Deus

If you love sci-fi like I do you will probably enjoy this movie. The actors are not going to win any Oscars but that is par for the course with sci-fi. The story is original enough to keep your attention unless sci-fi is not your kind of movie.

The special effects are mostly done well, a few scenes (like in an elevator) look like they were filmed in front of a green screen but the rest is done pretty well. Some scenes could have been done better but overall this movie is good for a single viewing.

The writing was good but it could have been better, things like gravity are mostly ignored in this movie. This is a mystery movie and by the end you will know everything that happened, viewers are not left guessing for the most part.

This is another entry in the "let's rid Earth of people we hate" space missions. A crew is shot into space to investigate a mysterious sphere.

The characters are obnoxious, offensive, and tedious. Three of the crew (a woman and two men) freak out when answers aren't immediately forthcoming even before they approach their destination. If they received any training at all, it was on the order of a two hour seminar at DeVry. There isn't one relatable character, which eliminates any chance of tension or engagement with the proceedings.

The acting is terrible, but whether that is due to the failings of actor or script is unclear. The dialog is largely superfluous, adding little or nothing to the story. Before they reach the sphere one character sagely says, in about a thousand words, "we have find out what the sphere is". Well, duh! That's the point of entire mission. Perhaps that dude on the ground should have briefed them before launching them into space. Then again, only one guy on earth is interested in their progress, and his instructions are basically: keep going.

They saved a lot of money by not having a lighting budget. The spaceship has about five watts of lighting for some reason. Everyone stumbles around in the dark.

I won't spoil the "thrilling" conclusion to the mystery. But suffice it to say you won't care one way or the other.

Three stars only because I didn't turn it off. Everything else adds a grand total of zero stars. Which puts it two stars above the horrendous Rings of Power, fake reviews notwithstanding. Three stars.

I came upon this almost by accident and rolled my eyes at it till I saw Claudia black who has some credibility, listed in the cast. She does a good job with the material and gives a great performance throughout. Her performance gives her character some depth which in truth, the screenplay seems to miss somewhat, but she can't singlehandedly carry this one off. The script needs another once over with a fresh pair of eyes if I'm honest, as much of the dialogue is like something out of a comic book, cliched, meaningless and stilted.

The story is a reasonably good one if a little predictable, but the premise is sound. However there simply isn't enough going on to keep the interest focused, and the lengthy scenes and uneventful screenplay lend little to maintain interest.

The special effects, CGI are all decent, nothing to write home about, but they don't let the movie down the way the script and story line do. I'm always a little sceptical when the writer and director are the same individual since what is perceived in creation isn't always the best way to flesh it out on film, and here my concerns are warranted. One or the other is my rule of thumb and rarely does it bode well for a creation with a single person doing both.

I think much of the films forced ambiance are due to a lacking in direction, and some of the characters are way off base. 'Grey' and 'Sen' played by Black and Blackwood are a constant source of contention with no clear command structure seemingly in place. Its an odd way to spin a relationship in space with a mission of such importance, and it neither works here nor rings true. There are other weird glitches throughout the movie and it serves only to kink the smooth flow of events as they unfold on-screen. I found it most disconcerting.

Blackwood delivers the whole compliment of his lines through clenched teeth as though he's stemming the overflow of some long held rage with great difficulty. His stiff, stoic delivery makes him stand out as the weak talent in this cast of less than ten people. Again I think this is more due to bad direction rather than a failing of his talent, but irrespective, the movie suffers as a result. David O'hara by contrast plays his character to a 'T' and the other cast members with more minor roles are accomplished enough, but forgettable.

On the whole it's not too bad, but there just isn't enough going on here to bring off the story, and some of the cliched developments really do it a disservice.

I think 5 is an honest and fair score, for what is at best, a 'watchable' movie. Its not a big production so I don't want to be overly critical knowing it couldn't have been an easy one to produce, but I think the scant flesh on the carcass of this one is its big problem. It really needed some fleshing out before being served up to feast.

You can tell newb writer and director Steve Stone's inexperience was evident in this film, especially failing to direct his cast properly. Even Claudia Black looked lost in some scenes, and Richard Blackwood as the commander was just horrible and unconvincing in every scene, not to mention annoying. His demeanor, (lack of) facial expressions and body language, tone of voice and dialogue was just all wrong.

Conceptually the story was interesting, but it suffered plot and technical issues, and the slow pacing with many long dragged out and unnecessary scenes made the normally comfortable 90 min runtime feel much longer. It needed more story to fill in the time, or cut down to a short film. Much of the dialogue felt very amateurish, especially the AI, and writing could've used more suspense and action instead of constant cam views and cheesy cheap random shots.

The visuals however were decent for a low budget B film, and the score was excellent, especially for a B film, where the score is usually too loud, constant, annoying and unfitting.

As a huge sci-fi fan, I still enjoyed it, as I've seen much worse, and seeing it through till the end says a lot. For a low budget B film from a newb filmmaker, I'd say it's a decent one-time watch if you're a sci-fi fan. Had the actors been better cast and/or directed, this film would've been much better. Still, a generous 6/10 from me.

The first half of the film is definitely a chore to watch but it does get somewhat better in the second half.

The main things about Deus that suck include most of the dialog, some of the actors, some of the set design (for example: hexagon shaped doors), and the terrible accent for the computer AI. Also, the ending felt a little abrupt.

The graphics are pretty good and the story itself isn't terrible.

Claudia Black is, of course, the films saving grace.

Considering how awful most low budget movies have been lately, this one is entertaining.

If you can manage the first half, it turns out to not be a waste of time.