“I’m going to get us off this island if I have to build a flying locomotive myself.” —Cyrus Harding
Today’s quick review: Mysterious Island. During the Civil War, Captain Cyrus Harding (Lochlyn Munro) and a group of Union soldiers escape from Confederate custody in a hot air balloon. But when their balloon is sucked through a rift in time, they land on a mysterious island inhabited by deadly creatures. Now Cyrus and his men must join Jules (Gina Holden) and Abby (Susie Abromeit), sisters from the 21st century, to find a way off the island.
Mysterious Island is a budget science fiction adventure based on the novel by Jules Verne. The movie follows a group of survivors from different points in time as they explore the island, outwit the man-eating beasts who live there, and search for a way back home. Mysterious Island is an umabitious movie that scrapes together just enough of a mystery to drive its story. However, low production values and poor storytelling undermine its efforts.
Mysterious Island suffers from a number of problems, many of them traceable to its budget. The acting is mediocre at best: passable by the standards of the genre, but not skilled enough to make any of the characters compelling. The movie is too stingy with its special effects budget, missing the chance to establish an ominous atmosphere early on. Mysterious Island also wastes its characters, with many of them dying in ways that leave no impact.
Fans of the budget side of the science fiction genre may find some interest in Mysterious Island. The movie makes an honest effort to tell a story with the resources at its disposal, and although it comes up well short of its target, it goes through the motions well enough and avoids some of the most egregious pitfalls of the genre. However, doing so robs the movie of the last way it could have distinguished itself, making it a dull pick overall.
For another budget science fiction movie about travelers displaced in time, try Flight World War II or Princess of Mars. For a more violent sci-fi action movie about a group of soldiers trapped on a distant planet, try Predators.
[3.5 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1705125/). I give it the same for a weak story that does not work well within the constraints it is given.