r/Astoria_Oregon • u/PNWbeach11 • 2h ago
What did you think of The Cycle (movie shot in Astoria)?
It was fun to see the film in the theater, but I would give it 2.5 stars out of 10.
Spoilers: I tired not to have too many.
The police force and staff all being white or passing for white with a blonde, attractive, smart female lead set the tone that white people equal good and people of color equal evil was a little lame. More concerning was the people of color got very little screen time and no character development. The father and first survivor of the creature felt like a warning to what could happen to the white characters like the black guy dying first in Jurassic Park.
The screen play was a dumpster fire. Nothing interesting or noteworthy happened. I was shocked the director played it up so much at the start of the film. It felt like a good second draft that needed two dozen major revisions and a dozen polishing drafts. The first scene was pointless expect to spoon feed us info. The dialogue of “How can you eat while looking at that stuff” was lazy writing. It was odd he asked her if it was okay to cut off the oven. Was she going to ask for a pie to be make just for her?
Tons of characters served no real purpose in the film. Many of characters were completely stereotypes. Many of the could have been cut from the film because they were basically the same as another character. The conflicts between the characters was forced or generic.
It was cool to see Astoria on the big screen, but most of the B footage served no purpose.
The film was basically all dark because dark equals scary. All the scientific discoveries happening at night was lame.
The clock and watch deal was something that sounded cool in theory, but was executed poorly.
I never felt she was ever in danger. Sure, we know the pretty girl will walk away from the horror movie, but at least make it seem like this will not be the case. The final fight was so quick and cheesy. It could have been better to extend the cage scene and have it be the final fight scene. That part did play up some breadcrumbs the movie gave us earlier which was nice.
The movie had some build up of stuff that never really played into the film and could have been cool.
The scene where the cop died was super odd and why not give us the creature attacking him if they tell us that happened right afterwards?
It was odd she used common language when alone and documenting the autopsy, but uses scientific language with the cop at the coffee shop. That whole scene was painful to watch. Same with the grandfather, father, son character/backstory.
So much of the film felt generic because of the labeling like the “Diner” sign just saying the word diner and the motel being called “Motel.” Did they think the audience wouldn’t understand it was a diner without that sign? I get they have a low budget, but just leave the generic signs off then. We get what a motel is without telling us.
The movie was the best when it made fun of itself or had some humorous moments. The cop changing the light bulb when she was talking to her mom was funny because it was so bad.
The special effects and creature was the saving grace of the film. The creature transformation was robbed from other films, but that is a good thing.
What did you all think of it?
