A Beautifully Flawed Warning About Progress

Read Time:5 Minute, 37 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
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Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Drama
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 2h 4m
Director(s): Timo Vuorensola
Writer(s): Timo Vuorensola
Cast: Tom Felton, Elizaveta Bugulova, Aggy K. Adams, Richard Brake, Igor Zhizhikin
Where to Watch: opens in theaters and on VOD November 21, 2025

RAVING REVIEW: Timo Vuorensola has always been a director drawn to extremes. Whether sending Nazis to the Moon in IRON SKY or reimagining horror as an absolute and unintentional trainwreck through JEEPERS CREEPERS: REBORN. ALTERED continues that pattern — a stylish, high-concept dystopian thriller that wants to question humanity’s obsession with improvement but occasionally drowns in its own ambition. It’s an impressive spectacle for what it aims to be, yet one that constantly struggles against uneven storytelling and thematic overload.

Set in an alternate present where genetic enhancement replaced technological progress after the world’s collapse, the film follows Leon (Tom Felton), one of the few unmodified humans left. He’s physically disabled (which is a questionable choice on its own) but intellectually gifted, building prosthetics and exoskeletons that allow “specials” — those born without genetic upgrades — to survive in a society that treats them like relics. His work makes him both savior and outlaw —a man who builds hope out of scrap metal. When a famous genetically modified singer (Aggy K. Adams) and a teenage rebel (Elizaveta Bugulova) enter his world, the fight for equality transforms into a revolution that puts their very existence at risk.

The premise sounds like a fusion of GATTACA and ELYSIUM, and Vuorensola wears those influences openly. There’s a retrofuturist edge to the production design, blending Soviet-style industrial grit with organic, plant-like architecture. Every location feels like a contrast between progress and decay — sleek towers for the genetically superior, recycled container slums for the unmodified. It’s visually compelling even when the story falters. The world-building has a lived-in texture that suggests decades of struggle, and the cinematography by Anton Bakarski gives the environments a chilling sterility that contrasts beautifully with Leon’s cluttered workshop.

Felton shoulders the film with sincerity, channeling a mix of bitterness and compassion that makes Leon more than a generic rebel archetype. He’s a reluctant hero whose vulnerability gives weight to the story’s metaphor about power, privilege, and dignity. His exoskeleton, cobbled together from salvaged parts, becomes a literal and symbolic representation of survival. Bugulova, meanwhile, delivers the kind of breakout performance that makes you take notice. As Chloe gives the film its emotional anchor, grounding the bigger sci-fi ideas in personal stakes. Her dynamic with Felton brings the heart that the script sometimes struggles to find elsewhere.

Adams has the flashier role as Mira, a genetically enhanced pop idol whose modified voice has made her a symbol of the elite. Her presence hints at what ALTERED could have achieved with a tighter focus — a pop star used as propaganda who becomes disillusioned by her own artificial identity. Richard Brake, ever reliable as a villain, lends gravitas as a senator who weaponizes the rhetoric of equality to push a sinister agenda. Brake’s performance might be the film’s most stable, giving menace to a story that occasionally slips into melodrama.

Where ALTERED struggles most is in pacing and cohesion; Vuorensola fills the film with ideas — the ethics of human enhancement, the politics of segregation, and the question of what defines identity — but not all of them fit neatly together. Scenes that should breathe often feel rushed, while others linger too long on exposition. It’s as if the movie keeps trying to prove how big its world is rather than trusting its characters to carry the message. At two hours, it starts to sag in the middle, weighed down by subplots that don’t fully pay off.

That said, when it works, it really works. The production design deserves recognition for its originality within its limitations. The costumes, designed by Svetlana Mikhalenko, show a clear divide between the two classes: flowing, natural fabrics for the genetically enhanced and synthetic, plastic-textured wear for the “specials.” It’s one of those subtle storytelling choices that visually communicates the divide without relying on dialogue. The visual effects — including the film’s standout sequence involving the “Genesis flower,” a biological power source — are imaginative if sometimes inconsistent. Yet, they show that Vuorensola learned his lesson from JEEPERS CREEPERS: REBORN and worked with an actual capable team. There’s something admirable about ALTERED’s conviction. It’s a film that believes in what it’s saying, even when it fumbles the delivery. Felton’s performance is reason enough to stay engaged, and the film’s handcrafted aesthetic lends it more personality than most mid-budget sci-fi films.

The final act blends hope and tragedy in equal measure, suggesting that true evolution might not come from modification at all, but from compassion—a message as old as science fiction itself, yet one that still resonates. In a cinematic landscape dominated by CGI spectacle, ALTERED feels like a reminder that imagination doesn’t need infinite resources to make an impact. It just needs conviction. Vuorensola’s reach exceeds his grasp, but in this case, that reach still leaves an impression. If ALTERED were a genetic experiment, it’d be a flawed prototype with flashes of brilliance — messy, heartfelt, and defiantly human.

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