Review of Upside Down (2012) by Satchl H — 19 Dec 2012

Let's start out with the two leads. Kirsten Dunst is in her prime, as an actress, especially having survived playing the lead in a Lars von Trier film. In this film she seems bored. Literally, you can see it - Dunst is bored surrounded by green screens on a sound stage. Jim Sturgess however, seems to be having a lot of fun and brings his loveable character to life in every way possible. He was the only reason I watched the film to the end.

What we have here is an original idea on the surface but every concept within the original idea has been explored before and much better. Upside Down is nothing more than Gattaca meets Romeo & Juliet with unforgivably bad special effects.

Of course the film, because the screenplay is original, didn't stand a chance to be brought to life by a studio with their endless resources, so being a high-concept sci-fi, it's going to lack great special effects. That would have been understandable but this... this is just plain annoying to watch.

Sturgess is giving it his all, Dunst is bored and the film looks like it's trying to be a J.J. Abrams film (over-use of lens flares included) on what I assume was a tiny budget. Bottom line: it's too annoying to look at to fall in-love with.