Greetings & Salutations Fellow Movie Fanatics …
It wouldn’t be a new year if we didn’t start it off with a film that involves a post-apocalyptic theme now would it? To be honest, that’s not entirely fair though to the film. Our selection for today is a science fiction/thriller if you will. ‘Loophole’ is a film directed by Jenni Ivers and stars Chole Lukasiak, Gabrielle Valladares, Deven Bromme, Mark Shrader, Timothy E. Goodwin, Michael Sigler, Davis Osborne, Jessica Shannon, and Kera O’Bryon.
The time? In the distant future The place? Unknown … A figure cloaked in white wanders into the ruins of an old building. A church. Only to be captured by scavengers.
The time? Present day. The place? Modern America. A brilliant scientist, Dr. Bali (Goodwin), has made a discovery that will change the course of history. He has identified a specific gene in the human genome that could determine whether or not a person has or will commit a crime. A discovery like this that will undoubtedly save countless lives, but also vilify an individual who may have the gene but has yet to commit any wrongdoing. While the debate already begins, the United States government led by President Turel (Sigler) along with governments around the world begin implementing protocols to run blood tests on their populations to identify those with the gene and ‘separate them’ from those who do not have it.
Meanwhile, in an unnamed college town in the U.S. Lexi (Lukasiak) and Emma (Valladares) and their fellow students are all watching the events unfold in their small corner of the world. No longer just a classroom philosophical debate, some of their fellow students leave school to go home to their families before test centers are established nationwide to weed out those with this gene. After some confusion regarding their tests, they are told they don’t have the gene but need to take further action to receive their I.D. markers showing that they do not have the gene. Little do Lexi and Emma know that that is the last ‘normal’ night they will ever have. They are both kidnapped and then seemingly rescued by a mysterious man called Riley (Bromme) who explains that the true nature of the blood tests being conducted on the world population is to find the descendants of Judas Iscariot and that the forces of both good and evil are racing against the clock to find the last descendant before the other to either usher in the beginning of the apocalypse or to delay it for another lifetime.
The movie has a great premise and did indeed have potential. However, it was kind of a letdown. Some of the actors seemed to have an attitude of let’s get film over and be done with it while others put their hearts into it and that effort seemed to be wasted. Some parts of the film seem to just drag on and at some point the ‘urgency’ of the film’s subject matter seemed to get lost while characters were trying to either explain or comprehend just what was going on. The end was a little confusing as well. There’s a point when you think the film is going to be resolved in the present day and render the future scenes null and void which brings on an almost ‘hurry up and wait’ kind of feel to it. If they could fine tuned the story a little bit I really think it could’ve been something much more along with a recasting of one of the antagonist roles would’ve been preferable as well. I’m going to have to give this film 2 out of 5 stars.
It’s worth watching once if you’re looking to kill time during the ay or are stuck at home on a Saturday night.
