20131107: Movie Review--Total Retribution

Total Retribution (Earthkiller)

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action video release, 2011, rated R, 83 minutes, horror, scifi, thriller; spoken word is English.
2. IMDB: 2.2/10.0 from 224 user ratings.  Estimated budget, 1.5 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet,' and no responses from audiences.
4. Netflix: 2.3/5.0 from 45,596 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Andrew Bellware.
6. Starring: Robin Kurtz as Helen, Walter Barnes as Trig, Jeff Beuerlein as Milton, Greg Oliver Bodine as Schroeder, Lucy Rainer as Raze.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Terran Special Forces versus Allied Airborne on a space station, whatever that might mean.  Humans are being turned into zombies, sort of.  These zombies are not weaker; instead, they are quicker, stronger, smarter, and less and less vulnerable to weapons as they get older.  The zombie transformation is accomplished by programmed nanobots, not viruses or bacteria or radioactive substances.  There are androids as well as humans and zombies.


2. The protagonist, Helen, is an android who wakes up after a memory wipe.  Half an hour in, I've got context, more or less.


3. Throw in a solar cannon that creates wormholes through time.  Right, why not?  There's a mission to protect the cannon from the wrong people.  Just what the 'real' mission is, is a bit wobbly.


4. Throw in references to scripture.  What scripture?  Written by whom?


5. Just what do these people eat or drink?  Where to they get their energy?  (No solar panels on the space station, no nuclear generator.  Hm.) When did gravity generators get invented?  The people walk around on the space station as if it were a building on Earth.


6. Will the final mission be accomplished, so that scripture will be fulfilled?  That seems to be the question.


3. Conclusions
1. Whoever put up the 1.5 million USD got cheated.  Costumes, SFX, anti-actors, dialog, and sets are all terrible.
2. One line summary: Fools slaughter each other on a space station.
3. One stars of five; three blackholes for acting, screenplay, and SFX.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 7/10 Mostly good, but loaded with bad framing choices.


2. Sound: 5/10 Poor.


3. Acting: 0/10 Non-existent.


4. Screenplay: 0/10 Boring, absurd, almost context free.


5. SFX: 0/10 Beyond bad.  Done by people who have no acquaintance with physics, or just hate it.  The CGI is ridiculous for the most part. Blood effects are entirely laughable.