 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Deus • Year: 2022 • Country: United Kingdom • Director: Steve Stone • Main cast: Claudia Black, Richard Blackwood, Phil Davis, Charlie MacGechan, David O’Hara • Runtime: 90 minutes • Production company: GSP Distribution, Extremis Film, Highfield Grange Studios • TRAILER
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Our planet Earth is dying. It is our only planet and yet we are not treating it very well. So we are on the verge of extinction. And our only hope seems to be a mysterious sphere we just found located in the orbit of Mars. So a space research expedition is sent on the ship The Achilles to investigate. Yes, I know, in the first two sentences I bet you thought I was talking about real life but after seeing that I mentioned a mysterious possible solution you saw that I was referring to some movie plot. Because, no, in the real world we haven’t found a way to stop destroying our planet. So let’s see what the movie Deus (2022) has to bring. Maybe here we can find some hints for our possible salvation.
In the movie Deus (2022) we have all the elements that can construct an exciting space science fiction story. We have the spaceship with a limited crew, a mystery, some enigmas in outer space, a dilemma that will make crumble the concepts of morality, faith, knowledge, and beliefs, and some interesting plot twists.
The movie starts with the crew of The Achilles waking up from the suspended animation at the arrival of the destination. A waking-up sequence that reminds the audience a lot of the movie that probably mastered the event of waking up in space, Alien (1979), followed very close by another memorable waking-up sequence in Aliens (1986). In Deus (2022), the scene is pretty disappointing, so forced that is almost unnecessary. The characters are hollow, and they seem to be constantly pissed at each other for no reason, but I guess they needed some excuse to start to introduce them. Lots of troubled people having inner dramas that are rarely shared or developed. So the whole set is confusing, but this first scene works very well as a premonition of what the rest of the movie is going to be.
The writer and director Steve Stone had big faith in his idea, and the passion for the project is easy to feel. The problem is that he never managed to take it to a good port. The story of the film is potent, and I really liked the plot twist towards the end of the film; that plot twist, for me, saved the entire film. But it is painful to see how bad the dialogs and interaction between the characters were, how weak the direction was, and with the exception of the protagonist played by Claudia Black, the rest of the acting performances are dull bordering unacceptable.
In visual matters, Deus (2022) has some efficient moments. Budget constraints are more than evident, but yet the spaceship is cool enough, from the outside and from the inside. Other visual effects accompany the story well, so the entire punch of the film is not based on digital image craft but on the story. And I think that is the biggest feat in this movie, to focus on the story and the plot idea trying to cover up the rest of the limitations. The problem was the limitations were too many, and in the end, the result is easy to fall on the failure side.
Still, I am a sucker for a good science-fiction story, and Deus (2022) presents an exciting one. The many technical and artistic limitations strip the power out of the idea from a successful ending, but it is still a fun watch.
RATE: 5/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt8980128
