly nothing to get excited about.

A perfectly terribly movie with little, if anything, in the way of redeeming value. From a script that portrays characters acting in completely unbelievable ways to the tired old cliché of "let's all split up"this movie is a complete waste of one's time. Four prospective astronauts who in real life couldn't qualify for Walmart greeters get buried in the ground for a year and when they come out the world has changed. Apparently it has all changed into one giant D- grade horror movie cliché. Poorly written dialog, clichéd characters, and a plot written by Dunning Kruger Inc all add up to a completely wasted portion of your life that you will never... never get back.

There is zero resolution to the movie and every single "horror" moment is telegraphed like a 1900's Western Union operator working overtime. A good chunk of the non-action takes place in a post-apocalyptic dive bar which is where I imagine the director and screen writer likely spent much of their misspent cinematic education.

The only real horror here is how a group of people can spend months (days??) of their time producing such a completely worthless pile of steaming celluloid and still have the temerity to put their names upon the completed work.