Dead Space: Aftermath

DISAPPOINTMENT. That's how I would best sum this movie up. I really enjoyed the first DS animated film… Sure it wasn't original, but it had great atmosphere and it was a fun SCI-FI horror ride. So naturally I was really looking forward to this, hoping for an improvement, or at “worst” more of the same. Clearly I felt let down by what I got.

First thing you should know, is that its not a single straight forward linear story – its actually a combination of shorts by different directors, strung together to create a total account about a group of rescued individuals, telling their story to an interrogator about how they survived the Necromorph infestation

The ‘story’ is told by segments, each by a different director and in a different artistic style, so expect characters and designs to look different in each sequence. This is actually a wonderful use of the multi-director format, because each style is linked to a different characters differing perspective and recollection of events, so its a very practical and excellently thought-out use of the format.

Unfortunately, its major failing is the very poor quality CGI used for the ‘current time-frame’ sequences. Its of such low quality that it is extremely visually jarring, and really sucks you out of the film – its hard to imagine there was ever any quality control in this area: it truly is that bad and of such detriment to my overall enjoyment of the film that it warrants the additional mention… It just detracts so much from the beauty and relatively high standards of quality found in the other sequences animation.

The film itself is a bit of a mess. The dialog/writing is quite poor, and feels about as well thought with the same depth as a kids cartoon (gore excluded, naturally). The story was not a memorable one, and as a thrill-ride, it was rarely exhilarating or intense. Unlikable or undeveloped/for­gettable characters you wont really care about or even enjoy the demise of, round out a very uninspired core.

Don't get me wrong… I didn't HATE the film – there's still something here to like if you're a fan of SCI-FI monster horror or animation, and the action is decent for the most part, its just that that's ALL there is for you to enjoy, and its been done better before – especially in the previous DS film.

It was a good try – an experiment – that ultimately just didn't pay off for me. If you were hoping for a solid straight forward story like the first one, you'll likely be disappointed, likewise if you were hoping for a thoughtful intense and memorable film. So in short, good concept, ruined by some terrible and distracting CGI sequences, poor story/characters and writing, but decent atmosphere and action. Ultimately its just not memorable and not as good as the first film in my opinion.