Painkillers (2015)
Led by Major John Cafferty, a squad of US soldiers are sent on a mission,deep into the mountainous regions of Afghanistan with orders to extract a mysterious top secret package. Now they are back home in a military hospital because they have no memory of what happened to them, or even who they are. In time, they start to recall the strange events that occurred: apparitions that appeared, luring some of them to their deaths and readings of a powerful electromagnetic energy from a strange unearthly power source. But there is no time to dwell on the past, they need to face the bitter truth about how they ended up in Afghanistan to begin with and the betrayals that wiped out their minds and nearly destroyed their lives.
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the audience applauded
It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
Blistering performances.
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
I tried to make this review "spoiler-free" as I felt this was worth watching. Good start, I agree with the other reviewers it felt a lot like a New Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode. Some interesting twists, some I saw coming but a few caught me off guard. I like the casting choices for such a small cast, they worked well together. Military action scenes in Afghanistan, seemed contrived at best. There were so many inconsistencies when it came to props and the behavior of actual soldiers. (The actual blank plugs in the assault rifles that were painted black were funny) I do not believe this movie was ever intended as an action movie. I believe the focus was meant as a psychological thriller with sci-fi and military-industrial conspiracy elements. Some of the action scenes felt like they were added to attract certain audience types. The movie did slow down at parts but it seemed to be for tension, atmosphere building and building background for sequels or a series. Way too many unanswered questions, some conveniently answered in the voice-over at the end. Deus Ex Machina . . . I have to agree with another reviewer as this felt like it was meant to be a 2 episode series premiere for syfy channel or its like. The movie was 1 hour and 45 minutes which is 30 minutes longer than most movies. There was a natural first episode ending about 42 minutes which reinforces the idea that this was a series premiere. It feels like there was added footage to make it a standalone movie and wrap it up with a nice bow Not great, but had it become a series I would have probably watched at least the first season off my DVR eventually. I liked it, not great but I did like it.
Having read some of the more positive reviews for this movie, I decided to give it a try. I can usually quite enjoy bad B movies, as long as they're entertaining. Unfortunately, this wasn't entertaining at all. Basically everything about the movie was bad. The problem though, is that it wasn't bad enough to actually be amusing, like The Room. On the other hand, it wasn't nearly entertaining enough to be enjoyable on its own for what it is. It's in the uncanny valley of average horribleness - basically, plain bland and boring. My advice: watch the first 5 minutes of the movie; if you're not entertained, then you won't be with the other ~90 minutes, so you'd probably be better off skipping this one. The only reason I'm not giving it 1/10 is because that imply it would be memorable for its awfulness, but sadly this movie isn't even that.
Not bad but it feels like an overlong episode of the new Outer Limits. Not surprising as the latter was filmed in Canada often with Canadian actors in Canadian settings - as was this movie. It's not one of those amazing Outer Limits episodes that stay with you but one that's not bad. Enough twists to keep you interested. The actors have been doing their craft for years so they're good at it. Penikett and Feore both act as they do in most things. The two female leads were more animated and their roles were actually better than the star. Durance was Durance in a very small role. I did like the outdoor winter shots as they weren't faked and filmed in the Badlands around Drumheller, AB. Studio shots were dull, dark and limited. Again the feel of a TV show and not a movie. In fact I wonder if this wasn't anticipated as a pilot for a TV show. It plays it safe aiming for a TV audience. The ending (spoiler) has a voice over of 6 more spheres and they want the Penikett character. So not a sequel for one movie but a series - but more TV than movie. So if you watch it as you would a TV episode then you likely will enjoy it.
What a great time our family had watching this cool new film. Along with our teen age sons, we were captivated by the twists and turns from the very beginning. Jacob's Ladder and the Truman show meets the Twilight Zone, this film suspended belief completely yet was grounded enough to keep us guessing and intrigued. We had a few questions at the beginning but slowly all was revealed in a poignant and interesting way. Maybe too many gunfire exchanges for mom, but all was redeemed by characters that were well defined and evolved as their motivations were unveiled- along with a very interesting plot twist that kept us on our seat until the end. We had so much fun watching this movie together, can't wait for "Painkillers 2!"