Total Reality (1997)

Oh dear...

This truly and utterly stinks. Awful acting (I thought Keanu Reeves was wooden, but this is a whole forest of Z-list actors), abysmal plot (not only could this atrocity be written on a beer-mat, but you'd have space to write two more of these stinkers in the space left over).

Avoid! January 2, 2002

A comedy?

I think that most sci-fi fans would enjoy this film but in comparison to some of the TV shows we now have, the graphics really don't stand up. No, effects aren't everything but they help.

The plot is really very interesting - a guy writes a book and everything gets totally out of hand. Thousands are corrupted by the book and live their lives through its teaching - but this brings about a war and chaos ensues. Our heros get sent back in time to stop some baddies who've also escaped back to 1998. That's the gist of it anyway.

So, we've got a good overall plot, but there is a LOT of inconsistency - one woman's hair changes dramatically from scene to scene, so my family were all laughing at the supposedly touching parts of the flick. Watch out for some stupid lines, such as "Take us to your computer", which I don't think they even meant to be funny!

Overall, I didn't mind the film. The best thing about it was probably that it made me laugh even though it really isn't a comedy. It was a good idea which fell flat on it's face but I could just about cope with it. There is also not any extra material with the DVD except a trailer, which was a little annoying - when you buy a DVD you expect something more than a video and I didn't think it offered much in that respect.

The very worst thing about this film is all the swearing in it. At one point, a guy just swears a whole sentence out and you had to laugh because it was so ridiculous. That was the only time the swearing was remotely funny. It was uneccesary and didn't add anything to the film - it just got really annoying! Even if you don't mind swearing, I think it would begin to grate on your nerves eventually.

So, the verdict: You decide, it's low budget but good for a laugh, especially if you're a sci-fi fan, however the bad effects, bad lines and constant swearing could put many people off. December 31, 2001

A Great Start

The first 30 minutes of Total Reality are great. Big spaceships thunder across the screen (and your speakers) whilst being attacked by lots of smaller ones. In the meantime an attack force boards one of the biggies and lots of shooting occurs whilst the battle rages outside. It's great stuff and gets your adrenalin going. But it's a real shame the film didn't hold my interest afterwards. The goodies are forced to go back in time to track down the baddies who also went back in time. Some quite exciting set pieces (with big explosions) keep the excitement going but then melodrama and some pretty poor acting start to take their toll. I know this isn't a mega-budget film but you don't need big bucks to keep the pace going. The film slowly starts to run out of steam. What a shame. But it's definitely worth seeing if you like space battles and there is another BIG spaceship at the end. June 3, 2000

well-made movie.

i enjoyed this sci-fi movie and thought that it was a change of pace for david bradley since most of his movies are martial arts action/adventure. worth watching again! February 18, 2000

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