The Anomaly

Noel Clarke fancied himself as an action star. No worries, he also produces, directs and co-writes The Anomaly as well as starring in it.

This means we see him kick butt in some action scenes as well as showing of his muscular body in the nude.

The Anomaly is a low budget sci-fi action film set in the near future. Ryan Reeve (Noel Clarke) wakes up in a van to find himself trapped with a boy pursued by a man in a tweed suit. It looks like Reeve is the kidnapper.

Reeve is the victim of a mind control plot by a controversial doctor. Reeve has about 10 minutes to put things right. If he dies or goes over that time, the scenario resets.

The film is Jason Bourne meets Memento. It even has a prostitute with a heart.

The film has a confusing and unconvincing first half. It is a derivative movie that gets better in its second half.

As Clarke found fame in the relaunch of Doctor Who, he should had worked more on the sci-fi elements.

It's an Anomaly alright. I do like the idea behind this (though it's not entirely new and fresh, it's a nice take), but it gets muddled throughout. The "science" behind it seems to have quite a few gaps (no pun intended). Noel Clarke seems to want to much at once. The almost 10 minutes thing is a nice touch, but it doesn't work out always (not sure if they ever planned on having all the sections running the exact time window they establish, might have been interesting and very challenging).

Whatever the case, a couple of things do not seem to work (like planting and seeding, "What else is there to do? - actually a couple of things, like re-writing the script or at least re-defining it). It works almost as it is, but there could be more, even without explanations (or longer/shorter time frames here and there). Not to mention location findings and such ... Could've been worse, could've been better - coincidences aside

Set in the future, a traumatized ex-soldier discovers that he can only experience life as himself in nine minute bursts every few days or so. Consequently, he has no idea what he has been up to in between times but it appears in his other life he's clearly been up to no good. He tries to piece together what is causing this.

The Anomaly is a really good example of what can be achieved in a science fiction movie on a low budget. Actor/director Noel Clarke and writer Simon Lewis have put together a nicely ambitious genre flick that is structured in a really interesting way. Its technique is not dis-similar to the one used in Memento (2000) where we follow a protagonist who is consistently unsure of how he got where he is. It's a great idea and ensures that the story-line remains intriguing throughout. It also allows for the film to change gears suddenly and for us to be thrown into jarringly different scenarios as well as re-locating locations. The special effects are well used for the latter, where there are nice cityscapes of the likes of London and New York – very well rendered on a tight budget.

Clarke himself makes for a good central character. It's quite a physical role that calls also for a fair amount of action set-pieces, so we have lots of slow-motion fight scenes interspersed amongst the more cerebral sci-fi stuff. Ian Somerhalder makes a mark too as a dapper, enigmatic man who seems to be involved with Clarke in his unknown other life, while the rather gorgeous Alexis Knapp makes an impression as a girl who assists Clarke in finding out the truth. Brian Cox also stars but is restricted to a cameo role unfortunately. Overall, I was very impressed with this flick. While it does go down a sci-fi action route to an extent, and that's okay, it was the more mysterious sci-fi puzzle aspects that really made it tick. It's well worth seeking out and it should be supported simply on the basis that it shows a lot of ambition and good ideas, while never forgetting to remain entertaining.

The central idea of Anomaly is a familiar one to recent science fiction fans, as well as fans of the Jason Bourne series. That wouldn't particularly matter if The Anomaly had its own sense of identity or style. It does not.

The idea for films like this is to create a sense of mystery. Initially the film succeeds in doing this, but after some poor dialogue and clumsy info-dumps I suspect that most viewers will stop caring what the film is about. There is no sense of tension and, ironically, the ticking clock that the narrative needs is missing.

some of the performances are below par and The Anomaly feels like a vanity project for Noel Clarke, who casts himself as the hero and directs.

Noel Clarke thinks he's Will Smith, turns out he isn't.

This is a poor, predictable, sci-fi romp which appears to be an excuse for Noel to be the tough but sensitive guy at every opportunity. All the major plot lines are here; convenient snippets of information learned by the 'hero' through the film, dead wife (for no apparent reason), acts a tough guy while on a mission to save a child, the only woman to appear more than once falls in love with him, last minute twist, it just goes on and on, and on.......*yawn*

You can't help but think that Noel had to direct the film too because no-one but Noel could make Noel such a hero.