Beyond (III) (2014) User Reviews

Mildly entertaining, concept film, with horrendous ending.

[silverkelt · 5/10 · 20 March 2015]

I would've given this more stars, it was mildly entertaining up to a point, its clearly more of low budget conceptually film, about the human reaction to crises.

Up to the last few minutes that is, then it turns into some sort of dementia ridden affair. Did he get shot, was he hallucinating, was there any journey at all? Maybe the comet just hit the earth and this is the imagination of a drug ridden patients last thought. There was no pondering at that point, I've seen worst Hollywood endings (master and commander comes to mind) but this will strike me as a top 5 contender for that award.

Clearly I have no idea, of course, the thought being to make it provocative I guess, I found it annoying, unnecessary and made what was up to that point a fine indie effort, into a spiraling mess.

The best I will say, is its still worth seeing as its on netflix to stream at the moment.

The one star reviews are harsh, it was a more subtle film, but overall better then that review, as is the ten stars, this is no where near a top end film, due to the ending itself.

Writers who cannot make a resolution, have no business making a script.I feel its a too easily taken cop out these days on this level of filming.

Doesn't deliver the goods.

[lois-lane33 · 4/10 · 14 January 2015]

This film starts off well but rapidly descends into dullness and then into being cryptic and intimately finishes in oblivion. I thought this was going to be a good film. The blurb promised a Romance/SF-but the elements of both were surprisingly weak. The romance consisted of a virtually endless series of arguments and the SF aspect consisted of a series of shots of looking at what was apparently a space ship as seen from a distance. The aliens are never seen and there is no communication with the alien vessel. Which is also never seen from up close either. A comet is discovered only to be later revealed to be a space ship. A bond forms between a man and a woman only to be later revealed to be a mistake. And so it goes. The film ends in a series of disconnected images that actually makes little to no sense whatsoever leaving the films audience wondering what just happened here. I would not recommend this movie to fans of Romance or to fans of SF as it doesn't have enough components of either genres to be effective in either genre never mind being an effective hybrid project. I have actually seen this type of thing done better by other actors who were also from the UK and not so long ago either. It is therefor also derivative of another UK project which was better executed than this one. All in all I think this was an inferior film.

Another convenient use of the 'It's a Sci-Fi Movie!' ploy...

[sajpratt-82-265277 · 3/10 · 22 December 2014]

I am a sci-fi fan and enjoy the amazing 'what if's' that good sci-fi movies postulate.

Sadly, this is yet another movie that calls itself a 'sci-fi drama' but literally has nothing to do with 'science', and merely uses the 'sci-fi' label as both a marketing hook and an excuse to use an otherwise inexplicably desolate landscape to help stretch that meager production budget.

There are no unique or inventive 'what if's' in this film at all-- just a two-person emotional drama that could have taken place anywhere at anytime using an alien war as a prop to explain-away the apocalyptic low-budget setting.

So, if you're looking for real intriguing, thought-provoking science-based fiction, you won't find it here.

That said, the acting is good and, if you can swallow your disappointment and loathing of the cheap marketing tricks, you might be able to enjoy it from the Greek Tragedy angle--or, you could always spend your time watching any of the much better written, much better produced and better filmed TV dramas available at the touch of a button on your TV box (which I would recommend).

Very frustrating

[s-blair-221-482689 · 4/10 · 24 January 2015]

I saw the DVD in my local store for a fiver, and being a huge Sci-fi fan, and with a quick glance at the cover and synopsis, paid my money.Five minutes in I thought, Great it's not Hollywood, and even better , It's Scottish and bleak!! (Not that Hollywood doesn't make some great films, but I was afraid of "Mr President" saving the world again). This film seems to be very good for the first hour, rising tension and news reports (in the style of the brilliant "Signs") quickly flipping back and forth to a desolate Cairngorm vista as the couple try to survive and hide from the aliens. The aliens are never seen at any point, and don't seem to like daylight. All well and good. I am a big fan of "less is more". However, the last half hour is pretty dreadful, and to tell the truth, very annoying. I know I only spent a fiver but this film is marketed at a certain demographic who will most likely react like me! If it wasn't Scottish and it having a certain local charm, I would be seriously hacked off. The "alien invasion" would be better being dispensed with, and just have the couple struggling through the aftermath of an "comet impact". Don't watch if your a sci fi fan, watch if you want to see a character based drama acted well. As I said, after ten minutes I was smiling at the thought of a Scottish Stakeland meeting signs, if only!!

Painful to watch

[dewittra2 · 1/10 · 28 December 2014]

It seems the entire story almost completely ignores the plot as stated. The acting was not at fault here. It's just basically a bad movie with it's jump from the current to the past to the current to the past, over and over again. Don't waste your time. However, I am required to submit at least 10 lines of critique or it will not pass the minimum requirement to be available for reading. So I lost interest after 30 minutes but still sat here as my wife remained vigilant. When the movie finally concluded after a painful 1:23 hours her response was, and I quote, "Oh my God!". I hope that gives you an indicator to not waster your time.

Awful

[reneeroseholland · 1/10 · 17 January 2015]

The synopsis irritates me to no end because of its misleading information about what this movie is truly about. Many think going into this, that they'll get a great science fiction film about some type of apocalyptic story resulting in only a few survivors, but this isn't anything near that.

I don't think what I say is a true spoiler, but I'll go ahead with the warning.

This movie focus's on the two characters only. That's it. Guy and girl. Guy and girl's feelings about each other. That's it.

Most guys would find this girls incessant chatter annoying and while watching this film would say they'd rather spend the rest of their life alone then with her talking and talking and talking without ever shutting up.

A very disappointing movie. Using the synopsis to describe the movie as an "end of the world" type science fiction flick was just wrong.

Don't waste your time on this one.

Terrible Movie

[DavidB19 · 1/10 · 5 January 2015]

The movie fails to keep you interested. The story is dry and moves between story lines without any clear intentions. The characters have no draw to keep you interested in what is going on. I'm at a loss as to how I managed to make it through the entire movie. It really wasn't what I was expecting based on the brief description of the movie. The movie was not suspenseful and the struggles of Cole and Maya seemed more relationship based and really didn't have a lot to do with surviving after an extra-terrestrial attack. I'm sure there is a small group out there that "saw the deeper meaning to the movie" but I was not one of them. Do not watch this unless you really have no other movie to watch and then I would still consider doing something, anything else.

Unforgivable plot twist

[nunyerdamnbiznez · 2/10 · 2 April 2015]

While I was initially invested in Cole and Maya's budding relationship, I too quickly became tired and irritated by their constant bickering while waiting for the sci-fi element to kick in to full gear...which it never does. There are a few tense moments where you get a taste for what this movie could have been and then? The most unforgivable, cheap, lame plot device!!! It was all a dream/hallucination! There were NO ALIENS!!!! Absolute waste of two hours of my life if, you, like me were drawn into the film by the the synopsis' promise of a "struggle to survive in a world where the human population has been left decimated after an extra-terrestrial attack".

A character study with no real science fiction

[Kosh550 · 7/10 · 16 July 2015]

This movie is intensely a relationship drama. The marketing of this film was done so egregiously that if you were prepared for a fascinating look into a post alien invasion world and how to stay in a relationship...you would be sorely upset.

The truth is that the entire "invasion" is used as a metaphor to help explain the emotions coursing through the protagonist. I'm saddened at the attempt to use Sci-Fi as a ploy to gain attention.

The most glaring and obnoxious choice by the creative team is using a T-shirt which appears to have the design of the floating space craft from District 9.

But I digress, aside from the blatant attempt to mislead the viewer and the glaring lack of actual science fiction in the film...the acting was superb.

If you are able to make it to about the midway mark of the movie then you'll understand. However if you have refused to watch and only wish to move to other more complete films...keep reading. Spoilers ahead:

During the course of the flashbacks there is an interaction between the protagonist and the man he saved. This conversation is very revealing and if you remember the first line of the movie and you have some knowledge about Norway then you can begin to piece together the clues left behind at a very alarming rate.

It was around here that the movie fell completely apart for me. I realized that the interactions and flashbacks were the main story and everything else was the protagonists imagination. Another clue that was revealed quite early on, how he wanted to keep her in one place and never let her go anywhere with him. Had this been a purely psychological thriller...which it should have been advertised as...I would expand on the many different ways that one concept could be explained or defined by his mind. But we've not time for that.

In the end he is shot by the man he's saved. And his flash backs are his minds way of trying to understand and cope with the stress and shock of the situation our protagonist had been placed in. And yes, while in the parking garage the man is dying, we see him in the hospital bed with a strong pulse and his eyes moving in REM sleep.

The acting saved this movie and I believe that the writer may have intended for a completely different ending. But we may never know for sure.

While I recommend this movie for its acting. I do not recommend this movie for the utter lies and disappointment regarding what was supposedly a Sci-Fi invasion romp. There are many pieces of sci-fi in this film that in no way math with the end result. Again why I said that I believe the writer had a much different vision than say the producers.

Slow but.....

[mstew-60114 · 5/10 · 2 April 2015]

The movie starts out interesting but starts to slow pretty quick. It certainly not any action movie. It is not really a sci fi nor romantic movie. Should be labeled a psychological drama. The bickering and foul language starts to wear on you after awhile. Thereis so much that just doesn't add up during the movie and you keep wanting to see some alien action but in the end it all makes sense.

As someone that spent 4 weeks in ICU on heavy doses of Versed and Fentanyl due to an accident, I can attest to the fact that your mind does work that way. It all seems real and the "strangeness" makes sense to you under those conditions. It takes a long time afterward for one to know reality from "dream" once again.

I guess I'm alone in my interpretation of this movie

[cynthiawaguespack · 9/10 · 25 March 2015]

OK, so big spoiler here. Note the disjointed time lines. Note the different people (at the end) saying the exact same lines other characters said earlier, creating a repetition of "get a job", "pussy", "coward"... etc. Note the "end" of the so-called sci-fi plot where Maya entwines her finger around Cole's ring finger, which jumps directly to him in a clean hospital bed with Maya entwining her finger around Cole's ring finger.

Does anyone else see that the so-called sci-fi part was actually Cole's death bed subconscious dreaming a disjointed time line? As in, can you say it, dream? That Michael did actually shoot Cole (think of this (the end) as the "beginning" of the movie, and the first lines of the movie were about "The Light"..as in go to the light? Cole's subconscious dreams of the aliens are imagined from the Tabloid suggestion of a near miss comet. There are no aliens, yes he and Maya were together in real life and his death bed subconscious dreams about the past come in ever increasing disjointed fashion and ever increasing fantastical imaginings. Cole's dying. Maya and the baby (and the rest of the world) are just fine.

What this movie is about is a prolonged stream of consciousness (or unconsciousness) of a dying man who is a guilt ridden loser. The reason the sci-fi plot is essentially absent is because it is....except in the dying man's disjointed imagination. Why did I give it such a high mark? Because it obviously fooled everyone. Note the dream-like sequences, landscape, surreal scenes and above all that the sci-fi stuff was a "rip off" (as one critic noted) of other sci-fi movies. Of course it was a rip off, it was what was in Cole's head. Cole actually subconsciously wanted the end of the world, like he wanted the end of his life, so the suggestion of the Tabloid comet was enough to set off his "what if" scenario. Based on this interpretation, with clues everywhere, the movie was very good indeed. Watch it with this interpretation in mind and you'll see it.

It's a relationship drama with two people, and nothing else (mild spoilers without giving much away)

[meggaiwa · 6/10 · 19 December 2014]

As others pointed out, the tag line is more than misleading. This movie is not about survival, it's not a science fiction movie. It is about a couple and their complicated relationship and mostly normal stuff: Having a child or not, having no job, being from two different classes, the role of the man today, etc. There is some SF setting in the background, but it doesn't affect the story at all - it could be replaced by anything or just left out without making a difference.

I liked parts of this movie anyway, because it was very character- and dialog driven, and mostly interesting, and compared to other movies in this genre and budget, it was well done. Especially the actors did a great job, but so did everybody else involved.

But one aspect was really bad: Everybody watching this movie will probably be suspicious about what is going to happen, thinking something like "... but they can't just copy the XYZ ending, right?" - and then they do it. The timing was kind of a surprise, but what happened was uber-cliché. If it was something small, okay, but if the whole movie is about this one twist, then the twist should be at least original and not that famously used by others before.

Conclusion: The actors rescued this movie. Their performance was outstanding, and if you want to see some relationship drama that's only about two people, then you'll probably enjoy it. Most people will watch this movie because they expect science fiction, and they will be disappointed. There is just no science fiction.

If you've seen the other movie that obviously "inspired" this one A LOT (there are more than one, but one had really 99% the same ending), you'll shake your head a lot.

Not even bad enough to be awful

[terreywest · 1/10 · 15 October 2015]

This movie tries to bill itself as a sci-fi survivor story, but just can't quite keep the charade going. First and foremost this film is a ponderous relationship drama. In fact, I'd argue it's a melodrama. The main character is an aloof, disconnected slacker with no more attractive qualities than his swarthy, ill shaven, casually dressed actor can bring by default. His girlfriend Maya is a needling, immature, inconsistent, over-emotional fountain of simultaneous boredom and annoyance.

There is nothing to like here. The progression is simultaneously flat and instantaneous, with no actual payoff. The entire premise of the movie is thrown out in its last seconds as an elaborate symbolic representation of the characters' relationship struggle.

If you enjoy sniffing your own farts and think that it's particularly engaging to point out the symbolic nature of the static on the television screen over the character's left shoulder while they try to eat pasta from an upside-down fork, this is the film for you.

If you want something that isn't trying to be an over-pretentious melodrama, look elsewhere.

Poor editing

[imrational · 2/10 · 27 March 2015]

I usually have a soft spot for low budget movies. This movie was well photographed, but whoever did the editing did a horrible job. Scratch that, I sincerely doubt that this movie was edited.

The movie just drags and drags. At least half the movie should have been cut to make it flow better. Instead, the viewer has to suffer thru countless little melancholy songs while the main character does such interesting things like sitting on a sofa and watching television or standing in the woods and gazing sadly out at the horizon.

Whoever was able to watch this movie thru to the end without fast forwarding or picking up the crossword puzzle in the table on front of them... your Ritalin dose is too high.

I gave this 2 stars instead of 1 because the camera work is better than most B-Budget films and the acting was fairly decent (even if the script was faulty).

The movie description says it is a suspenseful science fiction flick.

SPOILERS FOLLOW

It is science fiction in name only. We see a far off spaceship hovering over the horizon in a couple of shots. Nothing more.

I honestly hated the main characters. We see them awkwardly flirt at the beginning before driving us nuts with bickering later on.

The ending (MAJOR SPOILER): Leaves us hanging without explanation. Yes, some films are better when they make the audience figure out the meaning of the ending for themselves. This isn't one of them.

It appears to be a flashback, where the main character is shot trying to find his wife and soon to be born child at the hospital before an asteroid wipes everyone out. We see him die? but then he is in a hospital bed with his wife present. The way it is shot makes us wonder,did he die? Was the future apocalypse just a delusion? Do you even really care?

It would have been a better movie if they axed the "science fiction"part, and did a sad little movie about the couple's relationship history.

Incoherent rubbish

[jandgobrien-18263 · 1/10 · 28 December 2021]

Not sci fi ,not anything just an incoherent plot with mediocre acting. You can't get the time back so don't waste it watching junk like this.

The story sets of on a path that for a sci fi fan could be interesting but somehow like many recent film's ends up not relating to the characters or plot or description in any shape or form.

Almost a good movie

[cclarkalbritton · 4/10 · 21 November 2020]

The movie has some interesting plot concepts, but the actual content is just boring and slow. Several folks really liked it and say they don't understand why the bad reviews, well part of my complaints over the slow and boring plot as how the main couple are just constantly arguing and fighting over mundane and unimportant elements given the fact that the world is ending it just seems extremely unlikely. I would not have wanted to have paid to see this movie.

This Is Not Your Little Brother's Sci-Fi Film, but It's Good

[blessedtoes-637-715031 · 20 July 2015]

It has to be near-impossible to have the job of writing a one- sentence, intriguing byline for a movie like this that also doesn't spoil the story line.

Then people go to the movie expecting Transformers VII and get a fascinating, beautifully character-oriented film like this and are either 1) angry because they're action / explosion fans or 2) upset because they had different expectations - even if they end up liking the film.

If they marketed it as a relationship film, people who went for Sleepless in Seattle would be angry about the sci-fi. It's a no-win scenario for this type of script.

I'd have to argue that it's properly billed as sci-fi in that the circumstances create the context for the story to unfold as it does, and they are "sci-fi" circumstances.

In my mind this movie was very similar to Monsters, which was also mis-marketed and was a beautiful character-driven film.

If you liked films like Monsters or Solaris (Clooney) then you'll probably enjoy this film's pace and themes.

Bad plot line, good acting

[yushisun · 3/10 · 28 March 2015]

If i could sum it up in a sentence, this movie has a terrible plot line and a misleading title but has good acting. I was expecting a movie to be about alien invasion, but the entire movie was about the personal life of a couple with issues. The only references to the extraterrestrial beings were essentially their floating ships. Their floating ships would just hover around doing essentially nothing. There were random dead people everywhere... The movie went back into time, went into the present, into the future, back and forth every 7-10 minutes.

Not worth my Friday night, i kept expecting something to get better, but half way through the movie i started skipping forward and found that literally nothing significant happens in this movie.

I would not recommend this to a friend.

[suite92 · 3/10 · 12 September 2016]

What is believed to be an asteroid approaches Earth. There is a bit of imprecision. The experts cannot decide whether it will impact our planet even when it is visible in the night sky. As the object gets closer, other possibilities show themselves.

The scene jumps back and forth from before the arrival, when the couple met, to the present, after the encounter, when most humans are dead. The dialectic is awkward in execution and definitely off-putting.

As the film rolls on, will we ever see the encounter? Will we ever see the end of the couple's complaining about each other? Will anyone survive this situation?

-------

The dialog is mostly boring, including the many tiffs; after hearing 'we need to talk' the first three times, the next dozen are irritating. There are too many back and forth jumps in the time line. These two factors undermine any interest I had in the original concept. In the post encounter/eradication era, there is not as much evidence of genocide as I would have expected. Eliminating billions of humans would leave some traces, but many of the scenes are devoid of any signs of previous habitation. The ending more or less throws away the rest of the film. Another way of putting it is that the rest of the film provides next to no foundation for the ending.

Story Driven as opposed to high tech BS

[seriousangel2 · 7/10 · 23 June 2016]

If you love stories that are driven by character development and story then this is your kind of film. Real old fashion story telling that takes some time to develop people you care about.

While the story was slow, that was to develop people who you can connect with and care about. This is something that is sorely missing in the year 2016, the last good film I saw written or that came to the screen was Monster Money.

If you want false and bang with lots of CGI then this is not for you. your way of thinking and enjoying a story will depend on how you feel about the movie.

The acting was superb, I actually was swept away by the acting and story losing track of time.

If you loved Deadpool, this may not be the story for you. although I did love Deadpool as well. but this is purely story driven.

I don't get it

[sfarless · 1/10 · 26 March 2015]

the acting wasn't bad at all. the directing wasn't bad either; if there had been a real story it wouldn't have been half-bad.the only way I can fulfill the obligation of the review standards is to make a top 10 list. the top 10 reasons to not watch this movie: 10. making up IS apparently hard to do 9. "is this a flashback man?" 8.why is it the responsibility of the USA to defend the world against asteroids or space aliens? 7. Oranges get a bad rap 6. no real nightlife after the apocalypse. 5. love stinks 4. what ever happened to Scottish pride? 3. "that's not how you steal someone's girl" 2."I don't get it." 1. please have that guy shoot me before the opening scene ends.

Relationship 99%, Science Fiction 1%

[peterson-b-1 · 8/10 · 3 April 2015]

If you liked the movie Another Earth you might like this one. Like the summary states this is more about the couple's relationship and not the aliens or science fiction. We never found out if the aliens actually killed anyone or if it was just the breakdown of society.

The acting was good, but there quite a bit of back and forth from the past to the present time. As the movie approached the end it became unclear to me what was reality and what was just a blurred memory of the main character. I was disappointed that we never got to see the aliens, where the other people went, and if the crazy doctor really hurt the wife or not.

We watched the movie on Netflix it was only given a one star rating. Below is my rating. Acting: 4.5/5 Plot: 3/5 Cinematography: 4/5

A strong set up, but a weak finish (spoilers avoided)

[runamokprods · 7/10 · 2 February 2017]

There's a lot to like about this relationship film set in a sci-fi situation. A neurotic but likable young couple meet and fall in love just as news that an asteroid may hit earth in a few years is announced. Is there any point in being together?

We intercut the scenes of their evolving early relationship with sometime after the 'asteroid' has arrived and turned out to be a giant alien ship. Earth is now under siege, with the great majority of people have already been abducted by the aliens, leaving our couple to survive and try to stay hidden, putting their already tumultuous relationship into a seemingly fatal spin. All this is fairly strongly acted by Richard J. Danum and Gillian MacGregor.

But then there's the twist ending. I love a good twist provided it feels fairly set up and makes sense…. most of the time. But this is the rare case where the twist – while fairly grounded - weakened the whole film for me since – at least personally – I thought the story BEFORE the twist was much more compelling and original than the 'explanation', which seemed far more familiar as an idea.

So, like...he gets to choose?

[jhughes1362 · 5/10 · 29 March 2015]

*********************SPOILER ALERT!*********************

He's like on the floor and bleeding. She calls and says the ship is breaking apart, and she's just had the baby girl. But also, he's looking at the ship from the hillside at shore, holding a picture of the baby and she's missing.

The store cashier who got shot and later shoots the lead character has a shirt with silhouettes of the spaceship on it and he recites everything that the lead remembers anyone saying for the past two years.

Even the stain on the lead's shirt is a bloody image of the space ship.

Two alternate realities offered for his choosing?

Thank goodness it is streaming! I need to watch it again to make sure I understand it. That is not a good thing to have to do.

It's like EVERY human being had a chance to choose their reality. Apparently, most chose Norway?

Relationship based movie

[artsycutie · 2/10 · 11 April 2020]

I can sort of see the criticism. On one hand, the movie is heavily based on a relationship and showcases a slow and interesting transformation of the couple. However, there is pretty much no sci-fi in this movie and aliens is hardly even involved. I also didn't like the ending. I had no idea what was happening and there was no resolution at all. The entire storyline is a bit bland. The emotionally driven relationship is interesting, but the lack of supporting characters and background setting made it boring. I almost fell asleep near the ending