Frontiers of the Forgotten

Critic Reviews

Christopher Geese's 'Frontiers of the Forgotten' attempts to marry the grit of a space-age western with the whimsy of steampunk adventure, but ends up lost in the vastness of its own ambitions. The film's tagline, 'In the vastness of space, the past is the deadliest frontier,' promises a thrilling odyssey, yet delivers a nebulous narrative that struggles to find its footing. Clammy Add-ems, our steampunk hero, is as enigmatic as the dusty planets he traverses, but the mystery of his past feels less like a puzzle to solve and more like a forgotten footnote. Catherine O'Haricot's sentient robot outlaw offers a glimmer of interest, but even her charm is tarnished by a script that feels as recycled as the scrap metal of her character's body. Albert Broccoli's cyborg has the potential to be a formidable screen presence, yet his 'cryptic connection' to the protagonist is as uninspired as the film's visual effects. What could have been a compelling exploration of identity and redemption is instead a tiresome slog through clichés and underdeveloped plot points. The PG rating ensures the film remains accessible, but one can't help but feel that a bolder, grittier approach might have salvaged this spacecraft from its monotonous drift. In the end, 'Frontiers of the Forgotten' is a cinematic venture that should perhaps have been left in the recesses of the forgotten itself.