**THE BAD: ‘BLISS’**

WRITING: 35
ACTING: 65
LOOK: 70
SOUND: 50
FEEL: 20
NOVELTY: 15
ENJOYMENT: 20
RE-WATCHABILITY: 10
INTRIGUE: 15
EXPECTATIONS: 15

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**The Good:**

That opening scene, with its bleak colours and constantly tinging phones (not to mention Greg’s dismissive behaviour) made me so stressed out.

Simple but lively directing, editing and cinematography keep up a good flow even during less suspenseful moments.

I like how most of the intense moments in this film are sprinkled with just a hint of dark humour, making them exciting as much as shocking.

Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek work well together but it’s Hayek who draws he longer straw by fully embracing her mysterious and charming part.

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**The Bad:**

Despite two fine performances from Wilson and Hayek, the characters themselves aren’t very engaging and say or do nothing to make us care for them

Greg and Isabel fall in love very quickly, but it doesn’t evoke any stronger emotions, since we don’t know them very well and we know Greg’s family even less. Most people surrounding our two leads remains underdeveloped and distant.

The script keeps teasing audiences with snippets of strange events to keep up the main mystery, but it never delves deeper into these things and consequently, it feels like the film forgets what it’s trying to achieve.

Most of the film feels like constant build-up and the script doesn’t arrive at answers or conclusions fast enough.

There are some similarities to The Matrix here, but unlike the 1999 classic, Bliss doesn’t do a very good job of creating and maintaining it’s science fiction premise or providing viewers with answers.

I came in expecting bigger sci-fi shenanigans, but the simulation is just an underused gimmick and a framing device for a strange and somewhat convoluted relationship drama.

What’s frustrating is how the film fails to answer the most prominent questions satisfyingly, and how the ecological message seems shoehorned in just to make the film stick with modern audiences.

I was hoping for stringer dramatic tension and more outreaching emotional content, but Bliss remains very emotionally shallow.

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**The Ugly:**

Also known as Matrix: The Day the Blue Pills Ran Out.

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**VERDICT:**

_A bleak Matrix-ripoff that somehow manages to be too convoluted for its own good despite not having much of a plot at all._

**32% = :x: = BAD**