High on budget, but low on ideas and talent...
Returner could have been much better. The plot is a mix of a least 10 classics of science-fi and action, it's mainly Terminator meets ET, with Matrix and MI2 action style. There are few original ideas, and too many copies taken from famous movies. Still, with some good directing and actors, it could be a good brain washer for the end of the week. But sadly, it's not really.
Where is the problem ? Well, it's not that easy to say. It seems that nothing is really working in Returner. It's not that bad, but it's not working. The music doesn't seem to fit with the images, the actors doesn't seem to fit with the characters, every part seems to be on its own and not working with the other ones. The main problem is clearly the lack of rythm, all the action scenes seem to be like when you just wake up: sound is not clear, image is not clear, you move slowly. That's the same here, when it should rock and roll all the time. But the 2 hours seem so long and with very few points of interest.
Finally, you watch Returner just like you would watch a B-movie on TV on a Friday night because it's funny to find the influences and you want to know if they will kiss at the end. But would you want to pay 20$ for this kind of movie ? Certainly not, it just lacks talent and skills. And they don't even kiss. Yikes...
