The Anomaly

😂

Noel Clarke thinks he's Will Smith, turns out he isn't. This is a poor, predictable, sci-fi romp which appears to be an excuse for Noel to be the tough but sensitive guy at every opportunity. All the major plot lines are here; convenient snippets of information learned by the 'hero' through the film, dead wife (for no apparent reason), acts a tough guy while on a mission to save a child, the only woman to appear more than once falls in love with him, last minute twist, it just goes on and on, and on.......*yawn* You can't help but think that Noel had to direct the film too because no-one but Noel could make Noel such a hero.

Your body is under control of someone or something, and you have less than 10 minutes every few days to figure out what's going on. After your 10 minutes are up, you go to sleep and your body goes back to its nefarious activities, of which you have no memory. The main character experiences a lot of lost time, but he makes the most of his 10 minute episodes of awareness to try to regain control of the situation. The fight scenes are reasonably entertaining and in the context of the film unavoidable when the main character's associates realize he's having an "episode". The setup is classic Jekyll and Hyde, the twist being that the alternate villain persona is in control most of the time - this makes the puzzle solving far more urgent. Overall an enjoyable film, if a little predictable in the 2nd half.

After seeing the movie and reading the reviews I can say that some comments are fair to this film. The premise is very much lifted from Total Recall and Memento with an amnesiac finding out who he is and why he's in the locations he wakes up in. The movie really falls apart as it really should have been produced on a much bigger budget. Doing this on a small budget results in little sets, sparse actors & extras plus limited CGI. This results in the audience being constantly underwhelmed by scenarios and situations that should really be a wow factor. Fight scenes for example seem to be there mostly to fill time and are slowed down for supposed effect but really they show just poor choreography.Noel is not actually a very good actor to be fair so this is more a vanity project as another reviewer pointed out. The ending of the movie was very trite and clumsy but to be honest, a lot of the movie was that. To summarise, a big budget movie done on a small budget results in the feeling of being let down.

Overall the premise of the film is very good, but this film raise so many questions for me, which were left unanswered at the end: What is happening with Alex? Why was he kidnapped? What kind of experiment is being performed on our protagonist, and who did he take over during his lapses? And why did it seem he was traveling around the globe? I am happy to see a film which is not following the usual Hollywood recipe, and made me think. The film reminded me on 'Memento' and at times I saw hints of 'Buried', both films I enjoyed very much. As such I can only recommend this film to people who like the 'not so Hollywood' recipe film.

The central idea of Anomaly is a familiar one to recent science fiction fans, as well as fans of the Jason Bourne series. That wouldn't particularly matter if The Anomaly had its own sense of identity or style. It does not. The idea for films like this is to create a sense of mystery. Initially the film succeeds in doing this, but after some poor dialogue and clumsy info-dumps I suspect that most viewers will stop caring what the film is about. There is no sense of tension and, ironically, the ticking clock that the narrative needs is missing. some of the performances are below par and The Anomaly feels like a vanity project for Noel Clarke, who casts himself as the hero and directs.

First of all: This is not Matrix and it hasn't quite near the budget. But! that doesn't matter! It's a very well-done Sci-Fi-Movie with a really cool story. In the first part you're like what the hell is going on. I was really surprised how purely this movie is rated in this data base. So i read some Reviews from users who said it is about average and the main critic they have is poor acting and poor fights. I can't agree. The fight-style is somewhat strange street-fighting, but absolutely OK. The actors are good. And the story is awesome. Yeah, there might be a time near the end of the movie when i thought OK now we could make a better step, but overall "The Anomaly" is pretty good. It's much like Matrix, but more atmosphere like in Equilibrium. Both movies are better than this one but slightly. You have to see that this is still a low-budget film and for that it's great! Don't expect perfection, but i absolutely enjoyed this Sci-Fi-Puzzle!

Low budget but a twisty story that kept me interested. Quite a few sci fi tropes here - hooker with a heart, hero without memory etc but some others that felt if not original, then at least welcome and not out of place. Acting is not as bad as some reviews suggest. Effects are pretty good for the budget - not intrusive and quite subtle in moments. The first 20 minutes or so are quite jarring but persevere and you'll be rewarded. Soundtrack is odd - but you get used to it and it oddly fits the mood of the movie. Fight scenes could be better - you don't really feel the impact despite the slowmo so they come across as a bit fake. That said - they could be worse. Matrix did it better though. Grab a beer or 2 and watch with a friend who is willing to enjoy a neat little sci-fi movie without being too much of a cynic.

OK, firstly this Movie needed to have a massive budget for what is was trying to be but Noel Clarke made it anyway on a shoe string. I'm glad that he did. What we get is a great storyline, great acting, great action and a great ending. What more could you want from A Movie ? I'll agree that a bigger budget could have given us a better visual experience and more known actors, but what we got entertained and that's what Movies are all about. I loved this Movie. I think Clarke did a great job with what he had to work with. Someone is going to give this guy a budget one day and what we will get will be incredible, but until then he will continue to please us with what he has to work with. Well done Noel Clarke. You always try to be different and original. One day they will give you a break and see you for the Talent that you are. Until then please keep The Movies Coming.

With two hours to kill until meeting a friend, I decided to catch this film. Granted I didn't read any reviews nor did I know what the movie was about. But hey it was starting in 5 minutes and Ian Somerhalder was on the advert so I assumed he was the lead....I was wrong.... Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. 10 minutes into the film I realised it wasn't a comical parody of a sci-fi movie. Nope...this was actually a serious film. Assuming this was a low budget film, I can completely accept the low- budget special effects. I really can. Harder to forgive however is the acting, nonsensical plot (assuming there was one) total lack of direction and the use of every stereotype in the book (kind but troubled prostitute, Russian gangsters, cute kid with messy hair, etc). And this was only the first 20 minutes! But the acting...oh the acting. The half of the audience that hadn't left were trying to contain their laughter. The hero of the film genuinely looked confused and I assumed it was because likely he had no idea what was going on during the shoot. Until I got home, looked up the credits and realised he directed the thing! Rarely is a film so bad that I have to walk out. In fact I think it has only happened twice in my almost 40 years. However, 20 minutes into it I vividly recall telling myself - life is just too short, before leaving. Sadly this was just as Ian Somerhalder made a proper appearance but by then I had given up. I can only hope he managed to salvage something of the film - but my hunch tells me otherwise.