It's total sh!t.

@MongoLloyd said:

It's total sh!t.

But what did you really think about it? 😆

Seriously though, why'd you think that? Made for £8 million apparently, I like seeing things output like this on a such a limited budget...

My review from IMDb:

The craft of film storytelling has degenerated into vague, unformed gobbledygook, dressed up with production value and VFX, and THIS is a prime example of the uninspired nonsense that audiences are left with. This film gives us a child-as-villain who seemingly does the things he does with no purpose or underlying reason. Even movie monsters have motives directly influenced by... something. Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Lee Woo-jin, Terminator, etc., all had reasons for the mayhem they unleashed on the people around them.

Having a character do things for seemingly no reason is the result of lazy storytelling. The kid came from space? OK, so what? The kid has superpowers? OK, why? Because he's from space? The kid takes a liking to a female classmate? OK, why? The kid is intent on killing people? OK, why? "Take world?" OK, why? Killing his Earth mother? OK, why? She was the only person in his life who wouldn't stop loving him. Is he going to (in subsequent sequels) just keep killing his guardians?

Lazy.

@MongoLloyd said:

My review from IMDb:

The craft of film storytelling has degenerated into vague, unformed gobbledygook, dressed up with production value and VFX, and THIS is a prime example of the uninspired nonsense that audiences are left with. This film gives us a child-as-villain who seemingly does the things he does with no purpose or underlying reason. Even movie monsters have motives directly influenced by... something. Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Lee Woo-jin, Terminator, etc., all had reasons for the mayhem they unleashed on the people around them.

Having a character do things for seemingly no reason is the result of lazy storytelling. The kid came from space? OK, so what? The kid has superpowers? OK, why? Because he's from space? The kid takes a liking to a female classmate? OK, why? The kid is intent on killing people? OK, why? "Take world?" OK, why? Killing his Earth mother? OK, why? She was the only person in his life who wouldn't stop loving him. Is he going to (in subsequent sequels) just keep killing his guardians?

Lazy.

I havne't seen the movie, but my impression is that it's basically just a 'what if Superman were evil?" thing, but without the benefit of the official canon to back it up. Maybe if it were actually a DC property, that would have saved the film from some of this criticism?

@MongoLloyd said:

My review from IMDb:

"Take *the world?" OK, why?

That was basically your reason right there.

As to why - we don't know any more than he did. But from what we saw, we really shouldn't have expected to. I mean here that we see his spaceship glowing red, we then see him speaking in tongues or whatever, then he's killing people without really knowing why himself. Didn't particularly see that as an issue or "lazy" storytelling in itself. It's pretty clearly shown to us.

I think if you watch this film in the manner that I initially believed it to be, namely a twist on a superhero tale, and therefore a comic book film then yes, the complaint would stand up. It's a pretty standard modern complaint about "baddies" isn't it? Never used to be but then nowadays you've got people thinking The Avengers was some kind of masterpiece because Thanos had a supposedly clear motivation for his actions (even although all he basically did was set the clock back a few years then go retire 😆).

What I liked about this film though was that although that comic book twist film was the expectation it was pretty much just a well executed, cheaply made horror film in the end. Looking it from a horror perspective, his motivation was no worse than those laid out in The Exorcist or The Omen say, and those weren't too bad...

@The Midi-chlorian Count said:

his motivation was no worse than those laid out in The Exorcist or The Omen say, and those weren't too bad...

We ALL know what the devil and possession is. That in itself is explanation enough. In this film, there is zero back story or explanation underlying the otherwise strange actions of the evil protagonist. Lazy.

@MongoLloyd said:

We ALL know what the devil and possession is. That in itself is explanation enough.

Honestly, I just took it as exactly the same as that - The ship in the barn glows red, he walks out to it in a trance, starts yabbering away in tongues, starts doing evil deeds, scribbling "take the world" over his book, etc. He - for all intents and purposes in this horror tale - is possessed.

Didn't particularly feel the need for any further explanation. One this one mon ami we shall need to agree to disagree 👍

Right. A possessed boy from space. Gotcha.