Deus (2022)

Deus (2022). Deus: Directed by Steve Stone. With Claudia Black, Richard Blackwood, Phil Davis, Lisa Eichhorn. A mysterious black sphere is discovered in the orbit of Mars. The Achilles is sent to investigate. After the bedraggled six-person crew wake from eight months hibernation, the Sphere is transmitting a single word in every Earth language ever known – Deus.

“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. The script needs another once over with a fresh pair of eyes if Iu0026#39;m honest as much of the dialogue is like something out of a comic book, cliched, meaningless and stilted.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe story is a reasonably good one if a little predictable, but the premise is a good one. However there simply isnu0026#39;t enough going on to keep the interest focused, and the lengthy scenes and uneventful screenplay lend little to maintain interest.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe special effects, CGI are all decent, nothing to write home about, but they donu0026#39;t let the move down the way the script and story line do. Iu0026#39;m always a little sceptical when the writer and director are the same individual since what is perceived in there creation isnu0026#39;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 both.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI think much of the films forced ambiance are due to a lacking in direction, and some of the characters are way off base. u0026#39;Greyu0026#39; and u0026#39;Senu0026#39; 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 move and it serve to kink the smooth flow of events as they unfold on-screen. I found it most disconcerting.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBlackwood delivers the whole compliment of his lines through clenched teeth as though heu0026#39;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 Ou0026#39;hara by contrast plays his character to a u0026#39;Tu0026#39; and the other cast members with more minor roles are accomplished enough, but forgettable.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOn the whole itu0026#39;s not too bad, but there just isnu0026#39;t enough going on here to bring off the story, and some of the cliched developments really do it a disservice.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI think 5 is an honest and fair score, for what is at best, a u0026#39;watchableu0026#39; movie. Its not a big production so I donu0026#39;t want to be overly critical knowing it couldnu0026#39;t have been an easy one to produce, but I think the scant flesh on the carcass of this one is its big problem. I really needed some fleshing out before being served up to feast.”