Sol Invictus

source: Sol Invictus

Another reviewer said 'It is a cheaply made galactic version of "Lord of the Flies." ,' exactly what I thought half-way through. The story line was pathetic: the Hunger Games meets Stargate. As George Carlin said "just think of how stupid the average person is and then realize that half the population is stupider than that." Who gave this more than 1 star? Bad acting bad direction worse script, my eyes and ears bleed. I can't get past the painful delivery.

This is a movie about a group of several teenage boys who get instantly transported to an alien planet to play some sort of Survival Game. But something goes wrong and most of the boys don't make it to the planet, so toe handful that did get through, though from different teams, are forced to work together to survive and figure out a way to get back to earth. The acting is terrible, the plot is all over the place, and the dialog is annoying to the ears. This is supposed to be a film about teamwork so that the members of the team can survive, but sometimes they kick a kid out of the group because he is humanly flawed, even though in a situation like this, they need every man they have to strengthen their chances of survival. I think this is a really, really bad rip off of Robert Heinlein's "Tunnel in the Sky". Now there would be a movie I would pay to see.

The bots and other reviewers giving it a 1 as is usual these days. Its not one for the ages but the Lord of the Flies overtones are OK in an alternate planet (aka North Carolina).

This is not the greatest SF film of all time but for a near-zero budget it doesn't do that badly. It has plot holes - why, for instance right at the end of the film, would our hero lead the predators away from his friends in an act of noble self-sacrifice when all they had to do was move a few steps nearer the huge light source right in front of them? The predators were scared of the light and were easily kept at bay by the light from a burning branch. Surely the portal with its brazzillion candle power lighting display was a perfectly safe place to be. The acting is variable but I seen far worse. The guys did a fair job delivering a script that could have done with a good tightening up - there's far too much "What are we going to do now?", "I don't know!", "Have YOU got any ideas?" type dialogue. Someone should have gone through and been ruthless with the script, combined and reduced incidents, and then trimmed it again harder and tighter in the editing. But I watched the film the end - which is more than I can say for many recent, far bigger-budgeted Hollywood SF films. Not a bad first directorial showing.

I had not heard of this movie. It is a cheaply made galactic version of "Lord of the Flies." That said, it stands reasonable well on its own. A group of boys find themselves on a planet during a competition among some space cadets. They are somehow dropped into a milieu that is not what they expected. One group is connected and the rest are singles who must prove themselves to the rest. There is a dangerous creature or creatures on the planet, but the real threat is within the group. They are caught between their competitive beings and their wish to escape their prison. The thing reeks of distrust and immaturity (which means that it does hit the mark pretty well). They are incredibly dangerous individuals and babies at the same time. They are selfish and simple, but they are also filed with angst and complexities. My biggest criticism is that we are never able to figure out what the hell they are doing there and what they are trying to accomplish when it comes to getting home. A clear picture of that would have taken it beyond an encounter among a diverse group of flawed figures. Also, I would have liked to know what life on Earth was like at this time.

I was utterly surprised at how poorly this movie was reviewed by some people. Bottom line, this movie had me in its grips from almost the beginning. While perhaps there were a few forced moments in the plot, I really didn't know what was going to happen, and yes, I cared about the characters. I watched this with my 9-year-old son and we both like it. For me there was an appropriate amount of mystery, and I even liked the spareness of the setting, the dialog and the plot. This movie is not about space. It's about PEOPLE.

jbviewer review is suspect because of being a member for 7 yrs & THIS is the movie that was inspiration to write the only review after so many years?!? HORRIBLE acting realized in the first 3 minute, then the characters start spewing jargon about academies, & being captain of some team to get a coin to join some higher order all of which is never explained. The reason for the mistrust is because of the tournament & they've been stranded a an unknown planet & there is not way to get back thru the slip gate. Immediately you realize everyone is missing members from their teams except for one & the race is on to win the tournament at all costs. No trusts each other in part because they teach @ these academies do whatever it takes to win, even if they have to kill the other team members or teams. SO despite the fact the others are likely dead, all the equipment/ supplies didn't make it thru & slip gate isn't working stranding them light years away on an unknown planet to the team members everyone is worried only about winning instead of survival. The dialog through out the film is delivered w/o any convincing emotion by anyone. I kept waiting for KIT to die because of him being so ANNOYING & HAL couldn't have died sooner to keep him from playing his stupid ocarina...this whole thing is just plain horrible.

You all got it wrong, this about trust, friendship and losing and finding friends. Friends you would die for. It takes a great deal of thought to get to this point, cost is not a consideration to this fact. I believe they have accomplished this well, Tyl & Eli did very well in my book. They show the compassion to help other players in life. Just as people today only think about themselves. The point of sharing and giving to others or even just compassion in relationships. In a time in the future that is so much like the world today. it is a little rough.I have imagination to fill in the blanks. Hey had to register for this cuz some want all the glitz and glamor. Sol got it done with less than Hollywood and i believe they did well!

I saw this long long ago, I would love a DVD of this movie. Its raw and unexpected, can you imagine yourself on a planet trying to figure out how to get home before you get killed. Not knowing whats next, running out of supplies and time, on a hostel planet unexplored. I wish I could share this movie!