Russian Sci-Fi horror, a directing debut for visual effects guy Nikita Argunov, has a thousand-and-one imaginative ideas. About nine-hundred and eighty-three more than it needs. We wake to a dystopian dream world built from the collective memories of ‘brain-dead’ coma victims who disintegrate if they die back in the real world. But in this alternate landscape without gravity-bound physical laws or boundaries, death comes in the form of ectoplasmic zombie-like creatures. Stay away from them, create something new, and perhaps there’s a life to be lived in this Brave New World . . . or something like that. It’s not exactly written up for us. There’s a decent cool factor in the look of the thing for a while, but the characters don’t make much of a mark and the guerilla-like military tactics by our motley group of survivors are all flash, bash & crash, without a sense of cause & effect to build rooting interest in the stakes. Anyway, if they’re all ‘brain-dead,’ how can they have these memories to build on? Or is mankind’s collective memory really just sitting in the slush pile of rejected projects over at Christopher Nolan’s office. ZOMBIE INCEPTION, anyone? The real threat comes in a final shot that suggests a possible sequel.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Our leading-man/coma victim is an architect who can conjure up walls, buildings & bridges simply by thinking about the structure. No Frank Gehry, he comes up with spindly facades fit for a tween’s gargantuan dollhouse.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: Not a fan of INCEPTION /’10? Try Japanese anime PAPRIKA/’06, uneven but worth a look. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2020/02/paprika-2006.html
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