Disclaimer: There may be spoilers below, so if any of the content pictured below is of interest, proceed with caution.
Distilled to its most basic plot, this is a movie about a woman with family problems who's also struggling with an IRS audit. If that sounds dry and boring, don't worry, because there's nothing basic about this maximalist sci-fi absurdist romantic family dramedy. It's almost impossible to explain how good this movie is, or what it's even really about, without essentially giving a complete rundown of every wild and chaotic thing that happens during its lengthy runtime, because as utterly bonkers as all of it is, every moment is ultimately a single puzzle piece that helps to form a much bigger, and truly beautiful picture.
See it. Bring tissues. Pee first, because you won't want to miss a minute.
One reason to look for movies that aren't US-based is that you can find some creativity that seems lost on American producers. This movie is a bit dystopian, a bit war, and a bit drama that comes together fairly well and brings originality to it. A group of soldiers, not elite or anything, have to get behind enemy lines and they are chosen simply for their ability to ice skate. Sounds weird but don't think about US ice skating in a ring. This makes for an interesting dynamic that also touches on the ugly aspects of the military and how far someone will go for love.
Standard private military contractor gets betrayed and must avenge the wrong. It starts out slower and more emotional, which lures you in. But then the back half is the typical action movie that is over the top in many ways and not believable in others. A couple big name actors (Sutherland, Pine) aren't enough to make it good either. Like most movies in this genre. But good to fall asleep to, I guess.
The name isn't original, the plot isn't, and the style really isn't either. Just new annoying characters and the same usual plot holes, cliches, and continuity gaps, but extremely elevated, in a poor attempt at being original. The show doesn't seem to have a military consultant on staff, and the one segment around the middle east seems wrong on many levels. Like many shows, the only reason to keep watching is to see what the aliens are like and how they choose to resolve it. The show is 95% based on the human characters and their struggles, not the aliens. Note: I wrote this on episode 7 / 10 and if you are reading this sentence, it means the rest wasn't even worth updating this review.
