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Radioflash

Radioflash (2019) Movie Poster
USA  •    •  103m  •    •  Directed by: Ben McPherson.  •  Starring: Brighton Sharbino, Dominic Monaghan, Will Patton, Fionnula Flanagan, Miles Anderson, Michael Filipowich, Kyle Collin, Sean Cook, Arden Myrin, Eryn Rea, Max Adler, Lance Valentine Butler, Juli Erickson.  •  Music by: Ramin Kousha.
     When a nuclear device causes an electromagnetic pulse that kills power to more than 200 million people, a teenage girl must help lead her family to survival in a dark new world.

Review:

First the good, it is reasonably acted (with one major exception), and you can tell it was shot with a slightly-higher-than-average budget (for this film type), with a rather impressive recognizable cast, and polished set pieces.

For some reason that ends up meaning absolutely nothing to the rest of this plot, the film opens with our young protagonist making her way thru an extremely advanced VR game. In retrospect, I'm not sure if this was done as a "red herring", if it just "looked cool", if it was to show the "smarts" of the lead, or what, exactly? Based on the film's synopsis offered by the film itself, I'm guessing this was done to show how "smart" the main character was, and to let you know this was taking place "slightly" in the future, because beyond the opening shot, the VR stuff is completely abandoned the rest of the film.

Or is it? I feel like this film is not as deep as I was trying to give it credit for, but the constant appearance of a "dark guy" throughout the film, which is never clearly explained, makes me wonder. A great version of this film, that may have existed at one point (explaining the opening more), was that this ENTIRE movie is just an extremely advanced VR simulation, a "game" the lead protagonist is playing. This would explain the "not exactly broken up" stance the lead takes after her dad dies, and the incredibly hammy overacting by characters late in the film. Because it is the events late in the film that really make me WANT to believe this whole thing is a VR simulation.

All plot pieces are chugging along nicely, until the lead and her dad happen upon a miserly old chap who looks like he was plucked out of a video game, and then he says some really stupid stuff about "hill people" and their dangers that made me start to think..."Hmm, was this a game all along?" And then some time later the protagonist gets involved with another group, that contains (yet another) "hill person" who has some of the hammiest, most poorly delivered lines I've ever seen. Either the actress was drunk when she was giving her lines, or she was told to act like she was. Anyway, more evidence that "it was all a dream"...and then, it's just...not.

Yep, the lead reaches gramps with "wild boy" survivor in tow, and all is well in the world again. I truly feel like someone wrote part of this film with the intention that "it was all a dream game", hence the "dark guy" who shows up occasionally, for no reason, but maybe someone saw how poorly "Serenity" (Anne Hathaway film) did, and so they excised the "game" subplot. I don't know, because without that plot device, the "dark guy" makes no sense, other than the lead to yell "I'm not afraid of you!" at him. Okay. Cool

As I said, good promise, good ideas, that went absolutely no where in the end.


Review by rmmil from the Internet Movie Database.