The Beyond is a science fiction documentary-style movie set in the present (2019)
The film follows a team of cosmology experts sent to explore an anomaly that has entered the Earth’s atmosphere in hopes to find alien life before it finds us. To do this, they must create a new type of human, an untested experiment in a race against time. The outcome raises deep questions on what it is to be human and our place in the universe.
The Beyond is a perfectly ok movie for what it is. It is a low budget, no-name actor film with some fantastic marketing. When you have great marketing with a product that doesn’t meet expectations, it’s a bit of a letdown. The actors are stiff and sterile, and although the CGI is pretty good for a low budget film, it is better in small glimpses. One prolonged CGI sequence started to look a bit ‘uncanny valley’, especially in the human-to-robot sequences.
However, for a far-out fantasy Sci-Fi movie, the most unrealistic notion, in my opinion, was that they were filming a casual documentary about a top-secret military and space agency operation. The mockumentary, handheld-camera style and interview-based dialogue, more often seen in comedy style genres, really threw me off the seriousness of the plot. At times, especially at the start of the film, it felt like an off-shoot of The Office. I was waiting for a comedic spin on such a serious subject. Once I realised this wasn’t coming, I was able to push that aside and take it for what it was.
The Beyond is worth watching if you already have an Amazon Prime subscription. Unlike Netflix, Amazon Prime seems to give more independent filmmakers a platform to showcase their work. Looking into the directors’ background, The Beyond is Dulull’s first feature film, and when you consider that it’s weighted a bit heavier. It is also a great film to watch with your teenagers or pre-teens. There is no violence directed towards humans, no sexual content, and without ruining the plot, an optimistic outcome at the end. It raises themes and questions that delve deep into humanity.
| Starring: | Jane Perry, Nigel Barber, Noeleen Comiskey |
|---|---|
| Stars: | 4/5 |
| Available on: | Amazon Prime |
