When three high school friends discover a mysterious source of power, their lives are suddenly turned upside down, as their newfound abilities make their wildest dreams a reality. At first, everything plays out exactly the way you'd imagine a couple of teenagers would use their powers; as in goofing around with
innocent pranks and showing off to the ladies. But like the poster says: it's all fun and games until everybody gets hurt. For as a more darker side begins to emerge along with the discovery of their gifts, their bonds of friendship become ever more strained, leading up to a dire and catastrophic turn of events, where nothing can no longer be controlled and the darkness gets the better of them. If you think this sounds like the premise for a great and awesome movie, it's because that's exactly what it is. Fun-filled and exhilarating, I wasn't bored for a single second, and it kept on topping itself with progressively cooler special effects. The fact that almost every actor in it is completely unknown to me, only benefited the film as it made it feel more genuine. And it's this goosebump-inducing sense of realism, that makes it such a spellbinding watch. My only complaint as far as the visuals go, is that many of the moments where they fly around are too obviously done by wire. You'd think with how much technology has evolved in the past 10 years, that they'd be able to make it more convincing, but unfortunately it doesn't look much better than it did in the "olden days". I was also very annoyed by how they *spoiler alert* killed off one of my favourite characters so early on in the movie. Especially as I considered him the best of the three lead actors *end of spoiler*. In all other regards, however, this was a phenomenally entertaining experience. It was like watching one of my own dreams on screen, in which I've fantasized about having superpowers. And although rooted in familiar themes, found in hundreds of other Hollywood features, the pragmatic execution and natural character behavior, makes you fully invested in everything that's happening. So as far as found-footage fare goes, this was quite the mind-blowing success. A fresh, action-packed and impressively made sci-fi yarn, that treats its audience with dignity, while leaving you with an appetite for more and the hope for a continous sequel.
October 26, 2011
85%
78%
7%
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