Sentinelle

Exactly as the title says, this is a fine movie if you have absolutely nothing to do with your evening.

I was entertained by this movie, but I can definitely see a lot of flaws. Especially the plot holes. There are so many holes in the logic of this movie that are more than enough to ruin your immersion if you think about them too much.

So I tried not to, shut down the critical part of your brain for two hours and you will get some enjoyment out of this.

The setting is nice, the whole one location thing is always a joy for me too, the acting is decent. Some people in cast are very easy on the eyes as well which is a plus too.

It's the year 2063. Most land has been flooded by the rising sea level and only two smaller continents remain which are constantly at war. A group of soldiers is on a two year tour stationed on a rusting platform in the middle of the ocean. They have been waiting for their replacements for months. An abandoned ship suddenly drifts into their vicinity out of the blue.

The inspiration for this must be those WWII anti-aircraft platforms off the Britain coast. That's a good start although I would be more excited if they shot a few scenes on location. The premise intrigued me for a half hour or so. I stayed with the movie for another hour. It starts losing steam over the second hour and really loses me towards the end. The plot really can't support a two hour runtime.

According to this post-apocalyptic film, most of the world will be submerged by the year 2063. There are only two continents left, and they are at war. It makes no difference to the film, though, because we don't see any of it.

Smack bang in the middle of the two remaining continents is a military outlook, or sentinel, and is occupied by four soldiers. There's Cassidy (Kate Bosworth), Sullivan (Lucien Laviscount), Baines (Martin McCann), and Hendrichs (Thomas Kretschmann). Cassidy and Sullivan are romantically involved, and Hendrichs is a Sergeant with an attitude, while Baines is the guy who makes sure everything functions.

With food supplies running low, no communication from the outside world, and the base starting to tilt, they will have no option than to evacuate shortly. One day, a mysterious ship - thought to be the relief - appears, but there is no sign of life. This very ship would become the cause of rising tension between the soldiers, tearing them apart.

The film is entirely set on the sentinel, with only four characters. The 116 minute runtime did feel a bit too long. There are a few twists towards the end. In general this wasn't a bad watch and the character development was interesting, but I'm just not sure I'm going to remember this over time - especially with its ending...

Interestingly, cassettes were reintroduced again this year (2023), and according to the film cassettes will still be around in 2063, as the characters are shown listening to cassettes and not digital media. This remains to be seen, I guess...

The title says it all. This movie drags on from one unclear moment to the next. After spending nearly two hours with it, I think it could have made an interesting short, not a feature length movie. To its credit and the actors' credit, they were fully realized and animated people. Very good character development and done very early in the film. But to what purpose? There are movies that leave open questions that one can think about and were created to good effect. In this movie, it leaves too many open questions that one can't resolve. In the end, I didn't care about the characters, I didn't care what they did or why they did it. The movie left me completely flat and disappointed I spent money and time to see it.

Although the few actors and locations are very good for what seems a low budget movie, the pacing and tension works very well at the start, and the developments are smooth enough to carry the film for a while... the movie lasts two hours for a plot that is not particularly worth the wait, considering it doesn't stick the landing with its disappointing ending. The best compliment I can give it : it's not particularly bad or annoying at any point (see Interceptor for comparison purposes). But there's a lack of cohesion, specially with the message (if there even is one).. a lack of action, emotion, satisfaction or anything to hang on to.