Zona 414

I sat down to watch the 2021 sci-fi thriller "Zone 414" from writer Bryan Edward Hill and director Andrew Baird. I must say that I took an interest to the movie when I stumbled upon it, as the synopsis sounded interesting enough, and also because the movie has Guy Pearce on the cast list.

However, I should say that I hadn't heard anything about the movie prior to watching it, nor did I even know about it existing. So I wasn't sure what I was in for, nor did I have any expectations to the movie. So I entered the movie with an open mind and a clean slate.

And sure, aspects of "Zone 414" definitely were interesting, but the writing was just inadequate. "Zone 414" just felt like a knock off of the "Bladerunner" movie in many aspects, but at the same time managing to be original enough in its own way. However, for a futuristic thriller, then "Zone 414" just was lacking certain important elements to the storyline and to the overall feel of the movie.

The pacing of the storyline was a bit mundane and somewhat of a struggle to sit through, as there were severe slumps of period of nothing much interesting happening in the plot, and that definitely challenged my attention span of the movie. And the overall lack of futuristic environment and atmosphere, just took away so much from the movie, that was somewhat hard to buy into this being a futuristic movie with androids.

Guy Pearce was definitely nicely cast for "Zone 414" and carried the movie quite well with his performance. I am not overly much a fan of Travis Frimmel, but the way they made him look in the movie with the prosthetics and make-up was certainly interesting, and his performance was adequate, but somewhat diminished next to Guy Pearce's performance.

While "Zone 414" was watchable, it just wasn't an outstanding movie. Nor was it a particularly memorable foray into the sci-fi thriller genre. But if you enjoyed something like "Bladerunner", then chances are you will find something appealing about "Zone 414".

I found the movie to be rather bland, truth be told, and as such, my rating of "Zone 414" lands on a mediocre five out of ten stars.

This film had some amazing eye candy filler - especially for having a low 5m budget, but the story needed more substance and better pacing.

This is director Andrew Baird first full length feature film, and he did great. For an international (Irish) low budget indie film, it was better than some recent big budget Hollywood blockbusters I've seen lately. The cinematography by James Mather was outstanding, and even made basic inexpensive sets feel like that post-apocalyptic grungy future one would expect.

The 98 min runtime felt a little long with the slow pacing and progression of the story. The writing by Bryan Edward Hill had some plot and technical issues with some convoluted dialogue, and the screenplay could've used some tweaking by a seasoned writer. Had the film been cut down to about 85 mins with faster pacing, and/or had more grit and suspense with a little more character development, this could've been a cult classic.

The score I found to be excellent, especially for a B grade film. It was fitting, and certainly set the look and feel of the film appropriately. The performances were great by all, especially Fimmel, but I felt Pearce's character could've used more expression and energy.

Overall I did enjoy this better than I expected. I just wish that the story had some tweaking that could've made this great. It's a well deserved 7/10 from me.

This film has good potential but misses the mark frequently.

The major criticisms are: some average acting (from all actors), linear plot, no connection to the characters, and a desire to push victim mentality throughout the film.

The film is clearly influenced by Blade Runner, however, I would say that it's quite different to Blade Runner as this film focuses mostly on characters rather than creating a detailed world. In theory, this should work, however, the dialogue is mostly exposition rather than giving you a sense of the characters. This isn't helped by average acting.

It's borderline as to whether or not it's worth watching. If I cared about any of the characters, it may be different.

This movie is a ripoff from movies like Blade runner etc. It has that wacky 80's vibe. The problem is the story and the characters are half baked. It was supposed to be a detective story but the mystery was done bad. The only character that was good is Jane. Frankly I hope the actress appears in better movies. Guy pierce's though guy persona works for me, but the writing for his role wasn't great.

It's a fun Bladerunner knockoff, but that isn't a bad thing.

The villain wasn't good, across from Guy Pierce, who is a great actor.

It could have been more visceral, but it wasn't. It could have been great, but it wasn't.

Still worth the watch.