Atômica: Ameaça oculta

I so rarely write reviews, despite watching an awful lot of movies. This one was poor enough that I was motivated to pop down a warning for any who might think 'Ah, I'll give it a go'

I don't mind a low budget approach to SciFi, I can look past less than perfect FX and CGI, I don't even consider bad science a deal-breaker.

Bad writing, bad acting, insanely obvious 'twist' and lack of satisfying dismount, however - that's enough to get me to put finger to keyboard and declare this a real dud. The actress playing Abby was awful, bless her. Though, to be fair, the script was pretty sub-par so she didn't have a lot to work with. Dominic did his best but the shot choices, off-pace editing and, again, poor source material meant his efforts simply came across as hammy. With better direction on all areas, he at least could have salvaged some dignity. Tom Sizemore was barely in it and had little to do.

The premise of the film is not the worst, and in more capable hands could have been at least an entertaining diversion. However, the actual final result looks like a rushed, b-grade (at best) made for TV gap filler for when the decent shows are on hiatus. SyFy has shown what they are capable of with The Expanse (among others). This was simply not a good movie on any level.

This film missed the mark as it was unconvincing. The acting and the writing/plot where really bad, however, the cinematography and directing was on point. The other fail in this was wardrobe... how is basically a motorcycle helmet part of a modern era space suit? Too bad the negative elements where so apparent, this film had potential. Sadly, it's only a 4/10 from me.

The movie is about a technical engineer, who is sent to a nuclear power plant to repair a communication failure and the unexpected scenarios that follow.

This movie has a very good storyline that could have been much more but the low budget made it not reach its potential. It makes me sad that stories with potential like this gets destroyed due to bad actors and low budget.

It is a one time watch movie.

People have tried to replicate the success of Moon with various other titles, like Air and Passengers, but they always seem to miss the point that a film with just a few characters needs something more, not less, than a movie with a lot of people in it.

Unfortunately, that is the case of Atomica/Deep Burial. There are three characters in total, with one of them secondary to the story. And before the big reveal, 20 minutes before the end, nothing much happens than two people talking to each other in a climate of rising suspicion.

The acting is good, the psychological aspect of the thriller is pretty good, but the story is completely empty, as is the message in the end. And the funny thing is that the science fiction part of the movie is completely superfluous. They could have easily done the same scenario in the real world, with more of an impact.

As such, with a future world that feels remote and with characters that have no backstory or much character development, the film is just slow and hard to endure, with no real payback in the end, since no one cared what happens in the first place.

I'm pretty generous when it comes to being low budget and not having the money for big special effects. I found the CGI actually quite good for the budget but what I cannot forgive is the heavily cliched story and bad acting. The story was too predictable and nonsensical. And that ending...Ugh.