I finally got around to watching this excuse for a Nicolas Cage film, courtesy of RedBox DVD rentals. It was my first time using Redbox as well, which experience was smoother and more professional than the movie presentation, but this being a blog about science fiction and not about automated retail merchandising, suffice it to say that Redbox was easy to use, simple to use, completely inexpensive (if it took real money instead of plastic, most kids could scrounge up the rental fee off the street in about an hour - which presents occupation possibilities for parents who are being bothered by their kids) and about the only drawback was the lack of selection. I can envision a row of RedBoxes somewhere that addresses that: one for classics, one for SF, one for indie films...
Anyway.
Another draw back for Redbox is that it does only cost a dollar (as long as you return the DVD in time), so after watching a bomb I have little to really complain about. It's like spending a penny on a piece of bubblegum that turns out to be stale. Yes, stale bubblegum sucks, but the upset and expense is absolutely not worth the few calories you'd burn hopping up and down over it.
I'll only be giving you all a dollars worth of review as well.
Cage's acting was pretty good. Some of the special effects were effectively creepy. Music was a bit overblown but mostly appropriate.
SPOILER ALERT. Macabre horror flick morphs briefly into science fiction - slash- mega-disaster flick turns unconvincingly into angels-are-really-space-aliens-here-to-save-us-from-childhood's end.
I couldn't run screaming - I was sitting in my own living room, helpless to avoid the Von Daniken express as it morphed into a rip off of Arthur C Clarke's wonderful novel.
The ending aptly demonstrated that the filmmakers have no balls - they turned Clarke's devils into angels, betting that the audience would be emotionally incapable of dealing with that concept.
Knowing - a total waste, unless you only spend a dollar. And even then - Childhood's End is available at ABE for a dollar plus shipping and that's a MUCH better deal.
