While I can’t remember when/how I first heard of the 2015 film Momentum, I do recall seeing the trailer and thinking it didn’t look too bad:
Then, shortly afterwards, appeared reports the film was given a very limited release in England and flopped. Hard:
The above article, from dailymail.com, notes the film was released to only 10 theaters as well as simultaneously being available on demand. Therefore it is possible those interested in seeing the film watched it from the comfort of their homes rather than heading out to the theaters (It is also my understanding the film was dropped into theaters without any advertising which is a sure fire way to generate a cinematic bomb).
Regardless of the bad press, I remained curious to see the film and yesterday had a chance to do just that.
So, was the film a decent enough action/adventure time killer or a waste of time?
As it turns out, all the above.
Momentum, despite its $20 million budget (this is according to IMDB), “feels” like a cheaply done film. Yes, there are special effects and stuntwork but the overall look of the film is surprisingly dreary for a relatively higher budgeted film. Comparing the “look” of Momentum with that of, for example, the also low budgeted The Frame (you can read my review of that here) and there is no comparison at all. The Frame looks gorgeous while Momentum…doesn’t.
The visuals aside, how does Momentum fare as a movie?
Well, it starts off rather silly, with a bank robbery wherein the perpetrators, including our hero Alex Farraday (Olga Kurylenko, looking as beautiful as ever), perform a bank robbery while wearing high tech but ultimately silly sci-fi looking costumes. How silly are these costumes? When any of the members of the robbery team talk, a band of lights come on where their mouth is to indicate who is speaking. Was that really necessary?
Anyway, you get glimpses of the costumes in the above trailer and, while they may look neat, other than showing us who is speaking with those fancy lights and hiding their looks, one wonders why the thieves didn’t save their money and get some cheap Richard Nixon or Ronald Reagan masks…or something.
The thieves wind up robbing a security box of its diamonds but within the box is also a computer chip.
This computer chip becomes the movie’s “MacGuffin“. On the chip is information that can take down a powerful and very corrupt U.S. senator (Morgan Freeman in a role that it looks like he did over a day or so while nowhere near any of the other actors).
What happens is one of the thieves, Kevin Fuller (Colin Moss), ex-lover of Alex and the man who brought her into this job against her wishes, was always after this chip and, by extension, the Senator. Alex winds up in the cross hairs when a “cleaning squad” led by the deadly Mr. Washington (James Purefoy, looking like he’s enjoying himself while playing a slimy bad guy) shows up to take out Kevin and another person working for him while Alex hides and witnesses the whole bloody affair.
Of course Alex becomes Mr. Washington’s target as she winds up with the chip and what follows is the best part of the film, an open air version of Die Hard with Alex on the run from the bad guys.
We’re soon introduced to other characters, including Kevin’s wife (given the fact that Alex is Kevin’s ex-lover, she has good reason not to like Alex) while mayhem follows in their wake.
I won’t go into too many more details but a little after the halfway point of this film the (ahem) momentum sputters and some really stupid things happen that call into question Alex’s plans for taking down these bad guys. Without giving too much away, we have another of those cliched “character gets captured on purpose to effect her plan” and, given what Alex goes through in this section, she’s either a masochist or stupid or both.
Despite all that, the movie manages to salvage a pretty good climax involving, of all things, Mr. Washington’s tie.
Yes, I’m serious.
In the course of the movie Alex references Mr. Washington’s “ugly” tie a few times and as a viewer I thought it was one of those throwaway “humorous” lines. Yet these seeming throwaway lines wind up having not one but two terrific -and very clever- payoffs in the movie’s climax.
Again, I’m being dead serious here.
It is the cleverness of these payoffs that makes me wonder if Momentum’s script might well have been far better than the final product suggests.
Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t quite end with that second tie payoff (but it should have!) and in the movie’s closing minutes it is clear the makers planned Momentum to be the first in a series. Our evil Senator is still out there as is Alex and the envisioned -but seriously doubtful to be made- sequel would likely feature the two on a collision course (hey, maybe that was the name they would give the film!).
Considering the amount of money the theatrical release in England didn’t make, don’t hold your breath waiting for the sequel.
Momentum wound up, to me, not being a total waste of time but neither is it a movie worth recommending. While I felt the cast in general did its work, the people behind the scenes, including the director and, in particular, cinematographer could and should have done better.
A real shame because there are parts in this film that lift it from your typical brainless action-fest.