Risen (2021) User Reviews

Starts Ok, Ends Terribly

[freqeteq · 3/10 · 20 August 2021]

The final act of this film is one of the most incompetently handled endings I've ever watched. The problem is that films tend to work to a tried and tested 3 act structure. The first act sets up the world the characters and their goals, 2nd act raises the stakes for our characters by way of obstacles for them to overcome, 3rd act resolves the story with either a win or a loss. Not all films work to this structure but most of them do. This film resolved the main plot during the 2nd act which left the 3rd act with nothing left to do, so the 3rd act is just endless exposition told through voiceovers and flashbacks with nothing to drive the plot forward because the main plot has already been resolved, and this amounts to a boring 3rd act for the viewer, there's a revelation about a character in the 3rd act but trust me by the time it happens you're not going to care.

Now the actual story itself I thought was quite interesting. It was set up well enough in the first act to grab my attention, and even despite some dodgy acting in places and the usual pitfalls you get with low budget sci-fi films I was still invested in the film well into the 2nd act because of the story, but then the scene happened where the film should have ended but didn't and the rest of the film after that was a real slog to sit through as it crawled slowly towards the end credits.

I think you could re-edit this film into something quite watchable, cut up the 3rd act and splice it into the first two acts, move around a few scenes, it's never going to be a masterpiece but I think you could easily turn it into something much better than what I just watched.

Terrible sound

[redwoodsteve · 4/10 · 21 August 2021]

The background music is far too intense and loud. There's lots of information spoken in the background that cannot be properly heard because of the loud music. A great film idea, poorly executed.

So slow

[mbprocter · 3/10 · 22 August 2021]

You'd be forgiven for thinking this was a straight-to-video Sci-Fi Channel video given the quality of effects and what is it with directors and actors stretching out movements and dialogue? Is it to get the film to 90+ minutes? This was a decent idea, nothing new, but had potential to be a better tale. Turned into a hard watch.

Absolutely void of content

[macshrikemobile · 1/10 · 21 August 2021]

Very long sulky scene's with moody music and excessive meandering shots.

Nothing happens.. or a lot of things have happened but nobody seems to care or do anything but wander around.

When actually there is something spectacular is going on.

The audience is just not allowed to participate nor does any of the cast.

Epic fail.

The scenery is pretty that's the 1 star.

Utter rubbish

[zjscgdr · 1/10 · 22 August 2021]

The only good thing I can say about this movie is that I will never see it again. The first time I suspect that this is going to be bad movie was when I saw extremely poorly photoshopped (more accurate would be "painted") truck in front of the house. From there it went downhill really fast. Flat, uninspiring characters, boring story, almost non existent acting. Save some time and skip it.

Not believable

[suz-01169 · 4/10 · 20 August 2021]

The movie had so much potential, the handling of the situation failed miserably. The whole scientific approach was laughable really, the alleged scientist spent the entire film feeling sorry for herself why they gave us no clue to that. The concept of the film could have been really great but it lacked passion, emotion and feelings at all.

Apparently the best alien weapon is to rely on human incompetence.

[S_Soma · 3/10 · 20 August 2021]

When all is said and done, RISEN is ultimately an invaders from space movie. It is not the best rendition of this genre that I've seen, but it's certainly a reasonably competent execution.

Unlike the INDEPENDENCE DAY style of invasion consisting of overwhelming force, advanced technology and well armed alien invaders, RISEN is the "seeding" approach that starts small and vulnerable and grows to irresistibility before we earthlings figure out what's going on.

At the time of this writing there appear to be a lot of negative reviews regarding RISEN. I would contend that RISEN is a "good" movie (whatever that means) that garners a lot of viewer negativity because the success of the aliens in taking over our planet primarily derives from the efforts of a human traitor inadvertently supported by a generally widespread incompetence on the part of those authorities that would nominally be tasked with protecting humankind from such things.

There are undeniably some weak plot points in the picture and they tend to be a little infuriating because the alien's success significantly turns on these weak plot points which is intrinsically annoying to a viewer.

The events of the movie are mostly about what turns out to be the third attempt at colonization by the aliens. The first one is caught and thwarted by the Americans, and the second attempt is caught and thwarted, although kept secret, by the Russians (employing their signature shocking violence).

The third attempt, the subject of RISEN, largely succeeds because of the (somewhat) "unwitting" assistance of a traitorous woman who was "altered" and "programmed", somewhat by accident, during the course of the first failed attempt decades previously. During the course of the movie, we find out how much she has been aiding the invasion process literally all during the years of her life.

As an example of a weak plot point, one of the things the female traitor does is feed the aliens information about the nature of our planet and its location. If you think about it, this doesn't make any sense. Firstly, she appears to be using a regular radiofrequency radio and not some super advanced communication device because other people can hear her doing it on their receivers. So why didn't we track her down at the time? The aliens must've been fairly close by or else how would they have received a radio signal in anything like a usable time frame; why would the aliens need information from her? Their first attempt had already been made on the planet BEFORE they infected her as a PART of that first attempt. This suggests they already know all about earth and its location.

There are many more such easily recognizable plot holes. Enumerating them here would be more boring than I have already been.

The traitorous woman character spends most of the movie giving vacuous stares in lieu of acting, slack-jawed and mouth hanging open. There is literally NOTHING engaging about her and, speaking for myself, I had an overwhelming desire to give her a good thumping with a crowbar through the entire picture even BEFORE her thoroughly traitorous nature was fully revealed. Add that to the fact that the aliens were only successful because this traitor was allowed to operate without oversight or review by any authorities, and a movie with otherwise good quality production values becomes a disappointment.

RISEN is a worthwhile watch for science fiction fans but make sure you bring along your desktop stress-reliever toy with you because the movie will irritate.

I have had....

[DarlingLlama · 3/10 · 21 August 2021]

...less painful and infinitely more interesting hemorrhoids than this movie. They went away quicker, too, while this movie seemed to drag on forever.

I can't believe I watched the entire thing...1.5/10

[bossladybelite · 2/10 · 20 August 2021]

This started on shaky ground with a moderately likable main character and then it just went south very quickly.

I could spend a LOT of time telling you how many things that went wrong but I won't. Just know this...its one step from awful.

Watch the trailer so you don't need to watch the whole movie

[suripat · 2/10 · 27 August 2021]

I just watched the trailer. Gave 2 stars for the 2 minute entertainment. Everything you need to know about the movie is in there. Go see it. It's quick.

Loved the concept and the ending.

[marisa-23687 · 10/10 · 24 August 2021]

Reading other peoples' reviews, I see a split 50/50 argument where one side loves the movie and the others hate it. I for one praise the film, for its toughness and sensitivity, symbolism and passion, and the fact that it is a rare science fiction film with a unique concept. Loved the cinematography and it ends well. Those who are disappointed may have expected a lot of action.

Better than its ratings. Just watch it till the end.

[shinsrevenge · 6/10 · 27 October 2022]

Not going to lie, the movie felt cheap. From the very beginning. The acting, the dialogue, the special effects. It didn't help that it had such a slow pace.

But it sounded interesting in the summary I had read, so I gave it a fair chance and watched it till the end.

While "Risen" only gives you bread crumbs at first, the story gets more interesting along the way. There's quite a few and good revelations and unexpected turns.

The flashbacks as well as the news, videos and other sources of the movie work well and add to the atmosphere. As for the slow pace and occasional lack of dialogue, it's just the way this movie deals with the topic. It doesn't make the scenes more boring, just longer.

It's a different kind of movie, without non stop action or tons of dialogue. It gives you enough time to fully process what happens. And I think that the "calm" scenes almost worked like pauses for dramatic effect rather than a way to stretch the movie, for I noticed my curiosity growing along with the play time of Risen.

An abysmal production of a lousy script...

[paul_haakonsen · 2/10 · 20 August 2021]

I must admit that I was initially lured in to watching the 2021 sci-fi thriller "Risen" given the movie's poster/cover, as it seemed like something that could be interesting. And I hadn't seen the trailer for the movie, nor did I know absolutely anything about the movie that I sat down to watch.

Well, the concept of the movie was solid enough. However, the movie itself was just shoddy at best. Writer and director Eddie Arya was initially on to something here with "Risen", but the storyline quickly went astray and turned into a boring experience of grand magnitude.

I wasn't familiar with anyone on the cast list, which is normally something I tend to enjoy. However, the cast here in this movie were just not handed a proper script, nor given fulfilling characters to work with on the screen. So the outcome of the performances were lukewarm at best.

For a sci-fi movie then the effects and usage of green screen in "Risen" was just appalling to look at. For a movie made in 2021, it felt like watching something from the early 1990s. And a sci-fi movie with bad special effects or CGI is just something that is holding it back.

While I managed to endure "Risen" to the very end, I can't claim to be particularly entertained, nor having overly enjoyed the story told here by writer and director Eddie Arya. And "Risen" is by no means a movie that I would recommend you waste your time, money or effort on. Some of us did so you don't have to.

I am rating "Risen" a very generous two out of ten stars, given the movie's first quarter and the fact that there was potential to work with there.

Fire the sound editor

[eltoca21 · 1/10 · 22 August 2021]

Do not waste your time with this movie. I am loath to give it one star but I have to in order to review it. It is horrible, awful, terrible, boring, mundane, gibberish, nonsense, mind numbing, drivel. I really want to say something anything positive, but I can't. There is nothing redeemable about this rot of a script and waste of time movie. Seriously, how did this get made? And don't get me started on the sound. I quickly turned on the subtitles because the music was so damn infuriatingly loud compared to the speaking voice levels which were very low... and often drowned out. This should be illegal. What a shame the sound editor/mixer can't be fired after the fact/release.

Great concept, but horrible execution

[guinden · 3/10 · 20 August 2021]

The main concept not bad even could have been good.

But:

• main actress is horrible plank, acting is non existant she feels like forced to "play" in this movie
• the script is ok for about 10 minutes or less the rest is braindead
• the characters even the scientists are pretty much idiotic
• there was also another scientist guy who was just there to be ignored the entire time and talking to himself
• pacing was bad
• cuts are horrible sometimes you don't even get if is this flashback or someone just teleported from another city to here..

This actually could have been a great movie, with decent budget, cast, acting, pacing, script, directing, producing. Someone with some directing skills please remake it with a better script. But don't watch this.

But by the end you will feel like wasted 1,5 hour of your life..

An average short story stretched into a movie

[jbar19 · 4/10 · 22 August 2021]

A meteor lands and emits a toxic cloud that kills over 300 residents in a nearby town. A few dozen of the corpses reanimate into a frozen, zombie like state.

An disgraced and troubled exobiologist is called in by the Army to help investigate. They move one of the reanimated corpses to the meteor crash site. He comes alive and channels the thoughts of an alien who warns that his race is coming to take over the Earth.

Sounds promising, right?

This is a painfully slow and uneventful movie. I gave it a 4 only because of the few action scenes. The lead actress runs the gamut of emotions from depressed to dull and depressed.

Do you know in horror movies when the teenage kids make bad decisions while running from the serial killer? This movie has about 45 minutes of that feeling.

Unconvincing, implausible actions by the main characters and a bummer ending made me regret watching this movie.

No effort whatsoever put into it

[DaSpider · 1/10 · 21 August 2021]

Low budget movies sometimes manage to become cult, for being good, for being bad, for it's trashy, gory comedy or just for having a good plot. This one fails in every possible category and is just plain bad.

The story follows nobel prize winner "exobiologist" Dr. Lauri Thompson, who teams up with "astrobiologist" Dr. David Santiago to help solve the mysterious deaths caused by a meteorite. Unknown and unremarkable actors made sure the plot isn't the only bad thing about this movie.

Terrible acting, flat jokes, lazy storytelling. Nope.

Tropey McTropeface

[BLAlley · 2/10 · 16 September 2021]

Rule 1: Don't make your main character unlikable and so messed up they can't function properly in social situations, let alone in a specialist capacity.

Rule 2: If you're creatively and intellectually bankrupt, relying on one trope after another will not compensate for said bankruptcy.

This movie is painful, but exactly what you expect from writers who have no practical or academic experience on which to rely, nor the initiative to perform any research in spite of the technical requirements of the story. As hinted at, it's instead one trope after another:

1. Main character is the only one who can do the job, as if no other expert in their field exists.

2. Main character can't function due to substance abuse or other mental health issues (a person like this would never be considered for such an assignment).

3. Said expert is brought in only to have their conclusions ignored.

4. The investigation is performed in dimly lit spaces at a snail's pace in spite of the critical need for quick answers.

5. Expert finds evidence but withholds it for no reason, leading to delays in the conclusions and potential response.

6. So-called experts act stupidly by ignoring basic safety protocols and the scientific method.

I had to turn it off, but I assume at some point a character faces a threat traveling in a straight line but chooses to run from it in the same direction rather than off to the side so it will pass.

There are thousands of good stories out there in the form of novels, short stories, and short films that are being ignored. Instead we get this.

Out of this world

[garjanuk · 1/10 · 21 August 2021]

More like out of their minds, poor acting and so boring, it's a miss from me sorry.

so many problems

[topdog-64841 · 3/10 · 23 August 2021]

I wanted to like it because I love sci-fi but the acting was sub-par, the plot had a billion holes that kept distracting me, the CGI was awful, and on and on. The only props I give them is the balls to off the young child at the beginning, which in today's culture I thought they wouldn't do.

Next.

Underrated: Great script but mediocre in places

[PaxD75 · 8/10 · 2 January 2022]

This was a surprisingly good movie. I loved it. The terrible reviews and low rating forced this on the back burner for a while.

First off: The script was great! Slow, dramatic and powerful (if you give it a chance). Sometimes people get put off by other elements of a low-budget film and they write off entire production as a result. I get it.

But... If you're a sci-fi fan and tell me that this is a bad script - I can only think that you gave up early on this (or that it moved too slowly for you).

Sometimes you have to forgive low-quality results in other areas of the production when viewing a low-budget film. I've always been a script-first person (followed by acting). If this is where you place a great deal of value, this is a recommend for you.

If it's choreography, scenic shots and music that are important to you in a movie... well then. I have no comments.

Acting was pretty decent in some areas and mediocre/poor in others. Generally, it was very passable for this kind of film. Unfortunately (and this is huge) the lead character offered the worst performance, I thought. This effected the whole film. You have to see the entire film to understand what she was trying to do - but I just don't think she pulled it off (wooden and off-putting).

Audio had a b-movie finish to it in many parts. Sometimes it did not. You know the sound of it when it has that mono feel to it. But if you're really trying to enjoy the film (instead of looking for defects), this kind of audio tends to normalize.

Occasionally (especially in the final minutes), the background sound/music would drown out the voices. This was an easy fix post-production but they failed to address it.

Special effects were poor. I had no problems with this. It got the job done.

I don't even want to hint at the plot. I'm afraid I'll ruin the experience if you know too much. I went in knowing very little about the film. I was guessing what might happen and it made for a great film experience. It does move slowly as it builds to a reveal but this slowness reflects real-life which is why I embraced it.

Be patient with this low-budget effort and you'll be rewarded. It gets a very subjective "how it made me feel" (for a low-budget effort) rating of 8.

Not as Bad as Everyone is Saying

[scottmannen1 · 6/10 · 21 August 2021]

I give it a six out of ten. Interesting story, definitely B-movie with limited budget. With those constraints it seems the creators did a lot with very little. Good story, slow, but still good. The protagonist is a bit of a drag, but everything else is decent.

Simply too much clichê

[portal1790 · 4/10 · 20 August 2021]

The ideia/concept it's interesting. The cinematography it's very good. But the casting and acting are really bad. It's clichê after clichê after clichê. After 20 minutes you'll see what you'll get . And that's it. Unfortunately.

I would give it less than 1 star if I could......

[veryprivateswag · 1/10 · 21 August 2021]

Sub par everything, acting, story, acting, effect, acting etc etc.

It's just bad , not even cult following bad either.....

Waste of Time

[mahsihaz · 1/10 · 23 August 2021]

Seriously? Don't bother to watch. The script is really terrible. Something came from outer space and that was how you do the scientific research and get a problem scientist to help you find the solution? Come on....this is really ridiculous. Wasted almost 2 hours of watching this garbage. So please the rest of you...don't waste your time. I'm serious...don't say I didn't warn u guys.