Spectral

In order to be fully satisfied, it would have needed better supervision and a more capable implementer who can see beyond the minute horizon of a TV commercial. That Netflix doesn't let a vigorous dramaturgist and an agile editor out of the cage is thus worth considering. I'm a little sad that I can’t give it at least 60%, but the more the runtime moves toward two hours, the more I was gnawing at my remote with boredom. (16/12/2016)

A very decent action flick, unfortunately consisting of two parts of different quality. While at the beginning it seems like properly fast-paced action sci-fi, which doesn’t look bad, in the second half they will give you some dumb explanations and the worst comes when they start to arm themselves against those invisible killers. That would put MacGyver to shame. But since there aren’t many action science flicks of comparable quality, I won’t complain and I humbly thank Netflix for this movie, together with a lot of other sci-fi flicks. (05/05/2020)

If I hadn't been fighting off sleep unnecessarily in the first two thirds and woke up for the last half hour, I would still believe that Spectral is a solid sci-fi that evokes a successful video game adaptation with how it imaginatively does the action. Unfortunately, I saw the paranormal Black Hawk Down too, so I didn't miss a bit of graveyard acting and screenwriting ectoplasm. It's a pity. Mathieu brought a sense of effective visuals from commercials and the production values are decent for "straight to VOD". Or maybe Budapest looks worse than I remember under Orbán. (21/01/2017)

Netflix seems to thrive on releasing such nifty looking B movies. Last time they surprised with The Siege of Jadotville and now we have "Call of Duty" with ghosts. The soldiers are natural and the main character is likeable. At first they have no chance against the ghosts and they get a decent ass beating, the idea of how to take them on makes sense too. The ghosts look fine and are definitely dangerous. The action is solid and looks stylish. I had a good time, good stuff! 75% (14/12/2016)

A pure-blooded military sci-fi flick shot in Hungary and Slovakia for a few beads. The visual aspect is first-class. The Bose-Einstein condensate is an explanation just within the bounds of credibility, which I am willing to accept in films likes this. Badge Dale is solid up to the point when he begins building a plasma gun out of junk, then his credibility just flies out of the window. The action scenes, especially the climax and the extraction scene in the square, are truly well done (and the Tatra 603s were good to see). A pleasant surprise. (09/03/2020)

Spectral is an interesting film with a fresh concept, a brisk introduction, but a truly poor ending. The beginning hooked me with the promise of a good action story; I felt a sense of uncertainty as I really didn't know what these so-called ghosts were, etc. The cast was familiar to me, and I knew there would be some quality involved. As I mentioned, the idea of killing by freezing internal organs is very good, but I think more could have been extracted from such a project, and I assert that it's wasted potential. As the film progressed towards the end, it lost quality and the element of surprise completely vanished. Sometimes an ending filled with gunfire works well, but here it didn't benefit the film much. Moreover, the invented weapons against the ghosts struck me as quite stupid. Otherwise, the visual aspect was great, and the setting deserves praise too. Anyone who enjoys action-packed films will find something to enjoy here. I give it a solid 65%. (23/12/2016)

I thought this would be uninteresting in terms of acting, but the actors showed that even with a B-movie and an unremarkable story, a film can be made that is very watchable. Alright, it's thanks to the actors and also the visual effects specialists because in that regard, the film really works well and the scenes are very enjoyable to watch. Fine-tune the story and it'll be awesome. (10/01/2017)