THE MOVIE BRAT

Review: Love

Produced by rock band, Angels and Airwaves and directed by William Eubank, Love centers around astronaut Lee Miller, who after losing contact with Earth, becomes stranded in orbit alone aboard the International Space Station. As time passes, his life support systems fade and Lee begins battling with his sanity. The film doesn’t entirely center around Lee in space but other characters during the Civil War, Iraq War, and other citizens of time. It’s not until the end that we find out what exactly is going on, and even then, you need to really scratch your head to find the meaning behind it all.

Visually, the film is absolutely stunning. The scenes in space and especially inside the ship, are excellently executed by cinematographer and multi-tasker, William Eubank. To coincide with the fantastic imagery is a beautiful score. Naturally, the score is music from the last two Angels & Airwaves albums, Love and Love Part II. The songs always fit the mood of their particular scene perfectly, setting the scenes up intelligently.

There are a few downsides to this film. Love’s point is a little misty with its open to debate narrative, although visually clever, it does dampen a viewers enjoyment. For me, every scene that has a bit of action is followed by four or five scenes where essentially nothing happens, giving the viewer a sense of repetition. Whether it was a deliberate ploy by the films director and producers to heighten the sense of isolation of which the lead character is suffering from. If that’s the case, then job well done, I suppose.

Despite a sometimes dragging storyline, leading man Gunner Wright’s performance is excellent and his character is extremely likable. For Angels and Airwaves fans in particular, the movie is a must. Love may take more than one viewing to understand the whole storyline or even form some conclusions, finding yourself frustrated after the first, it’s worth a second watch.

* * 1/2