I get the premise, and I get the connections to the kayju genre. That gets the movie out the door, and keeps things moving. Where this movie falls flat is the characters and plot development. Other reviewers have nailed it: It's as if the middle of the movie was missing.
*Spoilers below*
You have very flawed, but bordering on real characters, and then within a blink of an eye, one turns into pure evil. And not only that, but the character has always been this way? You get one flashback that begins to set that up, but then ultimately delivers nothing. I didn't believe his transition, and even if I'd wanted to, the movie only gives you about 20 minutes to come to terms with it, before it ends.
They tease out interesting concepts – e.g. "I got drunk and, because of that, my kayju avatar killed a bunch of people." The moment they start to explore that, the movie races to the finish line, and skips over a needed section of character and plot development.
Ultimately, I felt like I'd received the appetizer and dessert, but the restaurant forgot my entree.
*Spoilers below*
You have very flawed, but bordering on real characters, and then within a blink of an eye, one turns into pure evil. And not only that, but the character has always been this way? You get one flashback that begins to set that up, but then ultimately delivers nothing. I didn't believe his transition, and even if I'd wanted to, the movie only gives you about 20 minutes to come to terms with it, before it ends.
They tease out interesting concepts – e.g. "I got drunk and, because of that, my kayju avatar killed a bunch of people." The moment they start to explore that, the movie races to the finish line, and skips over a needed section of character and plot development.
Ultimately, I felt like I'd received the appetizer and dessert, but the restaurant forgot my entree.