MovieChat Forums > Eternity (2013) Discussion > Review after premiere.

Review after premiere.


I also went to the premiere of Eternity at the Hastings Opera house, as it was great to see locally made movies getting some provincial attention (a portion of the movie was filmed here in Hawkes Bay).

The venue was impressive, the red carpet rolled out, some very nice vintage cars parked out the front.

After a brief welcome from our mayor Lawrence Yule, and the director Alex Galvin, the movie rolled.

From the open credits, I was impressed by the look. The whole film is beautiful. The lighting and camera work are spectacular, and Director of Photography Matthew Sharp has nailed it. The visual effects are subtle, and work well.

Sadly, that is the last real good thing I can say about this film.

I would like to know what was going through the head of whoever cast this movie (there doesn't seem to be a casting director listed in the credits). The majority of the characters are so spectacularly miscast.

Whether it was the poor casting, lack of direction or terrible acting, the main characters failed to garner any empathy from me as they fought their way through the dilema. In the case of Amy Tsang (Lisa Manning, the hero's wife), wooden would be too kind a word, petrified would be more apt in describing the acting. Looking at her resume on IMDB, I see very little experience, and I am dumbfounded as to why such an obvious newcomer would be be cast in such an emotional role, unless they were an absolute sensation.

There were some excellent performances from Geraldine Brophy (naturally), Dean Knowsley (Steve Williams) and Amy Underwood (HelpDesk).... but they were all relegated to mere seconds on camera. They couldn't afford these actors for longer? This was unfortunate for several reasons, one being their good performances highlighted the deficiencies in the other performances, and secondly, went they 'left' the story early on, all the warmth and empathy went too.
I feel for Elliot Travers (playing the lead, Richard Manning) as the story attempted to be emotional, but was poorly written, and instead, he spent most of the time having to explain the relatively difficult plot, rather than being a character I felt for. Exposition is fine if it is done well, but not in droning monologues.

As for the story, I'm sorry, it's been done before. A thousand times. It wasn't a particularly good murder mystery, and it was mediocre science fiction. Combining Conan Doyle with the Matrix doesn't make for a special film. If the film was well written and acted, they might have gotten away with it, however the combination of tired story, poor casting, and poor writing make Eternity a dud. A beautifully shot dud.

3/10

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actually from the inept opening credits, i knew it was going to stink to high hell, and it did. clumsy random editing, flat actors who gave away the presence of the camera...I gave it fifteen minutes and was convinced there was no reason to continue.

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