PRISONER X (Gaurav Seth). 88 minutes. Opens Friday (April 15). See listing. Rating: N
Science fiction doesn’t have to be expensive. As Shane Carruth demonstrated with Primer, you can make a terrific, head-spinning thriller on a tiny budget with a minimum of visual effects – as long as you have a great idea and a smart script.
The new sci-fi thriller Prisoner X has not learned the lessons of Primer, and that’s a shame, because it’s treading similar ground. It has a good idea, but no idea how to execute it.
Gaurav Seth’s modestly budgeted feature – adapted from a novella by Robert Reed – takes place in 2017, at a point when the war on terror has failed. Attacks on U.S. soil are an unnerving reality, the world is tilting into chaos, and a former CIA operative (Saving Hope’s Michelle Nolden) is reactivated to interrogate a mysterious detainee (Romano Orzari) who’s been held in custody since 2002.
Why is he important? Well, it seems this man possesses impossible knowledge of upcoming celestial events – and might hold the key to changing America’s past as well as its future.
As sci-fi thrillers go, that’s a decent starting point, but Seth doesn’t have the slightest idea how to make it interesting. Prisoner X stumbles right away with a clunky prologue and never quite rights itself, falling into a leaden slog of circular arguments, pointless dream sequences and grim military posturing.
It all pays off in an ending that’s supposed to be clever but is instead utterly infuriating, abandoning character development and credibility for the sake of a cheesy reversal. You deserve better than this. I know I do.