I think there was a ton of dropped potential here or (more likely) hard science fiction dropped in favor of making a typical average action movie. They never came out and said it, but it was heavily implied that the actions in the current day had no lasting effect on the future (the stupid paradox side comment somewhat conflicts with this). To me that basically suggests that they were using the infinite quantum time line reality model and the wormhole was just a specific bridge between two threads. This would presume that the future timeline leaders knew they were fucked from the outset and were simply trying to make a timeline where the aliens did not obliterate earth, presumably to move their survivors to once the toxin had been made. Thus nothing done in the future or past had any impact on the other timeline and it was more about using the fucked up timeline as a research space for working out the Toxin. Seems obvious to me that was where they were headed, but all that shit got left on the re-write floor because somewhere they decided to make a Michael Bay style movie.
They had a good angle with the PTSD thing and the nihilism, but they chickened out. The fact that the director redid the entire third act confirms that for me. The third act was not terrible on its face, but it conflicted so starkly with the rest of the movie. I don't even especially care about the idiocy of sending untrained middle age people with shitty guns into the future. It is pretty clear they were being sent in to meat grinder it out for the toxin. But all of that could have been handled much better than it was.
B+ Acting, B- Idea, D- on execution. If I was the original writer and what I think happened did, I would be pissed at the director. They had a solid foundation for a good story and decent actors. The director just took the lazy way out.
A lot of the nitpicking here reminds me of Star Wars story Mark Hamill tells about Harrison Ford talking to him about his complaining about a potential continuity error "Hey kid" Ford said, "it aint that kind of movie. If they're looking at your hair, we're in big trouble." PTSD and Nihilism? Did you start this thinking it was The Deer Hunter? This isn't even "The Thing". This ain't that kind of movie.
- The time travel rules for *this movie* state they don't take people alive in 2050-whatever and they didn't sent back people alive in 2022. So what? That's the rules they state for this movie. As long as they don't break their own rules, that's fine. They did enough TT explaining.
-They didn't know where in Russia, they just figured it started in Russia because Russia went black first, IIRC. So until they figured out they were already there and dug out, they had no idea where to look or to start to stop it. The big hunt only becomes possible after the claw forensics and consulting the school kid/expert. Until then, they had no idea how long they had bred for before exploding on the world.
-The Toxin's purpose wasn't to kill the creatures in 2050; it was only ever to kill them in 2022. The whole point of opening a bridge to the past was to buy time to get Dan to the future so he could be the one save the world. He *was* always meant for something more than being a high school teacher, or at least his daughter is betting the world on it. There is a "It's a Wonderful Life" component to this movie, albeit with an alien apocalypse and the end of humanity.
-The toxin was needed in the ship the sense they wanted to kill the White Spikes in their chambers without a fight. They did manage to kill most of them via injection. I actually got called out of the room and missed most of the Queen fight and only saw the drop kick with toxin the mouth and didn't care to rewind. Lame but whatever. That was old in 1988.
-So much virtue signaling, I can't believe there were complaints about Pratt. The world-saving scene involved 3 of 4 were black men; the super smart kid, the super smart research head/ comic relief, and the super competent well-spoken soldier, and Chris Pratt. I could give a fuck what color anyone is but I am not the one clamouring about racism and representation in 2021. Team Not Eaten guy, who was awesome btw, his team was mostly POC with a 2020 Grace Jones look-alike. The future leader the survivors was a woman. Almost all of the sent-back in time military people were POC/women. The assistant guy in the future was black. Am I forgetting anyone? Then there were all the comments about climate change. /SMH stupid but whatever.
-Regardless of the casting, the actors were all pretty good; No one did anything ridiculous, J.K. is always awesome, Chris Pratt is always good in these roles, Yvonne Strahovski is good but sexier with her native accent...Comic relief guy was great and Team Not Eaten guy was awesome as well.
-I agree about not using the right weapons but *movie*. It may have not matters too much, since as mentioned, only the neck and abdomen were vulnerable. Their hides might have been just as impenetrable to 7.62 or 30.6 as 5.56 and their necks/thorax just as weak to anything, plus more rounds/easier to control.
It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and fit in exactly where it should have, as a Prime movie- 6ish/10. The only thing that's shocking is the it cost $200m to make; figure 1/10th? of that was Pratt, then so much of the rest of special effects and location filming etc. Even mediocrity isn't cheap these days.
