20140201: SciFi Review--Plus One

Plus One

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, NR, 96 minutes, scifi, thriller, horror.
2. IMDB: 5.5/10.0 from 2,252 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 67% on the meter; 40% liked it from 342 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.1/5.0 from 30,363 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Dennis Iliadis.
6. Starring: Rhys Wakefield as David, Logan Miller as Teddy, Ashley Hinshaw as Jill, Natalie Hall as Melanie, Rohan Kymal as Angad.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Setting: upper end high school, privileged teenagers, little supervision, too many resources available, huge expensive party for these wastrels.


2. A meteor comes from space and lands somewhere nearby.  It gets into the electrical system.


3. After some analysis, it starts duplicating people.  At first no one notices.  Then there are some odd situations where a person sees another person and their duplicate.  For a horrid interval, there were a dozen or so simultaneous fights to the death.  There are injuries and fatalities.


4. Then there is re-integration when both copies still exist.  A few feel great to be alive; many are still reeling from the horror with blood on their hands.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Teen sex comedy crossed with teen elimination murder derby.
2. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 8/10 Mostly OK, except for some of the low light scenes.


2. Sound: 4/10 Unbelievably poor.


3. Acting: 5/10 Not very convincing, except from the actors who looked like they were 25 to 30 years old. 


4. Screenplay: 7/10 Fairly good what-if movie.