Spectral is a science fiction action film produced by Netflix that
features a “soldiers vs. ghosts” premise.
But it’s absolutely less hokey and more fascinating than the phrase
“soldiers vs. ghosts” suggests.
The plot centers on Dr. Mark
Clyne (James Badge Dale), a brilliant DARPA engineer who is asked by the US
Army to consult on a bizarre phenomenon that US soldiers have encountered while
deployed in the ongoing Moldovan War.
Arriving in Moldova, he is shown by General Orland (Bruce Greenwood),
commander of US troops in Moldova, and Fran Madison (Emily Mortimer), the CIA
officer running Delta Force covert missions in the Moldovan capital,
footage of humanoid apparitions that can kill by just their touch. Invisible to the human eye, these ghostlike
creatures – now called “hyperspectral anomalies” by the Army – can only be vaguely
seen through the soldiers’ standard-issue high-tech goggles (which Clyne
designed). Locals deem them “Ghosts of
War”, souls of the casualties of the horrors of war, while Madison thinks that their
enemies are in possession of highly advanced cloaking devices. Now, it’s up to Clyne to determine what they
really are, and figure out a way to equip the troops with the means to stop
them.
As a science fiction action film,
there is a lot of promise in its premise.
There are moments when Spectral
keeps everything intriguing. The
“soldiers vs. ghosts” action scenes, for one, are definitely where it’s at its
most exciting. However, to solve the
story’s predicaments, it relies on heavy exposition scenes and irritatingly too
convenient coincidences. In addition,
there isn’t anything remarkable about the characters.
In short, the problems of Spectral can be traced to the fact that
its writing doesn’t measure up to the terrific potential of its premise. If the script has been written in a way that
makes the narrative smarter and the characters better realized, the movie would
definitely have been an excellent, stand-out science fiction action film.
Spectral is cool and interesting enough to entertain. But significantly better writing – and, to a
lesser extent, bigger stars – would have projected it to something much bigger
and much more special.
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