Review of The Congress (2013) by Billy B — 06 Dec 2014

'The Congress' at first amazes with its ambitious and imaginative yet grounded story-line complimented by some strong dialogue and acting displays. It was doing what sci-fi films do best which is to have a futuristic concept interact and conflict with deep emotions while also conveying a sense that it could become reality (i.

E. technology replacing real actors). However, it loses control of the steering wheel and suffers a steep decline in quality once the animation parts begin. Though potentially considered artistic in its own right, these scenes transform 'The Congress' into a mess as it moves between random events in a convuluted plot structure.

Its differences to the opening live-action transcend the obvious contrast in presentation so much so that I became unsure whether its even attached to the same storyline. It turned into a real bore, effectively making the introductory half hour obsolete.

'The Congress' joins 'Interstellar' and 'Lucy' as another sci-fi project which aims for the heights of complexity in order to dazzle audiences but like Icarus instead ends up catching fire.

It has undeniable creativity and it is pleasing to see hollywood are encouraging these types of ideas but perhaps firm direction from the guys "upstairs" still wouldn't go amiss since this one, especially after a promising beginning, clearly lost its way.