PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Honestly, going into Cosmic Sin, I didn’t know a lot about it beyond the cast. I knew it was from Saban Films—who have brought to my attention a few high concept projects that I’ve enjoyed, like last year’s Fatman, about a working class Santa who must fight off a vengeful child’s assassin—and that the poster seemed to advertise an intense sci-fi/action blend. This certainly piqued my interest, and I was eager to check it out.
Synopsis for Cosmic Sin:
Bruce Willis and Frank Grillo star in the new epic sci-fi adventure set in the year 2524, four hundred years after humans started colonizing the outer planets. Retired Military General James Ford (Willis) is called back into service after soldiers on a remote planet are attacked by a hostile alien fleet. The threat against the human race escalates into an inevitable interstellar war. General Ford teams up with General Eron Ryle (Grillo) and a team of elite soldiers in a race to stop the imminent attack before it is too late.
Given the title of this review, you’d think I just want to board a hate train on this film, but that’s not true. I think that the director, Edward Drake, has a lot of passion for science fiction, especially more modern works like the HALO and Doom reboot video game series, and it shows in the ICARUS costumes and some of the plot elements. The ICARUS armor, as seen on Frank Grillo and Bruce Willis in the above poster, was designed by independent prop replica and costuming studio Hex Mortis, and looks scarily reminiscent of Halo: ODST‘s and Edge of Tomorrow‘s own mech exoskeletons. Even the opening of the story has some engaging themes, posing the question: if we make first contact with an alien species and they seem to pose a threat, is it the right thing to do to launch a major preemptive strike to ensure the survival of humanity?
The film seems to want to spend time weighing the ethical, moral, and universal complications of Bruce Willis’ character choosing to do so before the events of the film, but unfortunately, by the end of the first act, seems to switch gears and deal with an alien bioweapon straight out of Prometheus—mysterious black goo and all!—and inevitably ends with a unsatisfying yet conclusive answer to the debate: it’s cool, because these aliens did want every one of us enslaved and/or dead. They were just worse warmongers than us. After a decent setup, to see the nuance removed was unfortunate. Things are not helped by how obviously tired and unconcerned Bruce Willis seems by everything, even in what should be tense action sequences.
Cosmic Sin does also seem to struggle with a discrepancy between its budget and the story it wants to tell. You can tell Director Edward Drake wants to cover some heady philosophical science fiction topics and throw in some action to keep things interesting, but the budget seemed to struggle to accommodate. I will state again, the ICARUS suits are great, but when the first gun shown onscreen still has the orange safety cap indicating it’s a toy, and it’s not the only one… there are concerns. The locations were rather limited and unimpressive, never quite conveying far future or alien enough to convince a viewer.
Final Thoughts:
While Cosmic Sin may not be a stellar achievement, it’s clear to see Edward Drake’s science fiction passion at play.
The film was released in theaters, VOD and digital platforms on March 12, 2021.
