White Space

I have a thing for space movies. The trailer seemed reasonable. So I checked out the movie & Oh boy! the VFX is awesome & top notch for such an obscure movie. Then I looked into the director filmography & this guy seems to be the VFX supervisor for many popular films. I guess that's the reason the graphics are a top notch Story wise its so-so but its definitely a popcorn free-time watch if you are into sci-fi, space action flicks.

Ken Locsmandi has a long and impressive background as a special effects master. Beyond White Space (BWS) was a very ambitious project for a first time director, since the story is essentially Moby Dick.

I personally love the idea of rebooting classics into the SF genre. The only problem is that they will inevitably be compared with the classics - very risky.

Moby Dick already has several excellent cinematic incarnations, most recently Heart Of The Sea. These have been big budget, big name productions able to attract seasoned directors and actors.

The special effects in BWS are top notch, as to be expected from Locsmandi. The acting however is hit and miss. This has to be laid on the director, since the actors do prove they can hit their mark occasionally.

I have a feeling too much of the budget went into CG, not filming the endless live takes of inexperienced actors required to hit the mark every time in the final cut.

Perhaps he should have cast at least one seasoned and proven actor to lead the others. It likely would have improved the overall performance. The acting seemed rushed, impatient even.

It is the 22nd Century. The USS Essex is travelling in the furthest reaches of the known Universe when it encounters a gigantic creature. It is then boarded by pirates who take their cargo and most of their supplies. The crew decide to capture the creature to make up for their loss of cargo.

I had low expectations for this movie. From the cast and crew you can tell it is very likely to be B-grade. The only known face among them all is Holt McCallany, of Mindhunter fame. Yet the movie isn't that bad.

Well, it's still not good, just not as bad as it could have been. Plot is basic but doesn't go off in too many detours. Direction isn't great but is functional. Characters are stereotypical but don't get cartoonish. Dialogue manages to avoid being cringeworthy. Some performances are pretty lame but most are okay.

Overall, not great but better than expected.

The visual affects are awesome, sets are awesome, production quality is great, acting is good, the score is decent, the directing is poor the script is bad.

This could have been fantastic action adventure tragedy movie, but to me, it feels like a balloon that never gets completely inflated, and the air is slowly let out, leaving me feeling frustrated, confused and annoyed.

We are introduced to the Captain and his motivations, through a flashback. Then another shortcut to introduce the rest of his crew through a 'most wanted' summary.

Perhaps it was poorly edited to cut runtime, but I never felt anything for the characters, their motivations were either thrust into the story, or left out completely. No ahhh! moments, no 'oh, I thought you were a good guy, but your bad!'.

The music never really adds to the suspense or helps tell the story, its just there. Its good, but all it seems to do is break the silence, rather than being a tool to tell the story.

Aliens does so much with so little, yet this movie does so little with so much.

Still, its worth watching, just because it actually exists. *First review I've posted on IMDB.

I watched this film because it seemed to be a remake/homage to Moby Dick. Well, if Moby Dick is one of the most iconic novels of all time, this film is a washed up mess.

B movie sci-fi films are notoriously bad. They either are so low budget at they are silly, or they come from an Aliens rip off. Beyond White Space is bad for altogether different reasons - a total lack of story telling.

Lets start with what I did enjoy. The effects are better than I expected, the cast is likeable... that's about it.

What is wrong is a total lack of continuity, the ability to build a story, logic of characters or actions or payoff.

The main plot (for no one could count the number of extra sub plots floating around this film) is that an ancient space creature needs to be hunted for some reason; and space pirates are in there somewhere, and space cops? After this, I stopped caring very quickly. The film just does not make sense, and what is even worse is that it becomes anti climactic.

Aside from the total lack of plot, story telling and logic, it is actually not the worse film I have seen so far in 2019, so there is that going for it. I mean, you have been warned, but at least it isn't a very long film. I did give it a 4, so it's only bad. Go chase that whale!