Rim of the World
Netflix’s Rim of the World Looks Like an Average Imitation of Some Great Sci-Fi Films!
Ratings: 3.5/5
Duration: 1 hour 30 min.
Director: Joseph McGinty Nichol, popularly known as McG
Banner: Netflix
Genre: Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi
Release Date: 24 May 2019.
Star cast: Jack Gore, Miya Cech, Benjamin Flores Jr., and Alessio Scalzotto
Plot: The movie begins with an astronaut stuck in a spaceship that was obviously going to crash. That next scene involved the first main character, Alex (played by Jack Gore), trying to convince his worried mother that he is doing fine in life, with no friends but a computer for company.
The shy and awkward Alex was taken to a summer camp by his mother with the hope that he might make new friends. He does, eventually. He meets three other kids, namely, Zhen Zhen (played by Miya Cech), Dariush (played by Benjamin Flores Jr.) and Gabriel (played by Alessio Scalzotto).
Now, Zhen Zhen is Chinese, who didn’t speak a lot in the beginning. So it was made obvious by people that she couldn’t speak English. Whoa, we didn’t see that coming, now did we? In fact, the camp instructor (played by Kingbach) tried speaking in Mandarin to her, loud and clear, because of course, she won’t get it. In another scene, Alex literally says excuse me to Zhen Zhen in Mandarin, and this is what the translation was—I offer greetings, my fair princess!’
If that wasn’t stereotypical enough for you, enters Dariush, who, one can clearly tell, belonged to the black community. But it was made obvious with the gold chain around his neck and funny slangs rolling from his tongue. In his attempt to serve comedy, he does weirder than fun things. In one of the scenes, he hangs Alex from a cliff to remove his fear of heights. That’s when Gabriel enters out of nowhere—yes, the robin hood of the group.
This is where the whole camp abandons them because of an announcement that required everyone to leave the town. Remember the spaceship? Yes, it was time for it to crash and the astronaut handing the key to save the world’s destruction to Alex before the aliens invaded their planet.
Then begins the adventure, thrill, and rush of adrenaline to save the world from aliens—well, it didn’t bring a single shot of any of the three because almost every scene looked like a replica of Spielberg’s movies.
Alex and Zhen Zhen eventually fall for each other (there was a spark since the beginning). All four of them, even though, came from different backgrounds; eventually, find a family in each other.
And of course, they successfully save the world somehow, somehow!
Review: If one could define this film in one word, it would be bland. Four kids on their way to save the world from an alien mother ship—well, that’s new. Within the first 15 minutes of this film, you will understand that it is a sad imitation of some great films such as Jurassic Park, E.T, Star Wars, and The Goonies.
At first glance, I thought I was watching an average version of Netflix’s hit show ‘Stranger Things.’ As much as I loved the ‘upside-down,’ the aliens of the rim didn’t perform their roles better. Nor, did the director or scriptwriters were honest with their work.
Perhaps, the only people who were serious about their jobs were the four kids, who surprisingly kept themselves alive at the time of invasion/war, or whatever the heck that was! If that wasn’t enough, the whole movie is full of racial comments and cheap dialogues. I can’t get past the fact that Netflix actually approved this movie! There was no originality, none whatsoever! The only thing that was inspiring about the movie was Alex’s fight with himself, that was, to free himself of all his fears.
Because of its stereotypical and racist scenes about Asian and Black children, the movie was highly criticized on social media. Most viewers thought that it was highly inappropriate to see young kids talk about sex and swearing.
