Cargo

This is one of these cases where form supercedes content. The space scenes as well as the insides of the cargo ship are at times impressive. The story, however, becomes predictable although it is far from insignificant. I think this movie is greatly underrated. Give it a try.

I was intrigued by Cargo after seeing the trailer on YouTube and so I purchased the DVD.

What I really liked about this film is the mood. It felt like a mix between Bladerunner and Alien. You can almost feel the cold chilling your bones when the lead character, Doctor Laura Portmann, first ventures down to the spaceship's dank cargo hold. You can also relate to her loneliness as she fights boredom while on watch duty as the rest of the crew sleeps in a cryogenic chamber. There's a grim atmosphere throughout the movie that appealed to me very much.

The story is unfortunately not quite as strong as the visuals but it's a mildly intriguing mystery that keeps you guessing nonetheless. (unlike another reviewer, I won't spoil the plot twist even though it's a tad predictable.)

The weak aspects of the film are the action scenes. The director is obviously very skilled at mood and shooting visually stunning sequences but when it comes to confrontation and gun play, somehow it all seems too staged and those scenes have very little impact. However, these sequences are few and far between so they don't detract too much from the story's eerie, slow-paced flow.

The acting is okay if not a little lifeless. Then again, the crew are on an 8-year trip inside a depressing spaceship so you can't expect them to be all chirpy.

By default, the DVD plays the dubbed version in English, which is pretty bad. You'll enjoy this film a lot more if you watch it in German with English subtitles.

*** 1/2 stars.

The reviews and opinions on the cover is what got me to watch this mvoie. "It's a great sci-fi" and other similar quotes. The idea itself is interesting but could be further explored with more details and better history of what happend to Earth.

The main character, a woman, takes a job on a cargo ship after which she will have enough money to travel to a new planet where people began to live since Earth is not habitable anymore. However, the cargo on the ship turns out to be something other than just boxes and the planet to which she's trying to get doesn't really exist because it's a simulation - government is trying to cover things up.

The movie is filmed as though w/out color or human emotion or good music. The main actors just seem to be frozen and it's a cold atmosphere and the colors are always grey. I thought this was not necessary - some life would bring this movie up a few points. As well, the pace of the movie was fine but sometimes it was just a bit boring to watch and i felt like skipping towards the end just to find out what happened. I love Blade Runner and even though a good number of my friends find it boring, i absolutely do not - but this movie got a bit dull after a while.

This would be an okay rental but not to own in your library.