• Home
  • Movie News
  • Movie Trailers
  • Reviews
    • Cinema Reviews
    • Home Entertainment Reviews
      • Blu-ray Review
      • DVD Review
  • Competitions
  • Features
    • Interview

Movie Muser

Have your say about cinema

The Anomaly (EIFF Review) – Noel Clarke has consciousness problems

14th July 2014 By Tim Isaac


Soldier Ryan wakes up in the back of a van with no recollection of how he got there and an imprisoned young boy beside him. He soon learns he was one of the boy’s abductors, before promptly passing out and waking up somewhere else with equal lack of memory of the intervening time. Realising he has only limited conscious time each time he awakes, he must figure out what’s going on before the blackouts consume him permanently.

While it’s an intriguing setup to have the hero granted only a small amount time to unravel each chunk of a mystery as it’s presented to him, it’s unfortunately also really the only interesting thing about the film, and aside from this stylistic gimmick the story itself isn’t all that engaging. To counter the generic narrative, each time Ryan awakes he often finds himself in a situation requiring him to punch his way out, be it involving corrupt government agents, ruthless Russian gangsters or Ian Somerhalder’s primary antagonist, Harkin, whose continued presence in many settings becomes an important plot detail.

Noel Clarke acquits himself well in the acting aspect, although his directorial style still leaves a little to be desired, principally regarding the numerous fight scenes. They frequently lurch from normal speed into slow-motion circular tracking shots as though Bullet Time hadn’t been overexposed into oblivion a decade ago, while the deceleration also makes it easier to pick out lapses in the combat’s choreography. The sci-fi setting is rendered through standard props like translucent plastic electronics and shiny visual interfaces, giving us a near-future setting that’s functional but nonspecific.

The rest of the cast are merely required to flit in and out of the story as required. Alexis Knapp as implausibly glamorous and gorgeous prostitute Dana is certainly eye-catching enough, but basically functions as a walking plot device; Somerhalder has little to do other than smoulder evilly and provide chucks of exposition; and Brian Cox remains criminally underused with barely ten minutes of screen time.

The story is more than a little reminiscent of Quantum Leap (hero wakes up in a strange place and must swiftly adapt to the temporal displacement) and Memento (protagonist struggling to figure out his past actions), but has neither the depth of the former nor the intricacy of the latter, and as a result barely has enough mystery to keep you watching.

Overall Verdict: A high-concept premise that is eventually revealed to have potential real-world ramifications, there a good film to be made from The Anomaly’s central concept. Unfortunately, The Anomaly is not it.

Reviewer: Andrew Marshall

Related

CHECK OUT THESE RELATED ARCHIVES:

Filed Under: Cinema Reviews

Search this site…

Get Social

RSSTwitterFacebook

Get new posts by e-mail

Get the latest in our daily e-mail

Latest Cinema & Home Ent. Reviews

Mortal Engines (Cinema Review)

Anna and the Apocalypse (Cinema Review)

Suspiria (Cinema Review)

Overlord (Cinema Review)

King of Thieves (Cinema Review)

Isle of Dogs (DVD Review)

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Cinema Review)

Tomb Raider (Blu-ray Review)

The Bridge 4 (DVD Review)

My Friend Dahmer (Cinema Review)

Latest News & Trailers

Detective Pikachu Trailer – Pokemon is going live action with Ryan Reynolds

Toy Story 4 Teaser Trailer – Woody & the gang are coming back once more

Aladdin Teaser Trailer – Guy Ritchie directs Disney’s latest live-action adaptation

New Glass Trailer – The worlds of Unbreakable and Split meet

Aquaman Extended Trailer – Jason Momoa goes to war under the seas against Patrick Wilson

New Overlord Trailer – Soldiers take on Nazi-created zombies in the JJ Abrams produced movie

The Mule Trailer – Clint Eastwood is an octogenarian drug runner opposite Bradley Cooper

Vice Trailer – Christian Bale transforms into former Vice President Dick Cheney

Mary Queen of Scots Trailer – Saoirse Ronan & Margot Robbie get Elizabethan

New Mortal Engines Trailer – London is literally on the move in the steampunk fantasy

Handpicked MediaHandpicked MediaCopyright © 2025 Muser Media · Powered by WordPress & Genesis Framework · Log in
Movie Muser is a member of The Handpicked Media network

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT