Under the lens takes a deep look at films by focusing in on one or two particular areas of the picture that helped to define it for better or for worse. Spoilers will be included in this review.
Netflix has made a name for itself with its “Netflix Original” series of Scifi pictures, Netflix has released many over the last few years and they vary in quality. Rim of the World is the newest to be released from Netflix and dropped on the platform May 24th. The plot centers around a group of 4 teens who are all from different backgrounds, who must band together to defeat an alien menace when they witness an invasion from the summer camp they are all attending.
Under The Lens: Script and Plot
Plot: Rim of the World feels very much like Stranger Things, a group of kids who are faced with impossible odds, it also has many shades of the Goonies and other 80s throwbacks. The plot is silly and over the top, yet it works. The kids are tasked with taking a key to a facility to activate the long-dormant “Star Wars” program the U.S Military developed, in order to destroy an alien mothership. There are many moments of horror, humor, and action, for a picture budgeted at only 15m they did a good job with what they had. I enjoyed its 80s adventure feel and the theme of working together to find solutions to the problems they are facing.
Script: This was one of the worst scripts I have seen in a long time, it felt like this script was written for an older cast but Netflix at the last minute cast early teens. The script does a fine job of advancing the plot, however, where it derails is in the raunchy comedy. Keep in mind these kids are all meant to be between 12-14, yet the script is full of sexual innuendo, for example, there are two extended scenes, one where a character and a camp counselor banter about what he thinks is her genitalia. The other scene is when the kids sleep in an abandoned house, and the girl in the group takes the only bed and said one of the boys can sleep with her. This leads to an extended conversation where the boys all talk about if she means “Sleep with me” or “Sleep WITH me”, considering the age of the actors it is uncomfortable and creepy. This is not the end, as threesomes, sex, and being a virgin are all given conversation time. As I said before, this felt like a film for an older cast that was changed without altering the script.
Highlights
The alien designs were fun.
The picture had a good pace and was thrilling when it allowed itself to be what it was marketed as.
Something to think about
Do you enjoy 80s throwback films? If so why do you think this decade is so popular?
Conclusion
Overall Rim of the World was more miss than hit, it tries to be a coming of age story, alien invasion plot, raunchy comedy, and 80s throwback. In the end, it fails at almost all of these, the sexual humor makes this not fit for a family fun night, nor for letting the kids watch when the parents go out. Its alien plot is fine, but in the end, the rest of the film is to bad to justify the rest.
