CERT: 12 | PLATFORM: DVD, BLU-RAY, APPLE, AMAZON, GOOGLE PLAY | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Director Tom Paton is best known for his low-budget and high concept Sci-Fi movies, that tend to focus on cool action sequences, breath-taking locations and snappy dialogue. G-LOC is perhaps his most ambitious movie so far, being a pure sci-fi movie set mostly aboard space-ships.
In G-LOC, the Earth is about to die. Humans are fleeing to another world called Rhea but thanks to complications with space-travel and time-dilation, the humans on that world aren’t keen on a regular flood of refugees. Stephen Moyer plays Bran, a man desperately trying to flee Earth because he has nothing else to lose. He’s assisted by Edison, an AI assistant which looks very cute and is brilliantly sarcastic. Edison is voice acted by Mike Beckingham; a regular with Tom Paton’s movies and we can see why; despite being only a voice in a box, Edison’s performance is resonant and memorable.
Bran’s efforts to flee Earth are hindered by those on the Rhean supply ship, namely Ohsha (Tala Gouveia) and Decker (Casper Van Dien). We get the occasional flashback to Earth to add some extra pathos to Bran’s journey, but mostly it’s contrast the vast open skies of Earth to the cramped and hostile confines of the space-craft. The performances are pretty strong; Moyer’s desperate refugee plays well against Gouveia’s working-class every-person. Van Dien also delights in his role, chewing the scenery when he can.
G-LOC is an old-school sci-fi tale. It addresses current issues by using the future as a way to explore the past and present. It’s low-budget is quite obvious and we would really love to see what Paton can do with some heroic funding.
