Another Dystopian Future

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TV SERIES REVIEW
Expired (Loveland)
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Genre: Romance, Sci-Fi
Year Released: 2022
Runtime: 1h 42m
Director(s): Ivan Sen
Writer(s): Ivan Sen
Cast: Ryan Kwanten, Hugo Weaving, David Field, Michael Chan, Franck Matour, Shinji Ikefuji, Shilah Sen, Jillian Nguyen
Where To Watch: On UK digital platforms November 7, 2022

RAVING REVIEW: A BLADE RUNNER inspired romance about a future world where “real” is becoming replaced by tech. Can the gorgeous futuristic cityscape save the “artistic” style narrative?

First, this was a visual treat, a futuristic city that was done within the film's budget, and this paid off. You could tell that this was a dystopian future without having anything glaring look out of place. Nothing about the CGI and visuals shot for the moon here, and for a low-budget Sci-Fi film, that’s precisely what you want to do.

I see a lot of complaints about not understanding what is going on in the film, which is somewhat upsetting to me. I’m not trying to be a film snob, but you don’t have to have the entire story handed to you on a silver platter in every instance. A mystery in a movie often will make it more intriguing. Sometimes leaving something to the imagination is a fun experience.

The story is intentionally slow; as someone who generally doesn’t like a slow burn, I can appreciate it when there is a purposeful intention behind them. I wasn’t blown away by the story; it felt like a rehash mashup of things I’ve seen before. That’s probably my biggest knock on the film; it had a hard time escaping the black hole of what it was inspired by.

Sometimes you have to be able to experience things outside of the norm. If you only watch the same giant blockbusters, you’ll never see what else is out there. I’m not suggesting this is a must-watch for everyone, but it will have an audience. I’m reminded of people I’ve suggested international films to who instantly shun them for subtitles. Different films are made for different people. I know this review seems to be a little all over the place, but even though I wasn’t blown away by it, that doesn't mean it’s terrible.

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