The Capture (2017) User Reviews

The Capture: Smart little thriller with weak payoff

[Platypuschow · 4/10 · 15 October 2018]

The Capture gripped me early, but the further into the movie it got the more the grip was loosened and by the end it had thoroughly lost me.

It tells the story of a group of scientists who use risky, questionably immoral and dangerous methods to break space and time to find out what truly happens when you die. Is there an afterlife? Are all the reports of angelic entities at places of mass death true?

Based almost entirely in one location with a 3 person cast it plays it's low budget well and delivers a fairly original concept. Sadly what it doesn't do is provide you with a competent payoff, the finale is really quite weak.

Considering the movie tries so hard with it's pseudo-science to come across smart the ending demonstrates a lack of intellect and common sense.

It is very frustrating when an interesting movie fails to wrap things up well and ultimately it kills the entire film.

Nice ideas, failed execution.

The Good:

Solid concept

Convincing premise

Fittingly moody tense atmosphere

The Bad:

Too short

Finale is an utter failure

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Short tattoo sleeves on girls can look fantastic

Indie Sci-Fi

[lalaland-73870 · 6/10 · 5 September 2019]

Saw this on amazon prime. Interesting concept and intriguing characters. It's obviously not a big budget film but the interaction between the main characters is pretty good. They all have different perspectives on what to do about the strange situation they find themselves in and none of them seem to be right or wrong.

Loved that the girl from the Descent was in this.

It started out pretty good

[iceman88869 · 3/10 · 23 August 2018]

It started out strong. It was interesting for the most part, but man toward the end, it just literally drops off and is ruined by that ending. The characters were all interesting and seemed appropriate in their roles, even though the girl is easy to hate.

Really, it felt like they were making a movie, ran out of money and just called it good before finishing it. It's too bad, it had potential with an interesting idea.

Thinking mans Science Fiction

[mickjagger-42130 · 5/10 · 20 September 2019]

Recently saw this on amazon, pretty good, a lot to take in and a lot of talking about science and the spirt it world. Which makes it great in some parts and a little slow in others. It was obvious that this film was made for very little money but the acting and the presentation were good. The end is a head scratcher but in these type of thinking man films that's good. If you're looking for action and explosions this is not for you but if you like intelligent since fiction this is more what this film is.

A decent film clearly made on a shoestring budget

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 8/10 · 22 August 2018]

Novice filmmaker Jim Agnew makes his directorial debut in a film he also wrote, and clearly made on a shoestring budget - and succeeded.

His directing was actually quite good, and although the writing had some plot issues, it was still creative and interesting.

The acting was spot on by all cast, and the cinematography was on point. I felt the pace was a little slow, even for the short 78 min length, and that perhaps this should have been edited down with a faster pace to a short film of about 40 mins.

The score was also fairly decent and apropriate but felt out of place in a few scenes. My main issue was the sets... clearly not much of the budget went into them, as a few desks and fluorescent bulbs with outdated equipment and miles of thin phone lines don't make for a convincing set that apparently needed to draw power from many major cities in many states.

Nevertheless, for a very low budget C-grade film with B-list actors, this was a fun little sci-fi. A well deserved 8/10 from me.

Got completely lost at 60 min point

[pkpera · 2/10 · 23 August 2018]

The acting and direction was quite good, and even that science part was pretty much poor, it promised interesting finale.

Money origin was explained, so reviewer here, who complained about where are from those millions obviously did not follow it all time.

And then, suddenly some silly discovery that they 'needed third hand' for some input, and that must be persona with thermodynamic experience - what a letdown ! With all computers there must be 3 persons for manual input ? They really should took some 10 minutes effort, and figure out something less stupid.

"The happy end' happened - but I doubt that there is viewer who was happy with it. Maybe authors, who ran out of money and ideas ...

I give it 2 only because first part was done good for low budget movie.

I think that next time when I see runtime is so short will just skip it.

If you like Black Mirror,

[jr-05172 · 8/10 · 22 August 2018]

If you like Black Mirror you'll probably like this film. It is about a small group of scientist who take a group of terminally ill people and give them a compound that causes them to die at the same time. When they do this they also manipulate time and space and capture what came to take these souls to the other side as they call it. What they end up with is not what they expected. The film presents ideas (a lot of them) and people make bad choices (much like every episode of Black Mirror) they all have had horrible things happen to them in the past which is why they all worked on this experiment.

The three scientist and the girl that appears are all very different people with different motivations making it hard to tell who if anyone is right in their actions. They each have a choice to make that will effect the out come of the experiment and the one scientist Louis is the most interesting character of the group as he constantly explains his thought on the universe, dark matter and death. The other two characters are conflicted due to personal loss.

There are some heady concepts in the film, if I can compare it to anything other than Black Mirror Shane Carruth's Primer would be the one film I would say is in the same vein. Over all a good entry into independent science fiction.

Great sci fi thriller

[kevinmercy · 8/10 · 22 October 2021]

Such a good idea of a film. The film is basically about a guide of the dead being brought to the real world and then gets stuck there. It's like the twilight zone almost but it's own spin on it. Good acting overall and that ending is great too. I appreciate the filmmaker really making it work on a small budget, support films like this!

Strange sci-fi

[deathfromabove-02571 · 7/10 · 5 September 2019]

This film has a very cool concept. It's about a guide of the dead being brought to the real world and gets stuck there. What happens after that is also interesting. It plays in the world of twilight zone and black mirror. The actors are all good and the story is too. Some of the sets look like they didn't spend a lot of money on them but the overall vibe and feel of the film keep me going with it.

Good little sci-fi film.

A waste of time

[rriva-417-993719 · 1/10 · 1 September 2018]

There is nothing of substance....There is nothing else to add.

Why even bother making this movie!

[grahammwiles · 1/10 · 24 August 2018]

If I could score this -10, I would. Low budget, bad acting, no story line. The film just didn't work at all. The only saving grace is that the film is short, but that didn't stop me from skipping 5min at a time to get to the end. Don't bother watching this movie.

Dumb movie in my opinion

[Squaredance51 · 1/10 · 8 December 2018]

Some reviewers stated it started out strong and then went downhill. All I can add is that it started nowhere and went nowhere. It's about as dumb as you can get. Admittedly it's low budget. But starting out the first scene/s that looks like it's in someone's backyard garage the producers made sure it's in keeping with it's low budget look and feel. Sorry but the movie did nothing for me. Other reviewers may be more forgiving.

WTF was this nonsensical waste of time??

[gsosings · 1/10 · 6 April 2019]

There are probably worse movies out there, but few that could match this overblown, pitiful nonsense!

The premise never led anywhere, meandering all over the map, and ending with the director's obvious "I don't know what to do anymore" lost conclusion.

I hope I've saved some of you from being tortured by this really lousy attempt at cinema. I mean YUCCH!

Give it a go

[d-ramseeey · 9/10 · 18 October 2021]

Ignore the bad reviews, the film is highly entertaining and had me on the edge of the seat right to the end. The script was original and the acting was quality too. It's an indie film so it does have some flaws but overall it's a weekend type of movie you can enjoy with friends.

terrible concept

[bsx-05384 · 1/10 · 29 August 2018]

Anyone who rated this above 1 star is just lying. incredibly weak premise.

Has it's flaws but still good

[debrahheea · 8/10 · 21 October 2021]

Complicated plot but that made it better in my opinion. Lots of twists and turns and the ending had me by surprise. The film did seem a little rushed though, editing could have been better but still totally worth it. Ignore the haters and watch The capture!

stupido dum dum

[sampah70 · 1/10 · 13 November 2020]

I can tolerate much of lack of budget, but not of lack of intelligence.

It's like an overgrown toddler trying to tell you some made up story. It's utterly ridiculous I don't even know where to start.

This movie can be used to torture chimpanzees to dumbed down their IQs.

Enjoy your painful watch.

Weekend type of movie

[jarvislakerfan · 8/10 · 23 October 2021]

This script is next level. Interesting concept about captured souls and what happens to them after she appears. I don't watch to give away too much but it's an impressive indie film and worth your time. Watch with an open mind and you will enjoyed it.

Hmmm, still not sure what happened at the end,

[oceanblue-95204 · 7/10 · 18 September 2019]

But still liked the film. It puts out there a lot of sci-fi questions about life and death and what else is out there that we don;t understand. It features three scientist who have done something horrible and now have to fix wha their experiment has done to possibly the world and the the otherworld.

Good acting and interesting concepts even though the end was a little weird.

Hmmm, liked most of it,

[billtodd-05377 · 5/10 · 1 September 2020]

This was obviously a small film. Had big concepts and neat cast. A lot of the ideas are big and sometimes hard to follow. I liked the girl who was an angel, or part of the afterlife not sure. Weird ending but all around interesting indie film. the black scientist was also a very interesting guy with a lot charm. Not sure how it ended that's my big knock on the film.

Needed salt

[DavidBarak · 5/10 · 19 February 2021]

This was like a proficiently-cooked meal that was ultimately unsatisfying. There as nothing special about it. Don't get me wrong, the acting was fine, the directing was fine, the writing was fine, cinematography and sound, both fine, but all those together didn't add up to more than the sum of its parts. Great films have something - and hopefully more than one thing - that will make them memorable. This had none of that. Hopefully the cast and crew will work their way up to bigger films that take greater chances. The Capture played it safe - no surprises, no "wow" moments, just a heavy, unseasoned meal that will leave you anxiously awaiting your next meal (movie) in the hopes that it'll satisfy.

What's missing.

[zbeezrhapy · 3/10 · 11 January 2024]

The cinematography was good. Does good cinematography make a good movie? No. The lighting was good. Does good lightning make a good movie? No. The acting was pretty decent. Does decent acting make for a good movie? No. What was missing? There were even some good ideas to base a story on. Do a few good ideas make a good story? No. What was missing was a story. You can have all kinds of "film school" techniques that are done fairly well but this by itself a good movie does not make. Cinematography that gives you moments of suspense, but without a decent story, does not make a good movie. A couple of 1960s era oscilloscopes and some cat 5 wire do not science fiction make. At least it was good enough that I watched it all the way through.

Nice try, but no. Plus the ending is lame.

A thought-provoking movie

[esparzamichael · 9/10 · 17 July 2022]

You may need to rewatch it one or two more times to get it, but leaves you wondering about time and space, which is the whole point of science fiction. It also shows that you don't need a huge budget to create a sci-fi thriller.

Liked it, sometimes a little confusing but good.

[roborobert-98806 · 6/10 · 25 August 2020]

This was a another small sci-fi film that had great ideas but a limited budget. The acting was really good and the concepts where intriguing. There are sometime parts of the film where there is a lot of science babble but that felt more because this was not a huge film with big special effects and they need ed to talk about things and couldn't show them.

Had to think about the ending and not too sure what happened. But a great addition to small sci-fi films it felt like a cross between Upstream Color and Flatliners.

Overall good effort complex story (sometimes too complex) and believable acting.

This movie requires intellect

[hilary_mae-912-80561 · 6/10 · 11 October 2020]

Many of the critiques are from self-professed critics who base the quality of the film primarily on special effects. I surmise that they gain some affirmation here, whilst in reality they work low grade, basic jobs. They seek importance. Watch the movie if you care to think, otherwise the Transformers film is screening in the room down the hall. If you want to see people "acting" and do not need explosions to be entertained, you may remain here.