The Wheel

source: 2099: The Soldier Protocol

So David Arquette was never an award winning actor, but come on! This movie is so stupid. The dialog is atrocious and the story line is ridiculous. I watched it until the end just to see if there were more stupid scenes coming up and I was well rewarded. Three stars because compared to these 2099 "doctors" (and the directors, writers, editors, etc.), I felt uber intelligent. What a stinker.

The trouble with all of these so-called sci-fi movies, streaming on demand (Netflix, Hulu, Prime etc) is they're all generic and boring. Same unknown non actors, same basic boring plot and washed out desaturated boring future or alien planet or spaceship. This one is no exception, and I'm only 30 minutes (1/3 of the way) thru. They cost little or nothing to make, green screen, little or no sets to build and, as previously stated unknown actors working for scale or less. (Good for them, the only good thing coming out of this, they are employed), the other factor is no actual film or videotape involved as it's all shot digitally. I'm sick and tired of this boring dreck, let's get to streaming movies made on a budget!!

The story has potential, the executions were just really bad., hiring David Arquette (I am sorry for this) was a bad idea., +1 on Ms. Rae for her presence in this movie, -1 for the lead actor who can't act., they should have gotten a good B rated Hollywood actor, it would have been much much better., overall. the ending was a dissapointment as well., but seriously. It had potential., but sadly, that's all there's to it, POTENTIAL.

The film, which tackles some seriously big films, starts off promising, with Matt being the quinea pig in an experiment that just might kill him, and him trying to survive it at any cost, kicking the plot into gear. Jackson Gallagher as Mills does a fine job, displaying a lot of on-screen charisma that makes us empathise with him and his plight. The action and fight scenes are nicely done, and show off the skills of the stunt team. With "The Wheel" being a film with a story set in a really isolated environment, we have only two more characters to focus on - Dr. Emmett Snyder (David Arquette) and Dr. Allison Turner (Kendal Rae), who monitor all of Matt's struggles. Arquette, being the most famous cast member here deliberately plays a "doctor" character beyond empathy for others. Whilst some of his lines are rather cliche, his character was obviously a throw back to the crazed scientists of B grade 50's Sci-fi fodder. Kendal Rae has all the right looks to become a star, and I for one liked her almost robot-like performance, finding it a nice counter balance to the crazed Arquette. As for the film itself, quite a professional aesthetic and execution give it's obvious low budget and highly contained setting. I would have liked less of witnessing Mills struggling to escape and fail every time. and more twists of plot. The film is watchable, probably once at best.

Interesting storyline, bad acting. The screenwriting needed a little help too. It wasn't indept, action ok, CGI decent and the movie moved along at a steady pace. I was able to continue watching the movie because of the interesting storyline. I wasn't disappointed.

Matthew Allen Mills is a cripple and a prisoner with a select DNA make-up. He agrees to have nanoparticles injected in him for an experiment in hopes of walking again. Of course, the scientists want to see how good they are doing by attacking Mills and breaking various parts of his body. Mills is not fond of the aspect of the experiment and reacts. With the snowy aspect on the cover, I expected something Laurence Fishburne (The Colony) to show up. The film takes place almost entirely in one building on two sets. Characters were not well developed. Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

So, we have a research facility in a secluded place where this evil corporation is performing tests with human subjects. They recruit a doctor who was expelled because she did something nasty to resus monkeys in her own experiments. They put her monitoring a subject who is a former (american) football player and a convicted man who became paraplegic after an "accident" in prison. This guy has an unusual genetic makeup, so they want him for testing their evil nanoparticle-thingamabob designed to create super-soldier. So there you have it: the plot can only account for 10 minutes of film, so they had to dill the other 70 minutes with idiotic BS and lame fight scenes. Only thing good in this movie is the production design. Great job, probably with near-zero budget. Everything else is really shoddy, with the exception of the lead who turns out to be a casting error because he is the only one who actually delivers: everyone else is a dud. Bottom line: skip this and find something more interesting to do for 80 minutes, like watching the grass grow.

If they make a sequel needs to be a lot better. I could go threw all the not good in this film but is easier to say the end was good, and you have to watch a fair piece of it to get the end. I don't see why others are saying David Arquette didn't belong in this film, common David Arquette has done almost anything to stay relevant. I won't say he sucked because the film was not exactly a show case for any of the actors. I gave it a six just for the ending, I would not watch it again.

Look, sci-fi is in the eye of the beholder and we all expect different things, but this film isn't as terrible as some people have reviewed! The acting reminds me of the cheese of Flash Gordon! The martial arts was good. I don't often leave reviews, felt I had to after seeing so much hate for this film!