Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
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SOME SCIENCE LAB — The cerebral sci-fi thriller “Transcendence” opened and while the movie has a lot going for it, it just can’t get its feet under itself.
Here are three reasons “Transcendence” isn’t quite worth your time.
Plot holes
As the movie goes along you find yourself intrigued at moments and you don’t always see the holes along the way. Once the credits roll, however, you start to realize the film has left a minefield behind it.
The ending makes an effort to surprise you, but what really happens is it tends to unravel as it exposes its own problems. Too many instances in the movie just don’t add up and it’s aggravating.
Muddled
The film starts off well and give us some interesting things to think about. It sets up an intriguing story, but it all starts to fall apart as soon as the major plot point hits.
The whole middle section of the film gets so caught up in itself that it starts to abandon key players and acts as if it doesn’t know what to do with itself.
Again, there are moments that seem to recapture your attention, but not long enough to ignore the fact that the plot seemed to get too heavy for its own good.
Boring — at times
Speaking of the middle section of the film, it tends to get boring. There’s nothing wrong with a little setup or even a slow development, but this does neither.
It takes way too long to set up the story and you can feel it. The movie starts off strong and then has a big finish, but in between it’s desperately trying to throw you off its scent and continues to hit you over the head with the same information over and over again.
A few bright spots
Some high points of the film included performances from Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany and Cillian Murphy, who was not given nearly enough material.
The movie also has an interesting premise, but it just never gets off the ground.
“Transcendence” is rated PG-13 and has a 13+ age appropriateness level on OK.com.