★ 4 / 10
A great premise wasted on borrowed ideas
emwee609
Star Abyss has an intriguing premise: in the future, spaceships use Star Gates-controlled wormholes-to jump across the universe. But sometimes the jump fails…
Star Abyss has an intriguing premise: in the future, spaceships use Star Gates-controlled wormholes-to jump across the universe. But sometimes the jump fails, leaving a ship stranded in the so-called 'star abyss,' forced to wait years or even decades for rescue. Because of this risk, ships are equipped with hibernation chambers for all crew members.In this Chinese film, one such ship becomes stuck in the abyss for seven years. The greedy captain, however, has smuggled aboard unregistered passengers and illegal cargo, leaving far too few hibernation chambers-and not enough food, water, or air-for everyone. To make matters worse, a genetically modified alien creature hidden in the cargo escapes and wreaks havoc.The setup is promising and could have led to all kinds of inventive twists. Unfortunately, the filmmakers picked the blandest path imaginable. The story shamelessly rips off scenes, events, ideas, and even dialogue from countless other movies-Alien installments, The Lord of the Rings... you name it. Worse, these so-called 'inspirations' rarely fit the narrative, turning whole sections into incoherent, mindless filler.While the acting isn't terrible, the special effects are cheap and painfully low-budget. And as if that weren't enough, the film suddenly introduces a bioengineered soldier fighting a pair of twin martial-arts sword masters-an utterly pointless addition. Worst of all, the ending makes no sense whatsoever. Overall: not recommended, unless you have nothing else to do.
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★ 8 / 10
At the very high end of 'B' class
fung0
This is a rather good little flick, offering high energy, interesting characters, solid acting and a real visual flair. With a few touches of wry humor of the…
This is a rather good little flick, offering high energy, interesting characters, solid acting and a real visual flair. With a few touches of wry humor of the kind often found in 'serious' Korean movies.The premise is particularly clever: a starship screws up what should be a routine entry into an interstellar wormhole. A journey of minutes will now take seven years - and there are only hibernation pods for four people. But that's just the start. On board you've got a pair of sexy twin assassins; a nanite-enhanced special agent; a star pilot remorseful for causing a huge disaster; a dishonest captain; and assorted refugees, law-enforcement types and one cute kid. Oh, and a horrible murderous creature that can turn itself transparent.Mix well and present at a frenzied pace, with set-piece fights that are never repetitive, always imaginative. You've seen the individual ingredients before, but never in quite this combination.On top of its credentials as an action film, Star Abyss is also rather beautifully shot. It has the slick grainless feel of an all-digital production, but the sets are impressive and blend imperceptibly with what have to be CG backdrops. I often found myself admiring beautifully composed shots I wouldn't normally expect to see in a simple genre film.Okay, this isn't a work of monumental artistic merit - but it is a very slick, skillful piece of entertainment. It had me grinning right from the first scene through to the last bits of denouement presented in a window over the closing credits. If you like sci-fi and action films in general, and are willing to speed-read a few over-long subtitles, you should be very pleasantly surprised by Star Abyss.
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★ 4 / 10
Fairly generic sci-fi action thriller...
paul_haakonsen
I was not familiar with the 2024 sci-fi action thriller "Star Abyss" prior to stumbling upon it by random chance. And given my love of the Asian cinema, of…
I was not familiar with the 2024 sci-fi action thriller "Star Abyss" prior to stumbling upon it by random chance. And given my love of the Asian cinema, of course I opted to watch the movie without knowing what I was in for.
Writers Geng Liang, Wang Shuang and Xiaobei Zhang put together a script and storyline that definitely had potential. But the narrative ultimately fell through as the pacing of the movie was a bit sluggish and you sit there wondering what the purpose of the story actually was. So the writer squandered a rather potential storyline here, in my opinion.
I am sure that hardcore sci-fi fans will enjoy "Star Abyss" a lot more than I did, as a casual viewer.
I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, but the acting performances were fair, I will say that much.
There is a fair amount of action throughout the course of the 86 minutes that the movie runs for. And that definitely helped to carry the movie a great long way.
Visually then the movie was okay. It was a pretty run-of-the-mill level of special effects. And if you've seen any of the numerous creature features that have been pouring out of the Chinese cinema within the past couple of years, then you know what I mean and what kind of special effects and CGI you're in for. The effects were fair, and they did bring some enjoyment to the movie, I will say that much.
My rating of director Xiaobei Zhang's 2024 sci-fi action thriller "Star Abyss" lands on a four out of ten stars.
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17%
AUDIENCE
3.7/10
331
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5 min and I had to opt out. Too much of nothing... May be good for family night.