Post by Dale on Sept 11, 2009 13:48:15 GMT -5
The Coming: Book I
Over the first ten pages or so of “The Coming: Book I”, all I could think about was “Independence Day”. It did have a really “Independence Day” vibe to it, from the scene with Teague scanning the neighbourhood only to see the U.F.O and the media attacking the President for “In-experience”.
“The Coming: Book I” is the first part of a trilogy I believe, and it does suffer from that. Don’t get me wrong, it is an excellent film which you would expect from Hanelle but it does have it’s issues. First of which is, nothing really happens. The movie spends a lot of the opening few acts, introducing the characters, reacting to the arrival of the “visitors” throwing in an odd twist or two along the way. And then, there’s a lot of exposition, setting the scene for the films to come (at least that’s the way it seemed).
That’s not to say the film didn’t have excitement moments. The film was packed full of excitement, not in action scenes but with tension and surprise twists, usually all in the final moments of each act. There’s lots of build up and speculation that creates a lot of tension, not just regarding the U.F.O, but with the character’s and their relationships with others too. Hanelle knows how to write using the act structure to its full benefit; we saw it with Clocks and it’s evident here. She ends things at just the right time, and when you see “End of Act” after a particular dramatic or tense scene you just can’t help but get that rush of excitement and you can’t help but want to read on. Kudos on being awesome I guess.
The film was almost focused entirely on the characters, which again you’d expect from a Hanelle film. You cared about what happened to them during the big action finale which made it all the more impactful. That being said, I would have liked to have seen more from the film, because at eighty five pages, it seems a little bit rushed at times. But maybe that was just me. I would have liked to have seen more from certain characters, I felt there was room for it. There were moments and parts of the story that felt glossed over, one would imagine these things were left to be covered more in depth in future instalments. Nevertheless the film provides a more than satisfactory read that breezes by and leaves me anticipating the sequel.
Overall, “The Coming: Book I” feels like a setting the stage type of movie. It introduces us to the characters, their personalities, jobs etc. Whilst providing interesting twists that allow the follow up instalments to be a whole different ball game. Whilst the movie does take it’s time setting up for “Book II”, it also provides a solid back bone for the series and a very enjoyable character driven movie, with plenty of classic sci-fi moments and a little Hanelle spin thrown in. It is well worth your time checking out.
*** ¼ out of ****
Over the first ten pages or so of “The Coming: Book I”, all I could think about was “Independence Day”. It did have a really “Independence Day” vibe to it, from the scene with Teague scanning the neighbourhood only to see the U.F.O and the media attacking the President for “In-experience”.
“The Coming: Book I” is the first part of a trilogy I believe, and it does suffer from that. Don’t get me wrong, it is an excellent film which you would expect from Hanelle but it does have it’s issues. First of which is, nothing really happens. The movie spends a lot of the opening few acts, introducing the characters, reacting to the arrival of the “visitors” throwing in an odd twist or two along the way. And then, there’s a lot of exposition, setting the scene for the films to come (at least that’s the way it seemed).
That’s not to say the film didn’t have excitement moments. The film was packed full of excitement, not in action scenes but with tension and surprise twists, usually all in the final moments of each act. There’s lots of build up and speculation that creates a lot of tension, not just regarding the U.F.O, but with the character’s and their relationships with others too. Hanelle knows how to write using the act structure to its full benefit; we saw it with Clocks and it’s evident here. She ends things at just the right time, and when you see “End of Act” after a particular dramatic or tense scene you just can’t help but get that rush of excitement and you can’t help but want to read on. Kudos on being awesome I guess.
The film was almost focused entirely on the characters, which again you’d expect from a Hanelle film. You cared about what happened to them during the big action finale which made it all the more impactful. That being said, I would have liked to have seen more from the film, because at eighty five pages, it seems a little bit rushed at times. But maybe that was just me. I would have liked to have seen more from certain characters, I felt there was room for it. There were moments and parts of the story that felt glossed over, one would imagine these things were left to be covered more in depth in future instalments. Nevertheless the film provides a more than satisfactory read that breezes by and leaves me anticipating the sequel.
Overall, “The Coming: Book I” feels like a setting the stage type of movie. It introduces us to the characters, their personalities, jobs etc. Whilst providing interesting twists that allow the follow up instalments to be a whole different ball game. Whilst the movie does take it’s time setting up for “Book II”, it also provides a solid back bone for the series and a very enjoyable character driven movie, with plenty of classic sci-fi moments and a little Hanelle spin thrown in. It is well worth your time checking out.
*** ¼ out of ****
