The Beyond (2017)
Context is everything when it comes to mockumentaries, and it's often something they seem to get fundamentally wrong. The Beyond is no exception; this boring, uninspired mockumentary prioritises special effects over an engaging narrative and seemingly only uses the mockumentary style to save money.
I only love one thing more than a good sci-fi; a low budget one. There's something about the untapped potential in low budget sci-fi movies like Coherence and Circle. Sure their production value is low, but their narratives are often mind bending and intriguing, offering an enjoyable time. The Beyond, while trying to have an intriguing narrative, falls short due to its unimaginably slow pacing and uninteresting plot.
The Beyond is about a mysterious "Void" that appears in space all of a sudden. It has claimed the life of one astronaut, and threatens (or so we believe) the lives of everyone else on earth. It is up to some brilliant scientists at Space Agency to figure a way into the "Void" and find out what these pesky invaders want. If this sounds at all familiar it might be because you went to the cinema in 2016 to see Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi film Arrival. And if you did then you have no reason to watch this. The Beyond is uninspired to say the least, and its only creative and potentially redeeming feature, the mockumentary style, feels out of place and cheap.
The mockumentary style only really works if you have the right context; by that I mean the film has to make sense, not necessarily in plot (a "Void" will certainly never actually appear, right?) but it must feel like a real documentary, and there must be a realistic reason for its existence. Let me elaborate. At the beginning of the film we are treated to the reasoning behind why this documentary is being filmed. One of the characters explains that it is being filmed to give an insight into how some of the higher-ups live. This, it turns out, is not the reasoning for the documentary's existence as the film then focuses on the "Void", each of the films' characters giving explicit and sensitive information about it and the project to reach it. My big question is WHY? The issue is that there is no segue between being a documentary about the lives of the companies employees, and then it being a documentary about the "Void". Furthermore, the whole time watching the film I just couldn't understand why anyone was giving away this information, or indeed why this documentary was being made. Characters would stop to explain to the camera why things were happening in moments of crisis. But why? Surely all of this information is top secret and not for public consumption? And even if it is just for the employees then why make a movie-like documentary, why structure it like a film? And sure the film documents the events of this top secret project, but I just can't understand why, or at least not in the context of this film. If the film had opened up on them explaining they were documenting the process, then we'd be all fine and dandy; but instead it gives a reason that it doesn't stick too. Make up your mind! Please.
Now I've finished my rant I can be a little more professional. This film is uninteresting for many reasons. For one the subject matter is simply not tantalising enough. The premise of the film is not that mysterious forces have invaded space, but the process of getting a human into the "Void". Denis Villeneuve's Arrival is interesting because it does focus on the ins and outs of politics in a crisis such as The Beyond presents. But The Beyond does not focus on the politics, instead focusing on the practicality of getting a human astronaut into a wormhole. But this doesn't make for very entertaining cinema, no matter how cool of a design the astronauts suit is. In fact, the film concludes with a far more interesting plot, the revelation of what the aliens are doing there, and the introduction of a second earth. However, these elements are only touched on during the last twenty minutes, and the same information, we've heard many times before, is repeated taking up much of that twenty minutes. Arrival worked because it used the situation to build tension, whereas The Beyond often fails to remind you of the overwhelming threat its characters are so desperately trying to solve.
The upside of this film is that the visuals are nice, and this is really the only reason I watched it. Clearly, a lot of care and attention went into the making of this film, and its clear that director/writer Hasraf Dulull (2036 Origin Unknown) has a passion for visual effects and sci-fi. It's just such a shame that an interesting narrative didn't go along side these visuals. It's also a shame that these visuals alone aren't worth watching the movie for. They may intrigue you momentarily, but you'll soon realise that looking at a still from the film is just as interesting.
At the end of the day, both The Beyond and Arrival are on Netflix (the platform I watched it on). Between the two, you're better off watching Arrival, and if you've already seen it, then you really do not need to watch The Beyond. It's bland and fails to inspire any sense of intrigue in me. Despite its short run time, it felt like two to three hours, which is unfortunate to say the least. I'm sure Hasraf Dulull will produce something in the future that will captivate me, and I'll positively rave about like I have with Circle or Coherence, but for now, The Beyond is another movie I'll forget and I'm glad I will.
2/10
I only love one thing more than a good sci-fi; a low budget one. There's something about the untapped potential in low budget sci-fi movies like Coherence and Circle. Sure their production value is low, but their narratives are often mind bending and intriguing, offering an enjoyable time. The Beyond, while trying to have an intriguing narrative, falls short due to its unimaginably slow pacing and uninteresting plot.
The Beyond is about a mysterious "Void" that appears in space all of a sudden. It has claimed the life of one astronaut, and threatens (or so we believe) the lives of everyone else on earth. It is up to some brilliant scientists at Space Agency to figure a way into the "Void" and find out what these pesky invaders want. If this sounds at all familiar it might be because you went to the cinema in 2016 to see Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi film Arrival. And if you did then you have no reason to watch this. The Beyond is uninspired to say the least, and its only creative and potentially redeeming feature, the mockumentary style, feels out of place and cheap.
The mockumentary style only really works if you have the right context; by that I mean the film has to make sense, not necessarily in plot (a "Void" will certainly never actually appear, right?) but it must feel like a real documentary, and there must be a realistic reason for its existence. Let me elaborate. At the beginning of the film we are treated to the reasoning behind why this documentary is being filmed. One of the characters explains that it is being filmed to give an insight into how some of the higher-ups live. This, it turns out, is not the reasoning for the documentary's existence as the film then focuses on the "Void", each of the films' characters giving explicit and sensitive information about it and the project to reach it. My big question is WHY? The issue is that there is no segue between being a documentary about the lives of the companies employees, and then it being a documentary about the "Void". Furthermore, the whole time watching the film I just couldn't understand why anyone was giving away this information, or indeed why this documentary was being made. Characters would stop to explain to the camera why things were happening in moments of crisis. But why? Surely all of this information is top secret and not for public consumption? And even if it is just for the employees then why make a movie-like documentary, why structure it like a film? And sure the film documents the events of this top secret project, but I just can't understand why, or at least not in the context of this film. If the film had opened up on them explaining they were documenting the process, then we'd be all fine and dandy; but instead it gives a reason that it doesn't stick too. Make up your mind! Please.
Now I've finished my rant I can be a little more professional. This film is uninteresting for many reasons. For one the subject matter is simply not tantalising enough. The premise of the film is not that mysterious forces have invaded space, but the process of getting a human into the "Void". Denis Villeneuve's Arrival is interesting because it does focus on the ins and outs of politics in a crisis such as The Beyond presents. But The Beyond does not focus on the politics, instead focusing on the practicality of getting a human astronaut into a wormhole. But this doesn't make for very entertaining cinema, no matter how cool of a design the astronauts suit is. In fact, the film concludes with a far more interesting plot, the revelation of what the aliens are doing there, and the introduction of a second earth. However, these elements are only touched on during the last twenty minutes, and the same information, we've heard many times before, is repeated taking up much of that twenty minutes. Arrival worked because it used the situation to build tension, whereas The Beyond often fails to remind you of the overwhelming threat its characters are so desperately trying to solve.
The upside of this film is that the visuals are nice, and this is really the only reason I watched it. Clearly, a lot of care and attention went into the making of this film, and its clear that director/writer Hasraf Dulull (2036 Origin Unknown) has a passion for visual effects and sci-fi. It's just such a shame that an interesting narrative didn't go along side these visuals. It's also a shame that these visuals alone aren't worth watching the movie for. They may intrigue you momentarily, but you'll soon realise that looking at a still from the film is just as interesting.
At the end of the day, both The Beyond and Arrival are on Netflix (the platform I watched it on). Between the two, you're better off watching Arrival, and if you've already seen it, then you really do not need to watch The Beyond. It's bland and fails to inspire any sense of intrigue in me. Despite its short run time, it felt like two to three hours, which is unfortunate to say the least. I'm sure Hasraf Dulull will produce something in the future that will captivate me, and I'll positively rave about like I have with Circle or Coherence, but for now, The Beyond is another movie I'll forget and I'm glad I will.
2/10
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