Spectral (2016) -- S: James Badge Dale -- Netflix Original Film 12/9/16
12-03-16, 08:18 AM
#1
DVD Talk God
Thread Starter
Spectral (2016) -- S: James Badge Dale -- Netflix Original Film 12/9/16
Netflix has released the first trailer for Legendary Pictures’ upcoming sci-fi action movie Spectral. The film is directed by Nic Mathieu from a screenplay written by George Nolfi (The Bourne Ultimatum, The Adjustment Bureau) based on a story by Ian Fried (Singularity) and Mathieu.
Although Mathieu is a relative unknown (it’s actually his first movie), the fact that Nolfi wrote the script gives Spectral some solid geek cred. The storyline centers on a group of badass Special Ops soldiers led by the always awesome James Badge Dale (The Pacific, Iron Man 3, 13 Hours) engaged in a fight against some otherworldly ghost thingies in a European city (it was filmed in Budapest). What’s not to like? That and the fact that the trailer below actually looks really, really good.
Spectral also stars Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek), Emily Mortimer (Shutter Island), Max Martini (13 Hours, Pacific Rim), Clayne Crawford (Lethal Weapon) and Ryan Robbins (Sanctuary) and boasts some impressive special effects by Weta Digital (The Lord of the Rings, anyone?), with the soldier’s weapons designed by Weta Workshop. They even tapped Junkie XL (Batman v Superman, Deadpool) to score the movie. Which is a score for the Netflix original movie and yes, it's a very bad pun. It's the weekend, you guys. Here’s the synopsis:
The film follows a brilliant DARPA scientist who goes on a deadly mission with a Special Ops team of Delta Force soldiers into a war-torn city where mysterious phantom aggressors code-named Spectral have been causing inexplicable civilians deaths.
Spectral will land in theaters and on Netflix (much like Beasts of No Nations) on Dec. 9.
Although Mathieu is a relative unknown (it’s actually his first movie), the fact that Nolfi wrote the script gives Spectral some solid geek cred. The storyline centers on a group of badass Special Ops soldiers led by the always awesome James Badge Dale (The Pacific, Iron Man 3, 13 Hours) engaged in a fight against some otherworldly ghost thingies in a European city (it was filmed in Budapest). What’s not to like? That and the fact that the trailer below actually looks really, really good.
Spectral also stars Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek), Emily Mortimer (Shutter Island), Max Martini (13 Hours, Pacific Rim), Clayne Crawford (Lethal Weapon) and Ryan Robbins (Sanctuary) and boasts some impressive special effects by Weta Digital (The Lord of the Rings, anyone?), with the soldier’s weapons designed by Weta Workshop. They even tapped Junkie XL (Batman v Superman, Deadpool) to score the movie. Which is a score for the Netflix original movie and yes, it's a very bad pun. It's the weekend, you guys. Here’s the synopsis:
The film follows a brilliant DARPA scientist who goes on a deadly mission with a Special Ops team of Delta Force soldiers into a war-torn city where mysterious phantom aggressors code-named Spectral have been causing inexplicable civilians deaths.
Spectral will land in theaters and on Netflix (much like Beasts of No Nations) on Dec. 9.
Looks interesting and looks like they spent some money on this. I liked JBD on 13 Hours.
12-03-16, 09:01 AM
#2
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Spectral (2016) -- S: James Badge Dale -- Netflix Original Film 12/9/16
I feel like I'm going to get alot of shit for this, but while this movie looks gritty, dark, and hardcore, I think it's neutered by the fact that people die by the aliens "warping" through them and it's essentially a bloodless death. Kinda lame.
12-09-16, 07:50 PM
#4
DVD Talk God
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Re: Spectral (2016) -- S: James Badge Dale -- Netflix Original Film 12/9/16
Reminder
This is now available on Netflix as of today for those who can/have time to watch
Running time is 108 minutes
I just looked and this has a pretty good supporting cast
Emily Mortimer
Bruce Greenwood
Clayne Crawford (Riggs on FOX's Lethal Weapon)
Max Martini
This is now available on Netflix as of today for those who can/have time to watch
Running time is 108 minutes
I just looked and this has a pretty good supporting cast
Emily Mortimer
Bruce Greenwood
Clayne Crawford (Riggs on FOX's Lethal Weapon)
Max Martini
12-09-16, 08:02 PM
#5
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Spectral (2016) -- S: James Badge Dale -- Netflix Original Film 12/9/16
Well, at least it looks a hell of a lot better than SyFy Movie of the Week material.
12-09-16, 10:08 PM
#6
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Spectral (2016) -- S: James Badge Dale -- Netflix Original Film 12/9/16
I just watched this a couple of hours ago and it was fucking fun. They could have developed it a bit more in certain ares - I'm assuming that since Netflix may own the rights to it they'll want to potentially spin it off into a series. I'm just assuming.
What we got was basically Final Fantasy: Spirits Within, Black Hawk Down, and Ghostbusters all in one. This also had a decent budget, because the cgi looked fucking great. It's definitely worth your time.
What we got was basically Final Fantasy: Spirits Within, Black Hawk Down, and Ghostbusters all in one. This also had a decent budget, because the cgi looked fucking great. It's definitely worth your time.
12-11-16, 08:18 PM
#7
DVD Talk God
Thread Starter
Re: Spectral (2016) -- S: James Badge Dale -- Netflix Original Film 12/9/16
Just finished watching it. It was fun for the most part, but not really memorable. I'd probably give it a C+ just for the effort.
It's a very video game-ish movie. Surprisingly this is made by Legendary Pictures, which has made a number of big budget movies. I'm guessing the budget for this is in the $30-50M range. Like Blu said ^^ it's a mix of Call of Duty, Blackhawk Down, Gears of Wars and maybe a little Ghostbusters as well. Atmosphere of the movie is dark and gritty, but there's really no bloody or violent deaths. Just a a bunch of "spirits" that hit these soldiers and kill them instantly by apparently destroying their internal organs.
If you have Netflix, it's worth a watch if you're a video gamer/war genre fan. If your not, I would probably pass on it. It's relatively long at 108 minutes, but moves pretty fast.
It's a very video game-ish movie. Surprisingly this is made by Legendary Pictures, which has made a number of big budget movies. I'm guessing the budget for this is in the $30-50M range. Like Blu said ^^ it's a mix of Call of Duty, Blackhawk Down, Gears of Wars and maybe a little Ghostbusters as well. Atmosphere of the movie is dark and gritty, but there's really no bloody or violent deaths. Just a a bunch of "spirits" that hit these soldiers and kill them instantly by apparently destroying their internal organs.
If you have Netflix, it's worth a watch if you're a video gamer/war genre fan. If your not, I would probably pass on it. It's relatively long at 108 minutes, but moves pretty fast.
Last edited by DJariya; 12-11-16 at 08:35 PM.
12-12-16, 01:35 PM
#8
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Spectral (2016) -- S: James Badge Dale -- Netflix Original Film 12/9/16
I watched it last night, and I agree that it's more Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within than anything else. I enjoyed the first two acts, but the third act gets stupid with the half-baked scientific explanations and too easily modified weaponry. It does look pretty good for the most part, but I agree with DJariya that it's mostly forgettable.
12-12-16, 01:57 PM
#9
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Spectral (2016) -- S: James Badge Dale -- Netflix Original Film 12/9/16
I watched it last night, and I agree that it's more Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within than anything else. I enjoyed the first two acts, but the third act gets stupid with the half-baked scientific explanations and too easily modified weaponry. It does look pretty good for the most part, but I agree with DJariya that it's mostly forgettable.
That's why I'm hoping they turn it into a series. Maybe a prequel/sequel series of some kind to iron out those loose ends.
12-29-16, 03:11 PM
#10
DVD Talk God
Re: Spectral (2016) -- S: James Badge Dale -- Netflix Original Film 12/9/16
It was OK. Decent action but the dialogue is laughably bad in parts. The dubbing is also atrocious in parts, where the speaking was either not the same volume or didn't match the mouth of the actors. It is decent waste of 2 hours but nothing groundbreaking.
Last edited by Deftones; 12-29-16 at 03:19 PM.
01-06-17, 10:22 AM
#11
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Re: Spectral (2016) -- S: James Badge Dale -- Netflix Original Film 12/9/16
From my movie review page Orbi-Wan Goes To The Movies.
In Mid-Stream - Spectral (Netflix) - PG-13 - A “ghost” war movie that is much better than you might expect
There are many films and entire series that are now bypassing theaters and networks, and going directly to online streaming sources, like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Because of this, I’ve decided to start another subcategory of reviews at Orbi-Wan Goes To The Movies called “In Mid-Stream”. While I don’t have the time or willingness to slog through every single thing that shows up online, I will take a closer look at the ones that really capture my interest.
First up is Spectral, which was initially intended for theaters, but ended up on Netflix a few weeks ago. Advertised as “Ghostbusters in a war zone”, I would say that isn’t exactly what’s going on in this decently-produced action-thriller. In fact, as we learn more about what’s really happening, the story gets into some pretty interesting movie science.
A science engineer (James Badge Dale, Iron Man 3) is recruited to assist an Army special ops unit in a war-torn town in Europe after soldiers and civilians are killed in an odd fashion by an invisible foe, only seen through full-spectrum goggles that the engineer helped create. At first, the special ops unit believe they are up against a new kind of camouflage weaponry, but it soon becomes clear that what they’re facing is more “other-worldly”. However, don’t assume that this movie is about the paranormal - this is full-blown science fiction, and watching the engineer and the ops unit create improvised weapons to fight this unseen enemy is as good as anything I’ve seen in movies over that past few months.
There are also a lot of familiar faces, including Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek), Emily Mortimer (the upcoming Mary Poppins Returns), Max Martini (TV’s The Unit), Clayne Crawford (TV’s Lethal Weapon) and Stephen Root (Office Space, Dodgeball). The special effects and production values in Spectral stack up with most major sci-fi movies, and the story and action keeps moving at a great pace.
I was impressed with Spectral, and would have liked to see it on the big screen. It was interesting, great to look at, and will warrant a second viewing at some point. I am giving Spectral a solid 3.5 out of 5 lightsabers.
NOTES FOR PARENTS: Spectral is rated PG-13 for sci-fi style combat violence. Although we see people killed as the “spectral” enemy passes through them, there is no blood or gore. The language is PG-level, mostly the infrequent use of s**t. No F-bombs were noted. Depending on your pre-teen’s interest in the sci-fi subject matter, should be okay for 12 and up.
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In Mid-Stream - Spectral (Netflix) - PG-13 - A “ghost” war movie that is much better than you might expect
There are many films and entire series that are now bypassing theaters and networks, and going directly to online streaming sources, like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Because of this, I’ve decided to start another subcategory of reviews at Orbi-Wan Goes To The Movies called “In Mid-Stream”. While I don’t have the time or willingness to slog through every single thing that shows up online, I will take a closer look at the ones that really capture my interest.
First up is Spectral, which was initially intended for theaters, but ended up on Netflix a few weeks ago. Advertised as “Ghostbusters in a war zone”, I would say that isn’t exactly what’s going on in this decently-produced action-thriller. In fact, as we learn more about what’s really happening, the story gets into some pretty interesting movie science.
A science engineer (James Badge Dale, Iron Man 3) is recruited to assist an Army special ops unit in a war-torn town in Europe after soldiers and civilians are killed in an odd fashion by an invisible foe, only seen through full-spectrum goggles that the engineer helped create. At first, the special ops unit believe they are up against a new kind of camouflage weaponry, but it soon becomes clear that what they’re facing is more “other-worldly”. However, don’t assume that this movie is about the paranormal - this is full-blown science fiction, and watching the engineer and the ops unit create improvised weapons to fight this unseen enemy is as good as anything I’ve seen in movies over that past few months.
There are also a lot of familiar faces, including Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek), Emily Mortimer (the upcoming Mary Poppins Returns), Max Martini (TV’s The Unit), Clayne Crawford (TV’s Lethal Weapon) and Stephen Root (Office Space, Dodgeball). The special effects and production values in Spectral stack up with most major sci-fi movies, and the story and action keeps moving at a great pace.
I was impressed with Spectral, and would have liked to see it on the big screen. It was interesting, great to look at, and will warrant a second viewing at some point. I am giving Spectral a solid 3.5 out of 5 lightsabers.
NOTES FOR PARENTS: Spectral is rated PG-13 for sci-fi style combat violence. Although we see people killed as the “spectral” enemy passes through them, there is no blood or gore. The language is PG-level, mostly the infrequent use of s**t. No F-bombs were noted. Depending on your pre-teen’s interest in the sci-fi subject matter, should be okay for 12 and up.
LIKE Orbi-Wan Goes To The Movies, and SHARE with your family and friends!
