terrencepatrix

Yes it's true, there's no dialogue in this movie, but there isn't any need for dialogue because if you pay attention the movie lays out it's narrative through it's direction and actions of the protagonist. The story itself is fairly simple, it's exactly what you see in the trailer, an alien invasion and a lone young woman fighting for her life.

What this movie doesn't have is exposition. No one is here to hold your hand through the movie, no ones here to explain it, because...duh..."No One Will Save You". We're in the dark throughout the movie as is the protagonist and expected to pay attention to the fairly obvious clues to get an idea of what's going on. And even then don't go in expecting a huge reveal at the ending, we're not meant to know too much, and if done right that's what I consider good sci-fi. It should bewilder and confuse you sometimes and this movie manages to do that while keeping a very tight pace with plenty of action to keep you engaged.

The CGI isn't the best, you can tell this was done on a moderate budget, but it's serviceable. The lead actress was surprisingly scrappy, she's like a tiny little terminator with the abuse she takes and manages to get back up. If you're a big sci-fi and action fan and you don't expect too much I don't see why you wouldn't like this movie.

This show is just sort of baffling. They took an interesting concept and completely ruined it by over dramatizing every single little thing. I'm not sure how much is scripted or how much people were coached but every single person (except Summer) is completely unlikable. The cast pretends like they're all so invested in this "experiment" and how they want to reach the finish line together as a team. They say all these positive things when the reality is they're the most self-righteous and self centered people you can find. The women are the absolute worst, they constantly find any reason to be offended and resort to group bullying every single episode while pretending they're actually the victims.

And this all takes place in less than 3 weeks time, which really isn't that long of a period of time. The people are all just so ridiculously fake and shallow, the challenges are lame, the constant swapping of contestants is too frequent and takes up the bulk of the show. It's over dramatic shallow trash at the end of the day only good for a hate watch. Summer is gorgeous so I gave it an extra point.

This movie did something I didn't expect from a World War movie...it makes you feel empathetic for the Germans. To an extent.

I'm no war buff so I'll leave the realism to the experts but what this movie does is show you the first World War from the view point of people who've never experienced or even conceived of war and bloodshed on this scale. It starts off with new recruits full of patriotism for their country expecting to be sent on a grand adventure only to have those expectations quickly shattered. Turns out war isn't fun, and not even initially due to the actual fighting. Just training and constantly being screamed at and controlled while marching your days away is brutal. Remember, while vehicles existed, they weren't common use at this period of time...these soldiers had to walk, walk, and walk some more to get to where the war effort was taking place. And even if they had vehicles most of those places didn't have roads yet to drive them on. Then there's the constant lack of food and water, rough sleeping conditions, being exposed to the elements. Just GETTING to the war is brutal. That's a good 3rd of the movie right there.

Then close to the half way point, after a few minor skirmishes, we see the war front and the trenches and get to see what that's like. Well...it's terrible! You pop up out of a trench and boom...you're shot. And that's just life in between charges. There was no strategy to the charges either, they relied on waves of bodies to gain even 100 meters, hoping to out pace the bullets constantly coming your way. Millions of young men died in this fashion, their bodies littering the field.

The most brutal part of the film is the weapons of war never before seen. Tanks, flame throwers, planes dropping bombs. Men screaming in pure terror while the bullet proof tanks drive over them, while flames fill their trenches, or planes blow them up while they flee.

And the odd thing is since we're seeing it from the eyes of the young German soldiers, who are truly clueless as to why they're really even fighting, you do empathize and feel sorry for them. You find yourself even rooting for them. This movie humanizes them but importantly shows the politicians who are truly to blame for the atrocities. The powerful men behind the scenes, bloated from being overfed on rich foods, hundreds of miles away from the pain and suffering they cause.

I have no idea how accurate this movie is but it's a pretty straight forward piece showing just how awful, terrifying, and destructive this period of time was. I really enjoyed it and recommend it to any fans of this genre.