Survivor (2014)

Great Film overall

Don't Believe the Hype

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

The first must-see film of the year.

I thought this was decent movie of its genre -- better than a lot of the other ones I have seen. Considering what were probably budgetary constraints from being a kick-starter project, I think it was actually pretty good. While not on par with $100 million films, I would never have guessed its source of funding from watching the movie.The story was not the most original, but it is pretty difficult to find one that is completely original anymore. Seven ships left Earth when there was a catastrophe. They went different directions via wormholes and are looking for a new home. We are introduced to a generation of young folks who have never experienced anything other than life on the ship in space. They are training under the direction of Capt Hunter (Kevin Sorbo) for the day when they find a new potential home.A signal is detected and on the way to investigate, the scout ship with said young people and Capt Hunter is pretty much destroyed with the surviving passengers scattered all over the landscape. The heroine, Kate (Danielle Chuchran)then has to overcome a bunch of obstacles to survive. The rest of the story is mostly about how she deals with those obstacles. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I actually did like the ending (though it was somewhat predictable).For the most part, I thought the acting was very good. The 2 main performers in the 1st half of the movie (Chuchran and Sorbo) did very well. Sorbo did spend a lot of time not moving around much, but Chuchran was pretty active and made up for it. Rocky Myers didn't actually show his face until probably about halfway through, but he did a good job too. The other actors were mostly supporting roles (I did want to smack the whiny guy a number of times -- if that was his goal, then he nailed it).The special effects were a lot better than some of the ones I had seen on B-Movie sci-fi night (what my late wife and I called the cheap movies on the SyFy channel). Most of the movie had no special effects to speak of, mostly some reasonably decent monster makeup. However, when there were some FX scenes, they were generally done pretty well. Nobody will mistake the FX in this movie for a $200 million Marvel Comics movie, but it would be entirely unfair to try to compare it to one. I think they did pretty well with what they did.The story wasn't incredibly original, some of it was very predictable for anyone who has seen similar movies, but the actual dialog was pretty good and (IMO) believable (as much as dialog can be in a sci-fi world). While not exceptionally deep, the characters were human and they came across that way.Overall I'd give this a 7.5/10 (I rounded up to 8). It ain't going to win any Hugo awards, but it is actually better and more entertaining than some of the larger budget movies that have hit the big screen and certainly a lot better than the grind-house sci-fi that ends up on MST3K. It's worth a watch on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Kevin Sorbo played Captain Dylan Hunt in the TV series Andromeda. In this film he played the part of Captain Hunter! Furthermore, he came out with one of Dylan's favourite phrases: "It's never easy" OK, they are tongue in cheek aknowledging the overall derivative nature of the movie. I can go along with that.One of my long term bug bears is that many warrior maidens in sci-fi/fantasy films do not have any physical credibility. This film does not make that mistake. The heroine, Kate, is well built with broad shoulders and obvious vital capacity. Ten out of ten for that.There is an early hint when Kate's implanted computer describes the gravity as being "normal". Derivative - "Planet of the Apes". Also, a lot like "The 100." There is a great dearth of new sci-fi/fantasy films. This is jolly good knock about stuff. We need more of it!

Oh, dear... where to begin. 'Cheap' is the word I'd use to describe 'Survivor.' Even the title is hardly inspired. I ran the word 'survivor' through the Internet Movie Database's search to try and find this film, but there are so many other films/TV shows called it, that I had to end up looking it up via an actor's name. In fact, the searching for it online was actually more enjoyable than the film.Okay, that maybe a little harsh, but it was just so cheap it was hardly worth bothering with. It's about (and I can barely be bothered to regurgitate it all again!) the last few survivors from a doomed Earth, now destined to fly through space while they search for a new home planet. The spaceships all look computer-generated, but that doesn't last long. The ship soon crashes and they have to survive on an inhospitable planet. Or at least one of them does. A lone girl has to basically fight through hordes of native humans (and later monsters) to try and rescue the few remaining crewmates who survived the crash.It basically plays out like 'After Earth' but with less of a budget. Then again, After Earth hardly set the Box Office on fire, so that is a strange film to base another one on! Later on the cast moves to underground and, what with the inclusion of the monsters, it ends up a bit like 'The Descent.' Even sci-fi fans won't really enjoy this film. It's just too cheap and too unoriginal to really offer anything new. Yeah, if you're really that bored on a Saturday afternoon and you come across this film on TV (no way you would ever feel justified in paying for it!) you may just sit through it. Only if you're bored though. Really bored.

Oh my God! What a master piece, surely, certainly. This movie sets a record how bad and dumb a movie can be. If you by your bad luck happen to see this master piece of *hit, you will be transformed into a shape you find yourself eyes wide open , and also, your mouth wide open. What will come from your mouth is not so decent to write here. The Credits goes to the Producer who put forward such a brilliant idea to make this masterpiece of *hit. The Director was so confident that he would sleep under weeds during the shooting. The female part you find in the movie is an athlete so he practices all the way for sprints, she also likes hide-n-seek. Since the movie was shot on a Halloween, some ignorant persons interfere the shooting by coming in here and there. The cameraman was following the director's weed thing, so the female athlete had to kick off those Halloween intruders herself, that's an extra credit. Oh my God~