The Abandon

Okay, so yeah, I watched the whole thing because Jonathan Rosenthal was pretty to look at. But the movie is highly derivative and highly claustrophobic. And it doesn't have enough cleverness to sustain its minimalist setting without long stretches of me shouting "get on with it!"

Once the mystery is resolved, it is a matter of thinking to yourself - "oh, yeah, that was one of the possibilities I thought of while having plenty of time to think while watching this." So it is not really a twist or even a surprise.

The filmmakers get a C for effort. And the lead actor gets a YOWZA for his presence. That averages to a middle of the road movie.

American soldier Miles Willis (Jonathan Rosenthal) is fighting in the Middle East. He is shot. A bright light shines down and he finds himself in a cube room with no exit.

This is drawing heavily from Cube, but it doesn't have the fun of a good mystery. It feels known and random. The variable gravity is interesting for awhile, but Miles annoyed me for not wearing his helmet. It's the first thing that I would do. I would also try to grab all the stuff before they come flying at my head. This doesn't have the mystery solving fun and the final reveal falls a bit flat. It's no sin to copy Cube, but this doesn't do much with it.

No pun intended - this reminds me, that I have to rewatch the ... I'll call it classic movie (this has taken a few notes from) ... called the Cube! I wouldn't say that it is a copy (or uses the same blueprint ... see what I did there?) ... but you can see and feel that it tries to create a similar mood.

Having said that it does try to do things differently - you get a different story and some interesting twists. I assume you can see many things coming before they happen. But still it is suspenseful enough to work its "magic" - well again no pun intended. You may lose track of time too - which might or might not be a pun ... special effects are good. It's a shame it can't keep it up (not an innuendo, but certainly a pun - no matter which side you turn it to ... sorry had to) ... hopefully you are not claustrophobic ... this might be the end of you.

This is a very bad mixture between "Cube" and "Buried". I don´t understand why nobody watched this film; only 75 votes, only one critic (now two with mine), and the critic of 10... It is a production of 2022... I don´t Know, but It looks very strange.

Copy of Rodrigo Cortese´s "Buried", with a bigger set like in "Cube", with very poor acting and a screenplay that could be better, but the directing and the acting are so bad that you just want to stop the picture at the very beginnig, somethig like in the first 20 minutes.

I am not gonna tell You anything about the picture, no spoiling; but I warned you! It is a waste of time. And I am sure that it started with the votes of the production friends and families, but now, with ordinary people like us, with nothing to do with the picture, It will go to 4 stars, with a very few days. Yesterday it was 8.1; today with 20 votes more, 7.4... wait two weeks or four, and you will see...

This type of strange products, coming from years away and nobody watching it... I don´t now... be very careful of those movies with such a poor votes and a big rating. Just wait a month before watching it. Then return to see the rating and you wil discover that It is under 5.

1 star out of 10.

Reviewing and rating this movie isn't straightforward. On the one hand, it's a noble attempt at reformulating the tried and tested high concept single location sci-fi mystery (think Cube, or Circle). On the other hand, it's a jumbled mess of ideas that ultimately lead to an underwhelming and disappointint conclusion. What compelled me to write this review is the need to inject a balanced view amid the overly harsh 1* reviews, and the utterly ridiculous 10* review that I can only assume was written by someone involved with making the movie. It's not terrible - I was intrigued enough to watch the whole thing, and only started to get bored in the final stretch of the 3rd act. Equally, it's not great. But honestly, I applaud the attempt. Here's hoping the director learns from this and comes back with a stronger script for his next feature.