Review of Zoom (2006) by John K — 12 May 2014

This film had potential, but it feels like something that was re-written halfway through production. For instance, the film starts by showing the 4 kids before they go to the "audition", so it's pretty obvious that they'll be the ones who get accepted; I'm guessing that the earlier scenes were added in later. Similarly, the voiceover at the start gives the history of the team, so it's not really a surprise to the audience when Zoom reveals it later; that sort of works, because it's new to the characters, but it doesn't quite fit.

When Marsha first turned up, she deliberately walked in front of a car, implying that she wanted Zoom to rush over and save her. I suspect that in an earlier draft of the film he was lying about losing his powers, so she was trying to catch him out, but it doesn't really work with this version when he genuinely couldn't use them.

I felt sorry for Dr Grant, since the kids made him suffer for no good reason; bear in mind that the "outdoor simulation" was designed for people with superpowers, which he didn't have, so dropping boulders on his head was dangerous. I'd be willing to write that off as slapstick humour or cartoon physics, but that doesn't really fit with the more serious elements of the plot (i.e. Concussion killing his teammates).

Most of the film is effectively a montage, with lots of small scenes stuck together. That's ok, but we didn't really need the "best clips of the last hour": my memory isn't that short! Being cynical, I wondered whether they were trying to fit in as many songs as possible for the soundtrack album.

Still, the cast did their best with the material, and there were some funny scenes, along with one development that I didn't expect.