Today’s quick review: Stasis. To change their dystopian future, rebel agents Seattle (Kelsey Boze) and Lancer (Gregory Shelby) travel back in time to the year 2017, where they possess the bodies of the recently deceased. Lancer ends up as a frat boy (Mark Grossman), but Seattle is stuck with Ava (Anna Harr), a rebellious teenager whose spirit lingers. Their mission is complicated by a Hunter (Tiana Masaniai) sent back in time to root out the rebel cell.
Stasis is a budget science fiction movie with decent ideas and bland execution. The movie suffers from a vague plot, an unimaginative script, stiff acting, and a generic world. The premise has potential: time travel’s easy to depict on a budget, and the displacement of Ava’s spirit sets up a nice opportunity for dramatic tension. But Stasis squanders this modest opportunity with unlikable characters and flimsy writing.
Stasis’ problems begin with its world. No aspect of the setting is fleshed out properly. The dystopian future is a post-apocalyptic wasteland ruled by a draconian central government; no thought is given to the logistics of this situation. The present day is little better, populated by clueless civilians and time travelers with unclear objectives. The world simply lacks character, and that puts the movie on a bad footing from the start.
The writing doesn’t help the situation. The dialogue is uniformly flat, just a token effort at conveying the information necessary to advance the plot. The plot lacks a clear trajectory and soon gets sidetracked by conflict with the Hunter. The characters are thin in terms of personality and acting skill. To cap it all off, the one character with the chance to make an impact, Ava, is a generic teenage girl with no self-awareness.
Stasis does have glimmers of potential that might appeal to a sci-fi fan. Time travel via possession, grenades designed to trap time travelers, and inadvertent moments of comedy all help give the movie some life. But its few charms are not worth its many flaws, and most sci-fi fans would be better off watching a film that makes better use of its budget, such as ARQ, Synchronicity, or OtherLife.
3.0 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 4.0 for all-around poor execution.