“Ash” tells a familiar story of sci-fi discovery gone wrong. The movie may not reinvent the sci-fi horror genre, but it sure makes ‘unspeakable horror’ seem welcoming
Still from the movie
Cast: Eiza Gonzalez, Aaron Paul, Iko Uwais
Director: Flying Lotus
Rating: 2.5/5
Runtime: 95 min
“Ash” is a free-flowing film, much like a music video. It has a narrative structure that is unorthodox. Visuals that seemingly have no connection to the main story creep in tangentially. The film does not have a typical narrative. Writer-director Flying Lotus intercuts the sci-fi narrative with hair-raising visuals and robust action sequences as memories of the past start sliding in to give context to what is happening in the present.
“Ash” tells a familiar story of sci-fi discovery gone wrong. Riya (Eiza González) wakes up at a station on a distant planet with no memory. When she looks around she sees mutilated corpses, flickering lights, and a computer system that won’t stop mentioning that there’s an “unusual life force detected”. Riya is groggy. She understands that something vicious has occurred, stumbling around the dead bodies of Captain Adhi (Iko Uwais), Kevin (Beluah Koale), and Davis (Flying Lotus).
The crew appears to have been dispatched in brutal ways, the red warning lights of the station bathe the corpses in an eerie glow.We hear the whirring machines and other sinister sounds. Since no one else is around or alive, doubts assail us. Could Riya have done this?
When Brion (Aaron Paul) arrives claiming to have received her distress signal, the focus shifts. The intrigue sharpens. We don’t know whom to trust because Brion too is a mystery. They share a backstory that only one can remember. They are thrust together by necessity but doubts persist. To add to the mystery the computer system continues to communicate that an unusual life form remains on the station.
Cinematography by Richard Bluck is intense and revealing. Action sequences are all distinctive. A flashback has Riya struggle with her expedition’s leader, Adhi (Iko Uwais). Riya is desperate, her punches and stabs have a direct link to the awakening knowledge of her immediate past. We also see flashbacks of the crew debating the cost of working with an extraterrestrial life force they can’t hope to understand.
The film loses focus in the middle stretch but the tempo picks up speed once Riya understands what really happened to her and her crew. Paul and Gonzalez manage to convince us of their unpredictability quite well.
Flying Lotus,( the moniker used by the man who directed, co-produced, composed the music and played a supporting role in this film), obviously is multi-talented to say the least. He manages to subvert regular tropes in a way that thrills. This is a B-movie that is well-crafted, provides some intrigue and operates on performances that are well suited to the genre. “Ash” may not reinvent the sci-fi horror genre, but it sure makes ‘unspeakable horror’ seem welcoming.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
