The Thinning (2016)

Simply Perfect

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

I'm shocked still at how great of a movie this was. There are flaws in the movie but I ignored them because of how much action was in the movie and the suspense kept me on the edge of my chair. The characters are very diverse and are all different. This movie has one of the best cast I've seen in years. the crazy part is the Thinning is low budget. The thinning should made it to the Theaters because of how amazing it was. Through out the movie I couldn't tell that it was low budget they did a great job through out the of making it look great. Well The plot and the writing are truly Spectacular. There are flaws in the movie but the greatness of the cast and writing is easy to look past.Give it a chance the movie might surprise you.

yet I watched it and possibly you can do it as well it's not that boring after all. So what's wrong with it? Well as many have said, 95% of people there are completely stupid and should be "thinned" immediately. I can accept guards in masks so that they could hire less actors(there is no budget on IMDb and i haven't been searching for one, but it had to be low). (Spoilers below) Now what I really disliked - tech specialist who needs as he said 3o min to connect few cables to PC? OK maybe they skipped many steps, but still even now backup generator could turn itself on automatically, so why that great society would forgot this technology...Last and least probably but i haven't found that in other reviews. Lets say 9th+ graders are fit for work but what happens to those little kids? are they fed and taken care of until they are also fit for work. Either way this system doesn't help to reduce population it's just some form of slavery therefore it would not help mother earth AT ALL.

I'll make this short and sweet. This movie is a rip-off of the Hunger Games. Not worth your time or money unless you want to see how not to make a movie. This movie was just, so... boring. I stopped paying attention after a while. I'll admit it's not the worst I've ever seen, but nothing about it is particularly good. It's generic, full of clichés, and it wastes an opportunity to make a good movie based on the promising concept. The solution to overpopulation in the future is what this movie is based around, and because that will soon become a really pressing issue all across the world, this movie had the chance to do something special. However, it didn't. I'm quite disappointed, honestly. Every other scene was a drag because I was rolling my eyes so much. I didn't come to watch cheap teen "romance", or a pure evil villain with no real motive, or even the twist ending. This movie is full of illogical events, people, and actions. One of the most infuriating things was the way this society went about population control. I'm sure the creators were trying to be unique, but this method doesn't make as much sense as others. In this future, families aren't limited to just one child, fatally sick people still get health care, but school kids have to take a test that the punishment for failing is dying? What? Weeding out the weak and stupid I get, but the fact that this was the only procedure didn't make sense. The system itself also seems to be pretty badly executed, at least in Austin, Texas.I wanted to see the protags come up with a way to fix the broken system, but by the end nothing actually changed. Maybe they were banking on a sequel, but I hope that I don't see one coming out in the next few years. This movie had it's chance, and it failed to impress a majority of people because it's just not that good. It's just okay.

may contain spoilersThis was my first time viewing Youtube Red. I'm a sucker for these types of dystopian films and after seeing countless adds on Youtube had to make a point of seeing it. Based on this I wouldn't pay the subscription for Youtube Red but may in the future if content improves. The basic outline for the script is not bad but would have benefited from some additional review to catch and fill in plot holes prior to filling and release. Not sure if I missed something at the beginning but the whole background behind the thinning was not given til almost twenty minutes in, and in a cheesy children's video. If someone missed the promos explaining this they are lost. That said the promo's had most the films high points and therefore was pretty predictable. From the start you are just scratching your head. Here are students going in to take a life or death test, students cheating and security measures to catch cheaters, nervous students make sense. They act like this is a high steaks test - but not a life or death test. The tests are taken on touchscreen tablets, why are they walking in with backpacks? Rather than carrying in things that they don't need to take the test why not have a scene where someone is making plans to pass on their prized possessions if were to fail? Then you realize that the tests are given at the school its self. The tests are only given once a year yet one of the students implies that the guards are there watching the entrances every day. If so every school is set up like a prison and has an area specifically for executing those being thinned out. This sounds expensive and inefficient. Why not have them be expected to report to a central, secure location once a year? This could have been done with minimal changes. It also would change the idea that the scores the tests are scored locally against your population. Wouldn't that make parents look to move to the areas with the lowest performing schools? Why stay and compete for your life in a state with the highest academic scores? Shouldn't the tests be scored and decisions be made from a larger pool than just a single school? Then you have the guards coming and taking those who failed out of the test room. This is the worst possible way to isolate those who failed. Couldn't they have one of several room numbers show up on their tablet for them to go to and it is not til they reach the room that they find out if they passed or find themselves locked in when they find out they failed. Yes, students fought when they were first being told they failed but afterwards have no problem marching single file down the hall to the execution chamber. Why does it take so long to conduct the thinning if there is no verification of the results, no chance for friends and family to visit and say final good byes, no last meal? They even had a strange scene where those being thinned were forced to change clothes. Why? This wasn't used as means of throwing in some gratuitous nudity and everyone complies. Not one of those says something along the lines of "If I'm going to die I'm going to die pretty". Why not have at least one person try to flee so the guards can show some competence before the lead character escapes and the man hunt starts? Wouldn't recommend going out of your way to watch this, but would only say that if you do don't do so with a person who will talk during the movie, nitpicking everything wrong with it. It is also set up for a sequel and with it could be done if they are determined to create a stronger script, and fill in some more back story on the decisions and events leading up to the story.