“The Stratum” Movie Review

 

“The Stratum”

Movie Review

 

The Stratum, directed by Crash Buist and written with Lauren Senechal, stars Crash Buist, Lauren Senechal, Jonathan Medina, and Ramin Karimloo. It is set in the year 2057, when a ruthless CEO seizes power over the planet, and it is up to his disobedient daughter and a cyberpunk hacker to save humanity. The Stratum is yet another illustration of a planet engulfed in a deadly pandemic. Nonetheless, certain things remain the same. The first thing we see is Edgar Bane, the head of The People's Army, and a couple of his "soldiers" tormenting a Wright Company employee before executing him. James Walsh, an elite hacker, is still able to listen to sports news while riding in a cab and other places still have cities that resemble cities. But the radio is full of chatter about people becoming infected, having to segregate themselves from others who aren't, etc. It is worse than COVID.

Walsh has been paid by Bane to break into Wright Corp's computer network and retrieve any relevant information he can. He needs around 10 minutes to come to a significant realization: CEO William Wright has a daughter named Ayla who resides on the space station that serves as his headquarters and whose existence he has secretly concealed.

In the next thirty years, humanity will apparently make a significant technological advance, according to director Buist. Wright will be able to have his own space station thanks to it. Not a small, utilitarian structure like the ISS, but a vast, opulent city. On the other hand, it seems far too real that Wright, who resembles a cross between Richard Branson and Elon Musk, would have the resources and influence to pull it out. Indentured Endeavor, his plan to convince everyone to sell themselves into slavery, fits this description as well. Evidently, the history of company towns and the term "indentured servitude" will be forgotten in thirty years. Unfortunately, that also wouldn't surprise us. The Stratum's plot follows a well-known path, but with a virtual reality twist as Walsh decides to take advantage of this finding and introduce himself—or rather, an avatar of himself—into the AI world where she resides because she has a rare allergy that prevents her from being exposed to other people. Her father informs her about this. He starts to feel things for her and realizes that Edgar isn't who he thought he was and that he might be being tricked. Ayla starts to doubt what her father has been telling her in a similar way. and the pair are trapped in the middle of the conflict.

The obvious drawbacks of tackling this genre of science fiction on a shoestring budget are there in The Stratum. The Earth that we can see doesn't appear to have undergone significant modification. Although there are some cool holographic devices and an unreliable AI called Black Buddha that runs the neighborhood black market, everything still appears to be very much like it is today. While some sets do, the space station is not meant to look futuristic.

The Stratum's attempts at socially relevant sub-plotting are hampered by certain speech that is too overtly political. For instance, the term income disparity is uttered within the first few minutes. Even if the best science fiction does touch on contemporary concerns, the filmmaker and writer might have been better off being a little more subtly worded to avoid coming off as lecturing the audience. Other from that, The Stratum is an entertaining thriller with some intriguing concepts thrown in among more conventional plot devices.

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