For Singapore's "first modern-day creature feature", "Circle Line" stayed true to this promise - maybe a little bit too much. We can forgive the subpar effects or even the laughably amateurish acting but there wasn't any story or even character development to make us care. This was a perplexingly bad film. It was one without any direction or any purpose other than to tout a claim to being "first".
Two decades ago, a subway line is stopped meters from when it was finished without any clear reason why. In present day, the subway system has been experiencing mysterious maintenance issues. On a fateful night, the last trip in the Circle Line encounters another issue and the train has disappeared. Trapped, the riders of the missing train are tested to the extreme as they find themselves face to face with the cause of the maintenance problems - a monster.
We didn't expect much from "Circle Line". We had the mindset to temper expectations especially knowing this isn't a big-budgeted film. So expect the obvious - the visual effects won't blow your mind and the creature here (a lizard-like monster) wasn't intimidating at all. On the acting department, Jesseca Liu and Ashley Seow surprises but that's mostly about it. Much of the actors here had to work with an inferior script and it's probably one of the bigger reasons why everyone else had subpar performances. What really irked us was the film's narrative. "Circle Line" failed to explain anything at all. Things happen as needed without any rhyme, reason, or build up. For example, we get a quick origin story where the creature came from but we never get to understand why it became a monster and what was its connection to the subway. This is only one crucial plot point and the film was littered with these seemingly important events that came out of nowhere. Don't get us wrong, even with improved writing, we doubt "Circle Line" will be a masterpiece - but at least it will be watchable. As-is, this was beyond brainless and mindless. It's even too serious to be a fun b-movie experience. Avoid at all costs.
Circle Line Movie Review: Full-On Creature Feature
Watch this movie right now:Comments
Post a Comment