Somnus (2017) Poster

(II) (2017)

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3/10
not Kubrick
tellcall6 October 2016
Warning: Spoilers
yes, i gave it a 3.

Because it is the kind of movie i hate, but they (those who wrote the plot and ads) tricked me into watching it.. Oh, my.

The story: there are 4 little pigs on a ship. They try to go to the market and..well, you can imagine the rest.

There are so many slows, and stops, and things that looks like wannabe "2001 space Odyssey", but they are just heavy waiting times put there to achieve a couple of hours where it could last only 20 minutes.

The voices remind me of a "star wars making" interview: at some point, people looking at Darth Vader and asking each other "really, is he really going to have *that* voice? (assuming the Scottish accent of the actor was an anti-climax). Well, here you got just that: the actors voices, making them look dumb whenever they were trying to look tragic.

Half of the movie, i didn't understand.

Sort of flashbacks from the pilot that lies sleeping nowhere, a co-pilot screaming like a little girl and then acting like Rambo I to IV all together, the mad computer that nobody can stop until a guy just pop open the impossible-to-open-door and kills it (yep, just like a snap.. why didn't they do that before everyone was killed?), the train thing at the beginning, and even a recycled stargate to signify the end of the world.. not to mention the flight instruments that came out of a 70's cargo plane rather than 23rd century cargo spaceship. With analog speedometers! (or something like that).

I am not sure i'm being objective writing this.

All i can say, i went to look a sci-fi sort of action movie, and ended up in some director's mental puzzle.

And the "exciting ending" is nowhere, honestly.
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3/10
Tedious. Painfully pointlessly tedious.
greenber-147-57462316 October 2016
Well, that's 1:22 that I just wasted. Half-way through I realized that it was too deep for me.

A bunch of derelict-type space-trash are on some type of a mission that get sidetracked to an old forgotten colony that is wonderfully verdant – except for some all the residents (perhaps the offspring of the original settlers? It was at this point that I decided that I simply did not care)

I'm sure that the movie will appeal to some. Just not to me. I've been blamed as being too shallow to appreciate fine art. It could be. I just do not think that this movie is an example of fine art.
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4/10
Don't go by the box art - this is not Interstellar!
tommakesmusic10 February 2017
I bought this film on DVD and feel that the independent film on the disc was badly served by the artwork on the box.

It isn't a blockbuster, and, really, it doesn't try to be. This is an old fashioned sci-fi film that tries to play for tension and atmosphere rather than thrills and explosions.

In reality, I'm not sure it always achieves this, but it is a good, honest, attempt at it!

There are some notable performances - especially Mac McDonald, who is as good as you would expect, and there is an inspired choice of location for the ship-board shots, but, ultimately, I think it fails to make the most of the "story" and there is an uncomfortable shift of gears from ship location to the other location.

Watch this as an independent, low-budget sci-fi made in an old-fashioned style, and you won't be far away from the director's intentions. Believe the box art and posters and you'll be disappointed.
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1/10
sad for sf fans
darrenedwards7 October 2016
Warning: Spoilers
i have never gone out of my way before this ,so here i go rubbish,,,?I love SF in all it's forms ,,,,but this has to be the worst yet ,,for this age we live in how does any body put $$$$ into this ??? i am so angry at the fact that i watched this rubbish ,,i hope the writer/director never get a chance to do this to us again,,,the story is broken at best,with reflection going back to 2001 space odyssey with Hal is made into a female,,the captains sleep helmet some sort of boring dream time (lol),,, ,the creature looks like a gremlin ,the set around the eighties the direction is poor,so i don't blame the actors. i really looked for some think nice to say ,,sooo the 1950's train engine is cool. Cheers to all SF lovers who what to believe like me Darren E
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3/10
A hit and a miss...
geoff-5960423 October 2016
Warning: Spoilers
I wanted to enjoy this as the premise seemed so much like intelligent Sci-Fi.

Performances where OK but the wandering story and pace just seemed to make it difficult to follow and really work out what was happening here.

Some of the work with miniatures here looked pretty good but it doesn't make up for the confused story. Some of the flashbacks actually upset the pace for me and the clichéd bad computer didn't help. All a little obvious!

Summary - some good filmmaking mixed up in some bad writing.
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4/10
This is my garden and I'm the boss
nogodnomasters22 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Contains a plot developing spoiler mentioned in IMDb story line, but not the very end, strongly hinted at in the same spot.

The production opens in 1952 with a book that we see again an hour into the film...shortly after our crew arrives at Somnus which is an asteroid in our own solar system and not some distant planet as I was taken in by the DVD cover art. I think it is Latin for "snoozer." If you have seen the superior film, "2001..." or better yet read the book, you will see a similarity in themes and plots. HAL has become Meryl and aliens helped us develop as ancient astronauts once again crop up and that other thing I won't mention. This film spent way too much time in space and could have better developed the past and the plot better instead of concentrating too hard on building lame characters of which only one really mattered.

The sound track is New Age music. The way the 1952 book tied in was the most fascinating part of the film, yet they keep it a mystery and only give it one good scene, meanwhile we get to see the hibernation matrix over and over as filler.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity
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1/10
A low Budget badly acted attempt at creating a movie
steverichm6 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
The acting in this movie is what kills it When the best actor/actress in the movie is the voice acting of the ship computer you know you are in trouble The idea behind the movie does deserve merit but the execution is really bad Minor spoiler ahead : The interaction between the crew members feels like they only met that day for the first time the lunatics on the station in the end don't feel menacing or insane just stupid

Its not worth watching
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1/10
I can't wait 'till it's made into a Broadway musical !!!!
ulisses_phoenix16 May 2020
Somnus the musical? Why not, it would make more sense than anything else in this film.

First, the dialogue is completely indecipherable -- the actors speak in a very thick accent, they talk just above a whisper, mumble, and often get drowned out by the rest of the soundtrack. Then there's the ship. Who knew that spaceships 300 years in the future would use an instrument panel from a 1955 B-52 bomber? Complete with analog dial indicators! And you'll never guess what the ship runs on... wait for it... Steam. Yes, steam! The mechanics who maintain all those stream pipes running through the spaceship wear overalls covered in grease and grime, like they're working on a railroad or a diesel tugboat. It would be alright if the film was trying to be campy, but it wasn't. It's meant to be a serious movie.

Then there's the plot. No, wait. There isn't one. Maybe a plot exists somewhere in the brains of the screenplay writers, but it never came close to showing up on the screen.

Top it off with lousy directing, lousy acting, horrible cinematography...

Yes, I gave it a one, and it doesn't even deserve that.

Triggers: strobe effects, graphic violence, gory anthropophagy, dismemberment, all-white cast, blackface (or was that green-face?)
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4/10
Decent sci-fi movie
CptSkamp5 August 2022
Don't let the one ⭐ haters mislead you, this is not a terrible movie. It's great either, but it does have good production values and a decent soundtrack which fits the mood of the story.
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1/10
Another atrocious sci-fi movie.
atlant27 June 2022
Lately, I seem to be writing a lot of really negative reviews about a lot of recent sci-fi movies but I guess that's because I'm becoming frustrated with the dross that the streaming services are offering to us.

"Somnus" is another movie in this series of duds. Filmed substantially in an old British Hawker Siddely Nimrod airplane from the 60s, the film has a plot that could have been lifted from a casual acquaintance with "2001" but without any of Clarke's or Kubrick's wit or intelligence. You probably won't care about the characters and you probably won't even care about the "big picture" thing that might or might not be going on.

I wonder: have we burned through all the truly creative ideas so now we're reduced to recycling everything, but only after it's been through a waste treatment plant?
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8/10
Hard science fiction is not for all
TheKing218 January 2023
This excellenyly executed thought-provoking flic proofs that viewers more and more associate science fiction with cowboys in space. This is not a cowboys in space movie but with a small fine cast and supporting soundtrack gets the writers and director's point across.

Aliens are attracted to our world for obvious reasons ; we have been advertising ourselves for quite some time. Is this a good thing? Who knows. The cinematography is subtle but go watch this on a large screen, lots of detail could go lost in the darker scenes

More Interstellar or Sunshine than Rogue One. Scify lovers will recognize its quality.
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6/10
Not Bad!!!
HarrySmooth17 January 2021
I'm no "couch critic", like a BUNCH on here! So I'm not gonna spew a bunch of hyperbole at ya.... I'm just a regular guy that LOVES Sci-Fi, Horror, etc, and I thought this was a Pretty Good movie! It kept my attention, and I enjoyed watching it! PERIOD! LOL So many people LOOK for the "Bad" in a Movie... Relax people and "Allow Yourself" To enjoy a Movie! LOL Thanks Folks!
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4/10
Reworked old tropes do not work here
TomSunhaus24 April 2023
This film reminds me that Stanley Kubrick is overrated. Admittedly, I had trouble keeping my attention to the film. One trope is that human's humanity is a curse. The people on the spaceship are self-destructive because they are human. This humanist trope is backwards and an insult to humans everywhere. It has an Australian Mad Max feel to it.

The second trope is that a jelly fish can be a genius. They are pretty to look at, but where are the brains. This trope is based on the idea that mother nature is all seeing & all powerful. Ray Bradbury had his genius Martians, but I never quite understood why.

I am disappointed in the human race also, but to quote a football player: 'It is what it is'. The best of humanity is when President Kennedy set the goal of reaching the Moon in ten years & succeeded. He also started the Peace Corps. The worst of humanity was when Martin Luther King & the two Kennedys were assassinated.

I would rather watch the Tom Hanks version of space travel.
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8/10
End of Humans?!
olivercluj30 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
After few hundred miles in this beautiful World, i choose this movie for a bit of relaxation. And indeed was a good idea. Not a hundred million movie, but a cool-relaxing end of humanity movie, with a computer with an agenda, a forgotten human colony, an eating-humans astro-dog LOL and ofcorse some unknown aliens that purge all in their way, just because some humans are aggressive. Not want to start and give hints to that smart-calm- aliens about how to calm people down... for example with a 'good' air- virus... or say bad words about them... hey idi.ots... only you have permission to destroy?! If humans are aggressive they must all die? LOL But this was time of relaxing, not to scream to the producers... so the movie accomplished its purpose. For that and only for that it have note 8.
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7/10
More coherent version of 2001
drystyx2 January 2022
Reading and Owen give us a sci fi outer space drama that can easily be looked at as a "coherent rewrite of 2001".

"2001 A Space Odyssey" was an overrated bit of boredom that couldn't possibly make any sense as directed and written without a program to tell the viewer what was going on.

Like 2001, we have a computer gone wrong on a space ship, and a synopsis of a scenario for the existence of human beings.

Here, however, the team explains what is taking place.

The characters are more credible than the paper thin ones of 2001, which were just contrived to make a sermon.

That doesn't make this a great movie, but at least it is coherent.
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10/10
Great British film
anna-3317420 March 2020
Great acting, solid script, would definitely recommend to friends.
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10/10
Totally Epic
hillary-9761319 March 2020
Love Chris Reading's style - I'm a big fan of his new stuff 'Alien: Containment' and 'The Unreason' but this is really awesome too - so cool to see his early stuff!
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9/10
A great classic space movie
maddiekenner20 March 2020
Loved seeing this film recently, was pleasantly surprised by the thrilling action, will be showing to friends and fam!
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10/10
Fantastic
saronin16 April 2020
Wonderfully energetic and dangerously fun!!!! I liked it a lot.
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10/10
Epic
ryanryan-434972 April 2020
One of my favourite space films. Great shots all round.
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