Spectral

• USA • 2016 • 107m •

• Directed by: Nic Mathieu. • Starring: James Badge Dale, Emily Mortimer, Bruce Greenwood, Max Martini, Cory Hardrict, Clayne Crawford, Gonzalo Menendez, Ursula Parker, Aaron Serban, Stephen Root, Jimmy Akingbola, Tsogbaatar Batzorig, Michael Bodie. • Music by: Junkie XL.

A special-ops team is dispatched to fight supernatural beings that have taken over Moldova. A brilliant DARPA scientist embarks on a deadly mission with a Special Ops team of Delta Force soldiers into a battle-scarred, war-torn city, where mysterious phantom aggressors code-named Spectral have been causing inexplicable civilian deaths.

Trailers:

Length:

Languages:

Subtitles:

Trailer

1:48

Review:

The history of "Spectral" is a strange story indeed. Originally a co- production between Universal and Legendary Pictures, the film is the brainchild of first time feature director Nic Mathieu and established writer George Nolfi, and stars a relatively talented cast of name actors including the likes of James Badge Dale, Bruce Greenwood, Emily Mortimer and even a small turn from the delightful Stephen Root. With a moderately sized budget, an entertaining high-concept story and top- notch talent on both sides of the camera, the film seemed like a surefire hit. They even got the effects geniuses of WETA to supply the many excellent digital effects. It was given a tentative Summer 2016 release and the stage seemed set.

Then something happened. The film was given virtually no advertising. Hype was all but absent. And you could barely find a lick of information about it, despite a looming release window.

While reports are sketchy, it seems Universal got cold feet regarding the project. Evidently, the executives in charge weren't pleased with the finished results, and decided to sever ties with the film, leaving it entirely in the hands of Legendary, who were out millions of dollars and now without a theatrical distributor at the last minute. Which is sadly something of a theme with some higher-concept projects Universal has been involved with at one time or another in the past. They seem all too game to begin work on these types of projects... only to either back out or otherwise screw over the production at the zero-hour. With seemingly no other options, Netflix eventually stepped up to the plate and the film was released in the Winter of 2016 as a "Netflix Original."

Frankly... I don't know what Universal were thinking! While nothing revolutionary and suffering some clunky sequences and a few too many clichés, "Spectral" is actually quite a bit of fun, and is never anything less than completely entertaining. It's action-schlock through and though. But it seems to understand this and puts all its effort into giving us consistent and increasingly fierce thrills from start-to-finish.

We follow DARPA scientist Dr. Mark Clyne (Dale), as he is whisked away to a war-zone in Eastern Europe and informed of a situation- some mysterious force is taking out American soldiers... a force that is apparently invisible to the human eye but visible through the use of hyperspectral imaging goggles that Clyne developed for the military. There to supervise, Clyne eventually finds himself drawn into an intense and violent conflict as it soon becomes all too obvious that the enemy aren't normal humans using adaptive camouflage as originally hypothesized... but that they just might be a dark force from beyond the realm of human understanding.

The movie is a roller-coaster ride. With slick and stylish visual direction and a fun premise that mixes military dramas such as "Black Hawk Down" with supernatural Sci-Fi thrillers like "Aliens", it's a blast and a half from start to finish. First time director Mathieu is very confident in his abilities and demonstrates a keen understanding of flow and visual narrative. The budget is estimated to be in the $50-$70 million range, but Mathieu's wonderful sense of composition, movement and framing makes it look far grander. I've seen films with $200 million budgets that don't look this good. It's startling how much he is able to achieve with comparatively so little, and the film aesthetically rivals the best of the best in terms of big- budget Hollywood fare. And my lord, the action is just relentless and will leave your heart pounding. It's creative, fun and mixes good old- fashioned stunt-work with the latest innovations of computer technology in a very admirable way. I truly hope Mathieu is given another chance to direct a big-budget film for the big-screen. I'm very curious to see where he goes from here.

I was also quite impressed with the cast. Our leads in James Badge Dale and Emily Mortimer are both quite good in their respective roles and are able to give a lot of weight to what are admittedly stock "heroic" characters. I also very much enjoyed Max Martini and Bruce Greenwood in supporting roles as members of the military. Especially Martini, who is ton of fun. (And also worked with lead James Badge Dale in Michael Bay's film "13 Hours") And even the smaller parts played by the likes of Stephen Root, Clayne Crawford and Cory Hardrict are very well cast. Just a good, solid ensemble that bring the film to life in the best of ways.

Where the film doesn't fare so well is the writing. Not to say I had any particular problem with the script by George Nolfi... It's just a bit too reliant on the old clichés and has a few too many clunky sequences that don't always add up. Characters are particularly stock for the most part and the story hits all of the beats you'd expect it to, which robs much of the suspense. And without spoiling anything, the film makes a rather hard left turn towards the final act that might very well be too much for some to swallow.

But honestly, when all is said and done... "Spectral" is here to entertain. And entertain it does! The action is fast and ferocious. Performances are quite good for the most part. And it's a competently made film with some fine visual storytelling. It won't win any awards, but as far as high-concept action goes... you could definitely do worse.

I give it a solid 7 out of 10.

Review by MaximumMadness from the Internet Movie Database.