Origin: Beyond the Impact is a science-fiction drama centered around a meteoric object that hits planet Earth in 1960 and the dark mysteries carried with it. Fifty years after the impact, tech powerhouse Crowe Corporation is determined to lead the world’s fourth industrial revolution by secretly attempting to unlock those mysteries until their leading scientist, Dr. Bernard Schmidt, goes missing. An investigation is launched into the disappearance led by special agent William Shepard of the FBI, reluctantly paired with a cynical Russian operative, Aleksey Popov. The investigation takes a critical turn when Schmidt’s connection to an Air Force test pilot leads the investigators to a young woman whose past uncovers a possible government conspiracy. The investigators then become locked in a race against time to protect a secret hidden in plain sight.
In a film where a Black couple is framed to be the lead characters, they still managed to get shuffled off to the sidelines. The enthusiastic cast delivers well on goofy bits- but can only go so far before they begin to fall flat.
As Sexual Assault Awareness Month comes to an end, I’d like to urge viewers and filmmakers to take a long and hard look at how rape is portrayed on screen.
It only seems to prove that when the company had their backs against the wall and needed an all pleasing, generic movie that had to make up for The Last Jedi, they chose to sacrifice almost everything that made their main protagonist interesting and that made her stand out as the strong female character that a generation of young movie goers was supposed to look up to. Instead, we were left with a Rey that was so much less than she could have been. And I guess that’s the real story of Rey and The Rise of Skywalker; they could have been so much more, but they were just more of the same.
This film manages to be simultaneously topical and timeless. Without being preachy, it highlights society’s flawed relationship with tech; insights into the complex ideas of family struggle are expertly dispersed among a perfectly paced and balanced story.
The film reminds us to remember the people who had the courage and dignity that had made the world better, even when the memory was absent.
Steven Spielberg's West Side Story (2021) improves on the original's terrible representation, poorly written romance, and more. --> check out reviews & film summary
