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Coming Soon: Eagerly Anticipated 2019 Sci-Fi & Mystery Releases
For those of us who love science-fiction movies but want something to entertain that isn’t part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has dominated the cinema box office what now seems like an eternity, there’s a few interesting releases early in 2019 that should be right up our alley. What’s more, they feature the additionally important element of mystery, which is often a vital ingredient to keep viewers hooked until the closing credits roll.
Escape Room
“Solve the puzzle. Escape the room. Find the clues or die.” Okay, so the tagline will probably conjure images of a movie that’s yet another clone of popular 1997 release Cube, which achieved great success on a shoestring production budget, spawning a number of sequels and imitations. Nevertheless, what Escape Room has to offer is a similar premise of mystery and tension, but with a bigger budget of around $10 million according to IMBD and a much more visually rewarding experience.
The six strangers in Escape Room must use all their wits and intelligence to escape challenges based on their deepest fears, questioning what is real or not in their perilous surroundings, with the lure of a $1 million prize if they can get out. The mystery surrounds how they will cope with the virtual environments in each room, along with how the creators of the dangerous game they’re playing know so much about them.
Glass
Critical reviews are often very mixed for anything that M. Night Shyamalan brings to our screens, but there’s no doubt that he’s also brought us some fascinating and memorable characters. Two such were David Dunn and Elijah Prince, played respectively by Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson in Unbreakable back in 2000. Jackson’s outlandish “Mr. Glass” Prince was a brittle-boned character who convinced his opposite was Willis’ understated Dunn was “Unbreakable” after surviving a train wreck unscathed, as the mystery unfolded.
It was a movie crying out for a sequel, which 2016 release Split paved the way for thanks to James McAvoy and his stellar role playing a man diagnosed with 23 distinct personalities, before “The Beast” emerges as the most dominant at the end. Willis reprised his role as Dunn in a surprise final scene, whetting our appetites for what promises to be a fascinating tale combining great characters from two, arguably, very underrated movies. Shyamalan has undoubtedly taken inspiration from the superhero comic book and movie genre in crafting this movie, which excitingly ties together the mysterious and strange abilities of the protagonists from his two previous movies. Heroes and villains facing off are always entertaining, which is why superhero themes are doing well across types of entertainment. For instance, slot games such as Power Force Heroes have become popular at online casinos, especially when making the most of all the latest codes for free spins and bonus deals before playing.
Chaos Walking
When you read that Chaos Walking is based on a popular series of young adult science fiction novels, “not another” might be the first thought, especially when the setting is a dystopian world. It’s not like we’ve seen that setting before, right? That said, this series of books earned glowing reviews for author Patrick Ness, who also wrote the screenplay for the movie adaption. This story takes place on a different planet, rather than a post-apocalyptic Earth like so many teen-aimed movies masquerading as science fiction of recent years.
The background here is that all living creatures on this newly colonized world can hear each other’s thoughts, appearing in their minds a “noise” of words, images and sounds, while the female population has disappeared. There’s a strong cast to help it along as the characters learn how to adapt to their surroundings, including Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, Mads Mikkelsen and Cynthia Erivo. With little fanfare so far and not even a teaser trailer at the time of writing, this 2019 release could actually benefit from a lack of hype surrounding production that took place in the latter half of 2018.
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