Earthbound (2012)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

How sad is this?

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

As one or two other reviewers note this is a very Anglo-Irish movie. So whilst there are parallels with K-Pax, Earthbound has three things K-pax doesn't have.. Comedy, Romance and Ray Guns! Joe, like so many today, is delusional.. he escapes the pointless boring reality of modern life by living in a fantasy; one in which he believes himself to be the hero son of the planet Zalaxon. Sent here to Earth whilst a battle between Good and Evil is raging on his home world. The delusion having been planted some 15 years earlier into Joe's 11 year old head by his dying father. Joe has then hung onto the fantasy and in doing so isolated himself from the World.When Maria comes into his life Joe realises a 'contingency' plan: he must 'mate' with a human. However when he then decides to share with Maria the truth about his identity she turns to a former boyfriend, the psychiatrist Richard Webb for Help.The delusion is then attacked and shattered forcing Joe to confront the truth (as perceived by others) and to accept that perhaps his father lied to him. The ray guns and memory wipes don't work and the hologram of his father that has been guiding him stops appearing..Joe falls onto the only thing left that is real in his life: his job but when his promotion turns out to be nothing more than two jobs for the wage of one he resigns (inferred).Then events begin to take over... the ray guns begin to work, the hologram it seems was jammed and Maria, who is now pregnant is Kidnapped by Bounty hunters who intend to use Joe's unborn child as a sacrifice.With the help of Maria's sister and a tracking device (sat nav) Joe locates the bounty hunters space ship and begins a rescue... one he is able to complete on entering the atmosphere of Zaxalon where the lower gravity gives him super human strength.After defeating Webb, Joe rescues Maria and the pair drop down to the planet in the escape pod.... to live happily ever after...If only my delusion was as good as Joe's reality.... then my life would be an 8 out of 10 rather than Earthbound which is a great Comedy, Romance Sci-Fi that doesn't need OTT James Cameron style special effects to make it enjoyable...

I decided to watch this film on a bit of a whim, partly because I like Rafe Spall. He is the sort of actor that is always the best thing about an otherwise unremarkable production, but this time, despite putting in another good performance, he is held back by a script that seems to have been written by a priest trying to surreptitiously infiltrate a secular drama group in order to brainwash them, before giving up and blackmailing a producer or two that spoke a bit too freely during confession.The main character called Joe wants to get with a girl called Maria either because he is the last remaining Alien of his species or he is an incredibly delusional human, and keeps looking up to the sky to try and see a bright flashing star. There were no donkeys actually on screen, but the overbearing symbolism treats the audience as if they were the ass.After a slightly contrived yet sort of charmingly amusing set-up, the film then proceeds to pontificate on whether it is right to break someone's belief system if that system gives them strength to live, regardless of if the system is flawed or not. The answer it tries to sell is a resounding yes, but it fails to approach the issue with any actual balance.If you want to see a good sci-fi film about an Alien who may or may not be crazy, then watch K-Pax. If this film knocks on your door make sure you slam it shut and put on the chain. Double lock it for good measure.A waste of your time.

Initially did not know what to make of the reviews and title. So I just switched on the cable TV and got straight into this movie. It was easy to follow and the geeky bloke made it more sympathetic to relate to(I'm no geek and there is nothing wrong with geeks!) It is a movie which can take you from your living room to another planet and back without feeling tense or wanting something more engrossing. Sit back and enjoy the romantic Irish comical take on life. I would recommend it to friends especially a couple to pass a light hearten evenings fun. Nothing much to discuss about the movie afterwards, but hey, some movies are just enjoyable sod you can move on to the next one!

I saw this film at the Imagine film festival 2013 in Amsterdam. Though advertising itself as a festival for SF/horror/fantasy, this was one out of a meager set of three movies truthfully labeled as SciFi. Our main character (Joe) heard from this father that he is the last surviving member of the royal family of planet Zalaxon, exiled many many years ago because of a hostile occupation force. To prevent extinction Joe has to find a compatible partner, produce some offspring before it is too late, and eventually return to Zalaxon when the time is ripe. In the beginning of the film, we see him on the lookout for worm holes that appear on sparse moments, possibly carrying a missile from his home planet to bring him back to his roots.A parallel plot ingredient is the romance interwoven in the story. Joe carries a device with him that allows him to measure "compatibility" when a candidate woman comes close. He is a certified nerd, not going out much, always busy with computing time tables for worm holes to appear, and has otherwise little interest in socializing. Also, while working in a comic book shop with an exclusively male clientèle, chances are very slim that he'll meet the right woman ever. Yet, one day Maria appears in the shop, bringing a box of things she found while cleaning out the attic. We see that his compatibility meter shows an exceptionally high value. It forces him to arrange a real date for the first time in his life. And he takes a lot of trouble to prevent the relationship from faltering. As a result, we have "moving" music on various moments, some of the time crescendo to clarify the point (we got it already).The scenario is built very well, letting us viewers continuously in doubt whether Joe's story is indeed true or just imagination. He only communicates with his father by means of a hologram. Though explicitly forbidden to let others know of his background, he finally decides to present Marian to his father. Alas, precisely at that moment, the hologram does not appear (we know Maria inadvertently removed an essential part of the device). Moreover, the planet Zalaxon cannot be found on star charts, plus it being the name of a medicinal drug that Maria found in Joe's medication closet. None of those observations improve the credibility of his story.For the larger part of the running time we see relatively limited use of gadgets, except for the last ten minutes where it really has the looks of a SciFi movie. But still, are we seeing a true voyage home, or is it all just Joe's imagination?? I consider this uncertainty to be the real beauty of the story, leaving us behind with doubts about aliens and life on other planets. That is A Good Thing for the SciFi lover in particular, and for the average viewer in general.All in all, I can recommend this movie for SciFi fans and also for the rest of the family. The mix of SciFi and a love story makes it acceptable for a broad audience. The "moving" music may exaggerate a bit from time to time, but not to the extent of being annoying. The festival visitors gave this film a 7.54 score for the audience award.