Control (2022) User Reviews

Not based on the video game of the same name

[mbdinger · 5/10 · 27 September 2022]

A very basic story of a woman with memory loss who wakes up in some sort of secret research facility and is forced to use telekinesis.

Obviously very low-budget, but nonetheless reasonably well-produced (it never feels super cheap) that takes place almost entirely in a single room, with just two main actors.

There is surely(?) no way that the title is coincidental with the 2021 Remedy video game "CONTROL" that has a similar premise (about a woman who has to use telekinesis to escape/liberate a facility). The protagonist here even looks a bit like the video game counterpart. Clearly wasn't officially licenced though, since the connection is not in the credits.

The acting is fine for the most part, although there are only three cast members (wife, husband, daughter). The special effects are serviceable and do what is required without being flashy.

It's a take it or leave it type of rating here; for most people there will be much better things to watch than this.

the protagonist isn't the only one being tortured

[A_Different_Drummer · 4/10 · 4 October 2022]

Sometimes these CUBE (2004) knockoffs really work, they engage your curiosity and suddenly you, the viewer find yourself going through the puzzle with the main characters. See also EXAM 2009, another under-rated entry in this genre, which is also a superior example. CONTROL 2022 is a hit and a miss. The torture for the first 60 minutes is just as effective on the audience as it is on the protagonist. Sara Mitch gives it her all, but even effort and good intentions cannot overcome a soggy script and a minimal budget. Not recommended. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

Creative and Skittish without bathrooms

[RedKidBytes · 5/10 · 23 March 2023]

A young woman awakens in a stylish prison with no memory except for when she sleeps. Eileen played by Sarah Mitich, sees herself and her daughter in her dreams at a beach singing the same lullaby over and over again. An analog-sounding Alexa-type computer that appears to lack AI has monotone one-way answers to the questions which Sarah Mitich asks.

The computer forces her to complete tasks that become impossible to do without using Sara Mitich's psychokinetic powers, which Sarah learns to control over agony, distress, and fear whilst attempting to achieve the expected result of the test. She's threatened by the dormant Computer with the life of her child.

The cinematography is very good, and Sarah Mitich's acting is very believable. Her husband played by George Tchortov is a bit wooden but he is playing a comatose character.

A creative low budget film misses its marks. If you were to fast-forward Sarah Mitich's dream scenes you wouldn't miss anything. For example, the lullaby repeated often does not tie to anything.

I think that the film is still worth watching. The concept is Interesting.

Somehow NOT a tie in to the game with the same name and identical plot

[mason25 · 3/10 · 15 March 2023]

I love slow burn movies, and non existent funding movies, when their done well.

Whilst this one was almost devoid of funding, it was also devoid of progress.

It took over an hour for anything beyond the most simplistic testing to happen, next to zero exposition in that time as well. Only to switch into warp speed for the last 20 minutes, but it also didn't go too far from the starting line.

Acting wasn't terrible, but many of the choices made by the 2 characters were ridiculous.

Eileen has psychokinesis, I can accept that without issue. SHE accepted it as evidenced in the testing... come to the test of putting a ball in a bucket....... nope we can't do that, BUT we'll remove 16 screws from the tables legs easily enough to no gain, and then move the ball in to the bucket.

Ditto when Roger is being killed in sand, no point trying to use her powers in stopping the flow of sand, or demolishing the cage he's in, go back to brute physical strength, of which she has none, and fail like a moron.

I would love it if just once in these movies the characters would use their psycho/telekinetic powers to rip out an entire wall of their cage and go on a rampage.

A fun premise spoiled by abysmal, breathtakingly stupid writing

[this-impetus · 2/10 · 29 September 2022]

The dialogue is so transparently contrived you cannot take seriously that a human being, let alone a pair of them, could possibly be so deliberately unhelpful, obfuscating and unreasonable.

Reminiscent of The Cube but infinitely less self-aware, bluntly, the writing is too stupid to allow even the most credulous of audiences to enjoy the premise.

The performances are emotionally convincing, and camera work is laudable given the budget, nothing can save the film from writing so disingenously unlike a real person. You spend the entire time frustrated that the characters won't utter a single coherent sentence. Beyond that, the exposition is blunt and choppy, the characters' decisions make no sense, the emotionality feels like the writer has never actually met a human being.

No decision in the entire film, either by the characters, writer or driector make any sense. It's incoherent from opening to close.

Just a disasterous waste of decent acting and a potentially interesting idea.

Before you view (no spoilers)

[chadtindale · 2/10 · 29 September 2022]

Understand that if you're watching this movie, you've already seen it.

Do you think it's the game Control? Yes. It is that... except worse. It's horror about a woman with psychic powers. But without the layers of juxtaposition with normal and the bizarre. All of the style is removed.

Do you think it's like the MCU with an Elizabeth Olson look-a-like sporting powers? Yes. It's that... Except worse. They wanted cool mom using psychic powers to kill people. But didn't really give her interesting things to do with those powers. You get some basic attacks and unchoreographed actors acting like they're in pain. They don't even film it well.

Do you think it's like the game, Portal? Yes. It's that... except worse. It is testing in a chamber with a mysterious robotic woman's voice giving instructions. But none of the whimsy or fun.

Everything about this movie is a ripoff of something famous and better. You've seen every reveal and surprise and interesting thing this film has to offer. But you've already seen it better.

The film techniques seem unrelated to what you're watching with the cameras in random positions and shifting randomly between cuts without meaning or direction. The actors appear to have been told to take as much time as they can with everything they do, to the point of it being awkward for them to do mundane tasks like walking across a room. Even the actors didn't know how to make this slow of a pace seem natural.

The lack of care from the film makers is painful. And an insult to whoever paid for this movie to be made. It's an insult to the actors, and an insult to the audience. Crucial details like how much time is left on the clock are used to add tension, which is completely deflated as the clock regularly has time clearly added or removed between shots. They just didn't care. A character even calls out that there's only 60 seconds left, only for the next shot to show it being closer to 90 seconds.

If you can avoid seeing this film, please do. I give it a 2 star because there COULD have been something good here. The one set was designed well. No other sets were. And nothing about this movie should inspire other films. I hope I'm the last one to see this movie.

Inconsistent

[jptiedema · 5/10 · 15 April 2023]

There were good ideas in here, but basically the writer and director were not up to the task of producing a good movie. For example: the subject/lead is quite emotional and animated during the first 2/3 of the movie and during the last 10 minutes. But, during "phase 3" they had the actress walk around deadpan like Bride of Dracula. It was genuinely embarrassing.

The action scenes toward the climax literally repeat. If they did one more close up of her contorting hands, I would have stopped watching. I guess they didn't have the money or creativity to make something progressive and interesting?

To be fair, there are some engaging elements too, but- blah.

Move the Pencil

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 27 October 2022]

Eileen (Sara Mitich) wakes up in a padded cell with no memory on how she got there. She has glimpses of memories of her child Eve on a beach and military people shooting weapons. Inside the cell she is asked to perform tasks such as "move the pencil" or else Eve will die. The tasks progressively get harder until she must use telekinesis to control objects with increasing difficulty. At some point in time her husband Roger (George Tchortov) is brought into her room. What she does remember is she is still mad at him.

The point of the whole film is to make us wait until she gets out of the room and we discover why this has happened. The problem is that it takes too long for this to happen as there are so many ways to move a pencil. The payoff ending was not worth the wait.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

A pointless expose of wasted talented performances, great cinematography and a spot-on score.

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 6/10 · 25 October 2022]

As a mainly single-location set - that in itself is a challenge for any filmmaker, co-writer and director James Mark actually succeeds in making this work, especially considering this was clearly a low budget endeavor. The cinematography was excellent, the score absolutely spot-on, and the performances - specifically Sara Mitich, was what carried this film and kept me engaged at the start.

But as the first act had me intrigued with the slick imagery and atmosphere, the second act got a little cheesy with plot holes popping out everywhere, and started getting monotonous, then the final act is where it fell flat. Mark was successful in keeping the viewer guessing where this was going next, but as it approached the ending, the little extra action he added wasn't enough to render anything close to a satisfying ending.

Instead, it felt that I invested all that time for nothing, for a lazy convoluted ending that gave me more questions than answers. All the little details throughout were just style and filler and ended up being cliches and tidbits from past sci-fi films for his underwhelming resolution. What was even the point of the lullaby? The clones of George Tchortov's character? And Mitich's slow-mo walk of power when the action started just ended up being cheesy. There clearly was much more creativity needed in the final act of the screenplay.

At best, this felt like a long dragged out season premier for a Black Mirror-like TV series, and that's just a wasted opportunity and my 90 min investment for this film. This may have worked better as a part-one of two short films, because the idea was there, but nothing was substantiated or delivered in the 90 min runtime. It's a generous 6/10 from me.

1/10 FOR SURE!!!!

[fluffchop · 1/10 · 22 March 2023]

It really is one of the worse films of all time. It's not even slightly funny like Attack of The Killer Tomato's, it's not bad in the way that movie was. This has no creativity or thought put into it. It has no layers. There is a slight variation in the scene when she see's her kid at the beach. The whole film just goes along at the same emotional level with very little script and no real plot other than a single premise. It's just annoying. You will watch till the end to see if anything happens. Then they payoff is that she is going to repeat exactly the same thing over again. So how many times has this happened and so on. The futility of it is just dreadful and this is how they end the film? It's like someones definition of hell perhaps. I can't believe I'm the only 1/10.

Unique, Well Directed & needs mature audience. Not for drama audience.

[egurusakha · 10/10 · 15 January 2023]

Sci-Fi movies are loved by some ppl, who like to go into different reality, they like to be presented with a strange, new concept. And then they would like to see what a writer and director can develop that abstract new concept into. And how it can be connected to human life. And eventually a roller coaster journey for brain and heart. Just like some special mentions. Lobster, Youth, Platform, Equilibrum, Matrix.

To enjoy This movie, you must be familiar to above things. Story works properly to create a stage for a final reveal. The root cause of all that mess, & meaning behind it.

Finally, Human emotions triumps every other thing in this world. And movie just want to send this msg. Pain of loosing someone is inevitable and unbearable. And ppl can take any possible path to forget, or relive past.

Ppl who are in search of timepass, romantic drama etc... should not watch this. Ppl who love to explore new worlds, new concepts and blossoming that abstract concepts into something deep meaningful... can watch this movie.

Could've been better, but not the worst film ever made

[balthesaur · 6/10 · 2 October 2022]

'Control' (not related to the game series of the same name) features Eileen (Sara Mitich), a twenty-something year old woman trapped in a small room and given odd tasks to complete in a short time limit. Each task becomes increasingly more difficult, and failure to complete a task results in her daughter Eve (Evie Loiselle) dying. Through unchained memories of her daughter and husband Roger (George Tchortov), Eileen must find a way out and save her family.

The premise of being unaware of why one is in a room to be tested/tortured is not a new trope, but the twist of psychokinetic powers does add a bit of originality to the film. Cinematography is very well done and plot makes a logical conclusion, but the fault lies in the characters themselves; through the beginning, they are not very convincing, though to her credit, Sara Mitich does pull off a solid performance by the conclusion. Several plot holes and a completely unexpalined antagonist muddle the narrative, but it is an rather interesting piece, given the budget.

Worth a once over.

This is in NO way, shape or form thrilling, at all.

[imseeg · 3/10 · 29 September 2022]

The bad: this is NOT a sciencefiction movie. Nor is it dramatic or thrilling. It's amateur hour.

What do we get to see? A woman alone in 1 room for the entirety of the movie. They had beter make sure beforehand that this actress could really act well, otherwise this movie would implode by below average acting performances. And that is exactly what happened. Bummer.

Not any good then? Well, the actress isnt terrible. It isnt so bad, that I started laughing, but again if I had found it to be so bad, that I DID started laughing that would actually be a good thing. At least when I laugh I get entertained, but with this movie I only got BORED.

Clearly based on the game.. Pitty they didn't credit it

[mgkpalmer · 4/10 · 19 April 2024]

Watching the movie and seeing some of the room designs and such it clearly heavily "borrowed" from the video game... Right up to the Anechoic chamber, sorry but changing sound dampening tiles for ones more similar to radar absorbing ones , while essentially being the same thing is a blatant rip-off. The movie itself is fine, but denying they basically copied Remedies IP is poor... It's up undeniable. Play the game, watch the movie. This is like Vanilla Ice borrowing the 7 notes from Under Pressure for Ice Ice Baby.. Even if it's different after that you clearly know you've heard it somewhere before.. 5*'at best... They deserve 3* for "borrowing"

Losing it

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 14 March 2024]

No pun intended - the movie that some may call a Cube knockoff (I wonder if there was something that inspired Cube back then?) ... and they are not completely wrong if you are honest with yourself. We wake up with the main character and we are as confused as she is. The initial surprise and really tight tension wear off though ... as time goes by.

While the movie seems to be able to add new nuggets (of information and otherwise), is it enough to keep you engaged towards the end? I would think that many will slowly lose interest ... it remains decent! And the ending may very well sway you to vote better than I did ... but is it really? The action is nice but sort of repeats itself towards the end - well no pun intended, right? Life is not a circle ... and we need to have an ending to things ... even if it means we have not moved forward ... at all!

Much, Much Better As A One-Hour Television Episode

[tabuno · 7/10 · 14 July 2023]

Is this a good movie? It is hard to describe. The pacing ultimately becomes very slow. With dramatic, eerie thriller elements from Cube Zero (2004) and the latter part of the television series Person of Interest with Amy Acker having a similarity with Sara Mitich playing Eileen in Control, this movie has its moments. Also included are sci fi components from Lucy (2014) and the emotionally wrenching scenes like from Reminiscence (2021), and the more boring but stylistically strange We've Forgotten More Than We Ever Knew (2016) as well as the classic horror movie Silent Hill (2006). Somehow the movie feels incomplete with its understandable and cyclical movie style. Emotionally intriguing, but not completely satisfying with somehow a missing and important piece of the movie element omitted for a full-length feature film. Nice attempt but consider the horror movie Dark Water (2005) or 1408 (2007) for a similar edgy but full-storied feature. This movie could have been much, much better as a one-hour television episode on The Outer Limits (1995).

A pretty solid movie

[Alfred23 · 10/10 · 21 May 2023]

Given the low ratings I have to give 10 stars.

Otherwise the movie is 6 - 6.5.

The movie is clearly inspired by the game with the same name. Maybe they didn't credited it because they don't want to be sued for copyright infringement (?), I guess?

There's nothing wrong with that but I just wanted to get that out of the way.

The movie is pretty solid, considering it had a low budget. I really don't understand what people are even expecting from this movie since they give low ratings most of them.

But the movie isn't bad. So keep that in mind when if you want to watch it.

The plot of the movie is pretty simple: a women wakes up in a sound-proof room with no means of escape and it's forced to partake in a series of tests that will develop her telekinesis powers. Between the tests we see what appears to be memories of her and her daughter Eve. I don't want to spoil any further so I am going to just say this: it has an open ending. Kinda. We know what happens with the women at the end but we are still left with many questions unanswered and I am not going to asks those questions because that will spoil the ending.

I liked the acting, cinematography, sound design although they really drag that song alot. Now that I am thinking about it, maybe the song could be a clue to what's going on...

My only complaints are the cheesy hand movements (I guess they used that to make the powers seem more interesting) and the dream-like sections of the movie. They just dragged too much with those. I mean I understand that they didn't want to make a long-feature film but still... The movie would have worked perfectly fine without them. And they really don't add anything to the story.

I do recommend this movie. It's clearly not any awards worthy but like I said it's a solid movie. It's not crappy but it's not a masterpiece either. You can give it a watch.

Glad I Saw It

[patsulli99 · 6/10 · 19 January 2023]

The problem is that it doesn't do anything just fine. Everything in it's hit or miss and it clearly isn't batting 1.000.

The lead, good. Mystery, also good. The story, clever. The action, really good and the whole thing looks surprisingly good too.

The problem is Roger doesn't get enough to do, the story unfolds slower than it should especially given the style, there's too many flashbacks and the ending's underwhelming given the wait.

That said I think it's worth seeing cause even if it's not entirely original, it feels different and it does a lot well. The effort that went into it is clear and it shows.

Not bad

[What-a-Punk · 6/10 · 14 March 2023]

I did enjoy this movie.

The idea is interesting and the execution is not too bad.

As budgets seem low, I would assume that script should be the strongest part of the movie for it to be good. But although script isn't that bad, it is not really good too, the most obvious weak point is the same as always in such sci-fi movies, they portray scientists as some kind of sadists who don't have an idea about what they are doing. I mean, be there ever a need to experimentally study telekinesis after some kind of similar incident, it would never have to be so disturbing. Especially with the kind of technology they have in this movie, it is just common sense that they would find a way to study it with less harm and without all those reusable 'supplies' and 'materials', which would just be much cheaper. So that's obviously breaks the common sense.

Leaving aside the script, the execution part is not that bad either, I liked the set and the performance by the lead actress, but I feel like the first half of the movie feels really slow and the drama between characters is not played out well, feels dull.

So yeah, not so bad of a movie, should be okay for anyone who like sci-fi for the ideas and is not too picky on the execution part.

Could be great

[heatherjustintrenton · 6/10 · 28 May 2023]

It honestly could be a great movie. Control fell short for me though, unfortunately. I was hoping it would have more of a storyline rather than a back and forth dream state. I'd like to know more about the organization that she was secured by and how that came to be. Instead we are left wondering, where is she, how did she get there, how are there clones and most importantly, why did her abilities only occured when she was physically assaulted? I would thoroughly enjoy a back story. Overall, I give it a 6 star for effort, not the writing and hole in the plot scripting. The actors were great and portrayed the characters to a t.

What you can do with low budget and great talents.

[ropipgi-581-487166 · 7/10 · 15 November 2022]

After watching the trailer, to my surprise this movie seemed to have the same creepy feeling as the computer game with the same name - not that i expected it to have any similarities.

Some great acting but what stand out the most is the brilliant writing and dialogue. It paints character in a believable light with both faults and redeeming qualities.

I was hanged up on some of what looked like storyboard inconsistency, but it turned out to have great explanations in the end thanks to the solid writing.

After a world building like this, as usual when a movie is thought provoking, i want a sequel set in the same universe, perhaps a bigger studio would want to support everyone behind this movie, as it were better told than some of the bigger budget movies on the same theme ?

I have to deduct one star for the padding with the dream sequences that were far to long, and two for the low budget - but otherwise, great movie.

Enjoyable

[TdSmth5 · 6/10 · 2 May 2023]

A girl is playing with her daughter at the beach.

Next she wakes up in a small room tied to a chair with a table in front and a pen on it. The the room goes red, a voice tells her to complete a task. There's a timer in front of her counting down. When she breaks the rules, the room turns blue and the voice threatens her daughter. When she accomplished the task, lighting turns normal, she hears a noise that knocks her out and then she wakes up the next to to complete another task. The idea seems for her to develop her telekinetic skills.

One day her husband is in the room and eventually he us used as a motivating factor in the experiments while the woman keeps dreaming about their daughter.

After completing the experiments she gets to leave and finds herself in some warehouse. There seem to be other rooms with experiments. When security shows up she gets to put her powers to good use.

We also learned what really happened at the beach. The girl now has a choice to make and she makes a surprising choice.

Initially I thought Control would be one of those ultra low-budget single character single location movies, but it does have more to offer and I found the story engaging. When the girl goes into god mode, things get super cool. Still low budget. They put the funds to good use and made a movie worth watching.