Portal Runner – Smart Sci-Fi Film
Director: Cornelia Duryee
Writer: Tallis Moore (Screenplay) J.D. Henning (Story)
Starring: Elise Eberle, Brian S Lewis, Denny McAuliffe, Shaunyce Omar, Carol Roscoe, Matt Shimkus, Sloane Morgan Siegel, Roy Luke
Plot: 15 year old Nolan is blessed with the ability to travel to parallel worlds– and cursed to be chased through them by a monstrous Evil. When he gets stuck in a parallel world, with a sister he’s never met, he must make allies and dig deep to destroy the creature– before it destroys him.
Runtime: 1 Hour 12 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Portal Runner starts when Nolan (Siegel) finds himself in a a new world, one where he has a sister Mae (Eberle), something he hasn’t had in the different worlds he has visited through the mirrors. Nolan is on the run from a figure that has been chasing him through each world, using the mirrors to travel, always on his tail.
Nolan must work with his new sister Mae to fight back against the figure chasing him, where the truth about the identity of the figure will be revelled.
Thoughts on Portal Runner
Characters & Performances – Nolan has been running through worlds in an attempt to escape from aa figure, each world always comes off routine to him until he reaches this next one, one that will see him experience a different family dynamic, while watching over his shoulder in fear of what could be coming for him. Sloane Morgan Siegel does give us a performance that will show the paranoia his character is going through, along with the calm of having a chance to be in a new, happy world. Mae is the sister that Nolan learns he has, she has only appeared in this one world, where she is the first person that makes Nolan want to stay in a world, she does start out as the typical older sister before needing to work with Nolan for answers. Elise Eberle does give us the typical teenage girl, before showing a different level to the performance with the different life her character has been through. In the supporting characters we get the popular Uncle Boon who does come off clumsy but caring and the kids mother Klara who is getting tired of the random events the two are getting through.
Story – The story here follows a teenager who has learnt how to travel through mirrors to different realities, in an attempt to stop a figure coming through after him, only to find himself in a picture perfect world, where he finally gets help in his battle against the evil chasing him. This is a smart idea for a sci-fi story, it will show the different dimension of reality that people could have come from, giving us an insight into a life with different outcomes, but making it clear, that Nolan can only stay in each on for a short amount of time. This also gets to play into the Y2K paranoia that surrounded the world, with the choice of time setting being the lead up to Christmas 1999. This is one that will keep us guessing as to what is happening, while giving us an ending that will make sense for the events.
Themes – Portal Runner is a sci-fi film that does give us the idea multiply universes that can be transported through different mirrors, while adding the horror of being chase through them by an unknown dangerous threat. The movie will keep nearly every scene within the home, even if it is through different universes, looking for answers.
Final Thoughts – Portal Runner is a smart engaging sci-fi movie, offering a bigger impact on different dimensions in the universe.