William |
USA • 2019 • 100m •
  • Directed by: Tim Disney. • Starring: Brody Wilkinson, Connor Wilkinson, Sydney Bell, Lee Booker, Will Brittain, Morgan Taylor Campbell, Christian Convery, Agam Darshi, Maria Dizzia, Krystle Dos Santos, Nikolas Dukic, Kevin Dzah, Finn Haney..  Julian Reed and Barbara Sullivan create a Neanderthal baby using ancient Neanderthal DNA from a Neanderthal bog body. William must learn to exist in a world where he is the ultimate outsider, the only Neanderthal on the planet.
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Review:
The film sets off with underdeveloped character relationships right from the start. It only takes one dinner conversation for two scientists to "fall in love". The romantic chemistry between them is forced as their main topic of discussion has been the execution of their cloning plan, not getting to know eachother better. Their gazing-at-eachother-as-if-about-to-kiss is so awkward that I couldn't help cringe. It's such a shame, because it would have been so much more believable to have these two characters start off as just colleagues passionate about the same goal, and then let the romance develop throughout the time they spend working together.
In merely one change of a scene, two years have already passed, they're an established couple, and have published several papers together. It really makes the audience feel like the film itself just wants to rush past the "boring" administrative and ethical issues to get to the exciting parts. In reality, approving such a project would take a much more prominent part of the discussion than a couple of phone calls. The dialogues are so badly written and unnatural - who would casually come up with the word "Mary Shelley-esque" over a phone conversation? Did they just use this phrase in the movie to appeal to pop culture? Because they've failed even in that... Frankenstine's monster was essentially a corpse brought back to life, which is nowhere near the concept of cloning. There is nothing more cringe-worthy than a film attempting to portray a scientific process yet showing complete lack of basic research.
Of course, the pair go ahead with their research despite being shut down, because could there even be a sci-fi movie without a couple of rogue scientists. And lo and behold, without even a single scene covering cloning and implantation (and all the initial failures and setbacks associated with such a project) or 6 months of pregnancy, she's already successfully giving birth!
As a scientist, this film is a complete insult. You can't base your entire plot around a scientific concept and then skip developing it correctly altogether just to get to the good parts faster. If you can't handle it, you're better off staying away from such endeavors in the first place.
In merely one change of a scene, two years have already passed, they're an established couple, and have published several papers together. It really makes the audience feel like the film itself just wants to rush past the "boring" administrative and ethical issues to get to the exciting parts. In reality, approving such a project would take a much more prominent part of the discussion than a couple of phone calls. The dialogues are so badly written and unnatural - who would casually come up with the word "Mary Shelley-esque" over a phone conversation? Did they just use this phrase in the movie to appeal to pop culture? Because they've failed even in that... Frankenstine's monster was essentially a corpse brought back to life, which is nowhere near the concept of cloning. There is nothing more cringe-worthy than a film attempting to portray a scientific process yet showing complete lack of basic research.
Of course, the pair go ahead with their research despite being shut down, because could there even be a sci-fi movie without a couple of rogue scientists. And lo and behold, without even a single scene covering cloning and implantation (and all the initial failures and setbacks associated with such a project) or 6 months of pregnancy, she's already successfully giving birth!
As a scientist, this film is a complete insult. You can't base your entire plot around a scientific concept and then skip developing it correctly altogether just to get to the good parts faster. If you can't handle it, you're better off staying away from such endeavors in the first place.
Review by hannah-hunt from the Internet Movie Database.
Movie Database