An Exercise In Nonsense

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This was a hard movie to watch. It was difficult to suspend disbelief. That is an important sticking point. I give it three stars because I believe that, with better writing and execution, the concept could be good. But it wasn't. And it wasn't executed well. I found myself pausing the movie to look for what the hell it was about.There's a spoiler at the bottom revealing one of the lines at the end of the movie. Don't say I didn't warn you, but if you want to know how I felt about the movie, just go right to the bottom of the review, read the line, and save yourself the time. Another recommendation: save yourself the time and don't watch the movie.This movie is so bad that it has aliases. I watched it as "Altered Fate" on Netflix. It is also known as "Convergence" (which is where you will find it on IMDb if you look for the actors filmographies: that's right, the films credits show "Altered Fate", but the actors filmographies show "Convergence" with the same character names). The movie is also known as "Premonition" according to IMDb.com. I absolutely positively refuse to watch this movie under two different titles to find out if one of them is "better" or is the "real version".I respect Adrian Paul for his role in the Highlander franchise. I have definitely enjoyed Christopher Lloyd in his role in the Back to the Future franchise. But I cannot for the life of me figure out how they got roped into this movie.So I think it's only fair that I try to explain why I think the movie was bad. The plot was totally opaque. You could not tell why you were watching this movie. The dialog was totally disjointed. There were what might be poignant lines, but they were all just slapped together out of no-where. The dialog was also hard to hear. There were rushes of sound, so I think I had the volume right, but I couldn't understand half of what was being said. There was a metaphysical overtone (which I could totally get into, if it were good), but in the end it just felt uebernormal, rather than paranormal. There were things that attempted to be sexy (which I could totally get into, if it were good), but it wasn't.In the end, well, ... in the words of Morley Allen, Christopher Lloyd's character ... "I felt betrayed".Plus, what was that cheesy stuff (feces) with the beach scene.

Saw this awhile ago, and still haunted when I think of it. Have to echo Antony Meadly's comment that the one thing I hated was the bit where out of the blue, the thing is explained neatly and tidily. This isn't really necessary, and isn't true to the spirit of the film. (Feels like something that was tacked on, perhaps after test audiences felt confused and unsettled without it. One hopes- if it was intended from the outset chalk it up as the only major mistake made.)If you like your plots all wrapped up in a shiny package, and tied with a silver bow, this sort of thing isn't for you, and you really should cut down on the 30-minute sitcoms. Comparing Final Destination to this as a superior execution of the concept is ridiculous, since FD is simply another gimmicky, gory, horror/suspense flick (though effective for what it is).This movie is about disturbing you, not enlightening. I think certain types of personalities simply don't like this sort of thing, and (without meaning any disrespect) value clear, simple plot lines and resolutions above whatever mood or feeling might be created in a film. I'm clearly not in this camp, but if you are, you should give this film a miss.

Only Christopher Lloyd's performance as a world-wearied journalist really saves this paranormal thriller from complete disaster. There's probably the germ of a very good film in here, but it is largely obscured by a storyline lacking cohesion or plausibility. Due to either poor writing or poor editing, characters and plot-lines stagger along in unlikely fashion, leading to nowhere in particular by the end of the film. Indeed, even Lloyd himself implies in the final reel that none of it really made any sense. CONVERGENCE may appeal to some X-Files fans, but only extremely unfussy ones.

An excellent and quite original film. Nothing too gruesome happens, but the suspense is kept up very well. Strange things start happening to a tabloid journalist, including predictions of death, and airplane parts appearing. A particular highlight was the brilliant portrayal of madness, both in the hospital and the friends.Only one point let it down (badly), when the all-knowing, black cafe owner explains the strange happenings: "...it's like the Bermuda Triangle or Stonehenge..." !!???!!! Maybe you could get away with a line like that in the 1970's, but not now, please ...