Writer: Jason Stone, Andrew C Erin (Screenplay)
Starring: Stefanie Scott, Theodore Pellerin, Said Taghmaoui, Percy Hynes White, Kate Burton, Janet-Laine Green
Plot: Alex is floating unconscious in a lake when light from a UFO of light saves her by enhancing her abilities such as telekinesis and healing power. Her friend Sean helps her. The authorities want her – not just for stealing a police car.
Tagline – Where the light ends, the human journey begins.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Never Really Gets Going
Story: At First Light starts as we meet teenager Sean (Pellerin) who looks after his little brother Oscar (White), while caring for his grandma (Green), he outlets are a party with friends, where he often wonders what could have been with Alex (Scott).
This latest night Alex finds herself unconscious in a waterhole, not remember anything about herself, she calls Sean and with her new abilities, the two go on the run to try and figure out what has happened to her, with scientists trying to track her down.
Thoughts on At First Light
Characters – Alex is a girl from town that at a party ends up unconscious in the local reservoir, waking up she doesn’t remember a thing, left with just a phone number, she looks for help from Sean, only to learn of new abilities that she has acquired, which are used to try and escape threats that come their way. Sean has been caring for his bother and grandmother, he is almost getting to the stage where he is going to accept, he doesn’t have much of a future, with his long term crush Alex moving further away from him. He ends up helping her after her incident, going on the run with her risking everything to try and save her. Cal is a stranger that offers the two help with their journey to escape, he fills in most of the blanks more than anything. We do meet most of the people trying to stop the pair, be it friends, family or scientists along the way.
Performances – Stefanie Scott and Theodore Pellerin both do what they can with their roles, they are great with the running way aspect of the story, but don’t get enough to work with when the sci-fi elements come to life. Said Taghmaoui is fun as the one that needs to fill in the gaps, only we don’t see enough of him.
Story – The story here follows two old friends that go on the run after an incident which could change the world as they look to uncover the truth. This is a story that is very ambitious one that doesn’t seem to give enough away along the way, which does disappoint by the end of the story. The whole running away between two old friends and potential lovers is the strongest part of the film, when it comes to the science, nothing really gets going, with more questions than answers by the end. It does also highlight the poverty line, with anything being about hope, which is shown well.
Sci-Fi – The sci-fi side of the film is kept away from us for large parts of the film, it is key to everything happening, though we don’t learn everything that we could have seen.
Settings – The settings show us how close to the poverty line the family is and how going on the run is only going to help the two look for answers.
Special Effects – The effects in the film are solid for when they are used, only they aren’t used enough for what is being planned.
Scene of the Movie – The closing.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – We don’t get deep enough into the sci-fi of the film.
Final Thoughts – This is a sci-fi film filled with ambition, only it doesn’t unlock everything enough, which only disappoints us by the end.
Overall: Disappoints.