The Stratum (2023) User Reviews

Looked like a high school project.

[erikjluna · 2/10 · 17 September 2023]

This reminds me of a movie that might make it on SYFY at 2am on a Tuesday because they couldnt get anything else to fit the budget. Acting seemed forced. Writing was basic at best. The only reason it has a rating if 5 (for now) is because one of the stars of the film rated it a 10. (We see you Johnathan Medina) That's like saying you have the most beautiful baby when it looks like a goblin.

Avoid this flick, unless you: 1. Have the time to utterly waste.

2. You need to put something in the the hospital room of a coma patient (and they'll probably wake up to change it) 3. Run a CIA black site that needs to torture someone and you can't waterboard them.

Self funded vanity project

[Xavier_Stone · 1/10 · 11 October 2023]

When you get scrape up enough money as an actor and want more exposure this is the usual method. Write, direct and star in your own film, then have another actor help you out, and call in a few more favors and buddies in the industry.

I'm not sure what I was expecting but I didn't last long. I think this is one of those movies where I had to quit and decided to watch the preview instead in hope for a summary. Too many cheesy amateur acting and that's not my thing.

When you get scrape up enough money as an actor and want more exposure this is the usual method. Write, direct and star in your own film, then have another actor help you out, and call in a few more favors and buddies in the industry.

I'm not sure what I was expecting but I didn't last long. I think this is one of those movies where I had to quit and decided to watch the preview instead in hope for a summary. Too many cheesy amateur acting and that's not my thing.

Fun cyberpunk movie

[rustfofo · 7/10 · 18 September 2023]

The low 3 stars score the movie currently has is undeserving. First, Cyberpunk movies are a rarity and as fans we'll take what we can get.

Hacking sequences were done well enough. They were not as realistic as Mr. Robot, and Matrix' power plant hack, but not nearly as horrible as Hollywood's usual flying 3D cubes nonsense.

If this had Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt starring in it then the score would be 7 which is incidentally what Passengers has right now even though it's a horrible movie. So that's what I'm rating this.

While unrealistic that the science macguffin would be developed in the location it was, at least the premise was grounded in reality. No alien wormholes or ambiguous "ghosts in the machine" here.

An homage to classic Sci-Fi...

[DaleSays · 10/10 · 17 September 2023]

I am a child of the 80s. Was raised on films like The Last Starfighter, Weird Science, Krull, and The Thing. Hitchhiker's Guide and the original Doctor Who were in my backyard, too. The ambience and spirit of those swashbuckling adventures inspired me, entertained me, made me laugh and made me think.

All that atmosphere and character is alive and well in The Stratum. The beauty of those films was their ability to hide a message of hope and courage amidst a sprawling story, and do it on a budget. Special effects were more practical and so the heavy lifting was done with dialogue and acting.

Crash Buist and Lauren Senechal deliver that, and more, with chemistry, ingenuity, and zeal. Stratum is one of those rare independent films that plucks on your heartstrings without telling you it will, and does it with a wink and a smile.

The dystopian future, the rogue hacker with a twinge of innocence, the plucky princess with a plan, and the duplicitous CEO; you'll find them here, but updated and real.

You can feel the joy that went into making the movie in every frame. And, at the end of the day, you might walk away inspired, to not only see the world a little differently, but maybe to try and change it, too.

Entertaining small budget indie film, worth it

[sigfredodiaz-75705 · 7/10 · 24 September 2023]

At first, I was just looking for a movie I can just fall asleep to after watching a different good movie. However, I couldn't fall asleep on this film. The characters kept pulling me in. The actress (Senechal) has a gravitas to her, simple/complex and attractive. The story for sci-fi, is as believable as possible considering the situation and timeframe.

Would I have liked a bit more special effects, yes. But I enjoyed the version showed by After watching, i didn't feel as if I wasted my time. It's a value film. It's worth watching.

I don't want to spoil the end, but I'm looking forward to a future movie.

Not bad at all

[info-15394-25743 · 6/10 · 26 November 2023]

Not sure what the deal is with the low ratings.

The movie has obviously been produced with a low budget. I saw a CPU cooler strapped on a plastic gun and the futuristic walls are done with package material. The scene with the landing of the rescue pod was highly unrealistic. The pod landed so roughly no one could have ever survived that.

Nevertheless the CGI was done very well and the acting was very reasonable too. The main female character is a hottie. In all, I would support initiatives like these because they reflect a honest body of work with real enthusiastic participants. I'll bet they go one to do greater stuff.

A Homemade, Low-Budget Sci-Fi Feature Worth Your Time

[TheGenreMilkMan · 10/10 · 30 March 2023]

If you like Sci-Fi or Genre Movies in any capacity you, will like this movie! With Sci-Fi, does budget make a difference in how it's received? Absolutely, if you like Sci-Fi you probably like pretty space things and aliens that don't exist so a high budget movie with poor story can still be entertaining which obviously puts low budget Sci-FI movies at a big disadvantage. Luckily, "The Stratum" manages to have pretty good VFX for its low budget, to the point where you can stop thinking about the effect and just follow the story. Is it as pretty as the 50 million dollar version? Of course not, but the story here makes sense and progresses in an entertaining way with likable leads and villains. When you think of the fact that the crew was so minimal here with the two leads wearing many hats, it's even more fulfilling to have enjoyed. This feature is worth the watch and support, keep an eye out for their future projects, I definitely will be!

New York Times was right. Fun movie.

[TheTiffCarney · 9/10 · 18 September 2023]

I finally got around to seeing this after the new york times reviewed and said it was worth watching and they were right it was a fun time. I appreciate an indie film that has an original idea and runs with it! Usually I don't like scifi stuff but this was good and the lead actress did a good job. I don't really understand the negative reviews, like, the sets weren't star wars but like I'm not really sure what you were expecting? This is an indie film that has personality.

Also I love Ramin Karimloo so that probably influenced my enjoyment of the movie but still it's a good time and doesn't take itself too seriously.

Not that bad

[justinwalker-76100 · 8/10 · 13 December 2023]

Well Kind of low buget movie. But I like it. We saw too much "future" movies. We have huge problems. And No one wants fix them. So our future is Not Star Trek. I get that human race is going to go on?? Even dinosaurs live on earth than human beings. I like movie because of main actor who is very handsome funny and he know what he was doing. Crash Buist did a great job. Even fall in love with Alya. Who lives far far away. There are millinons plot halls. I know. Heck but we can hope why not?? I'm so sorry this movie so little star in IMDB. It's not wasting time. I don't know how did this movie done in Box office but secertly wants a sequel. I want to see that. Are we going to solve our problems in overnight?? No. But future is not set.

A "Sound" Low-Budget, Sci-Fi

[bemyfriend-40184 · 10/10 · 13 April 2024]

I rate movies not on the perceived "quality", as maybe a professional critic may. I rate them on my own personal enjoyment. And this one was surprisingly fun! At the risk of gaining a bunch of "unhelpful" spitwads, I don't really want to give a detailed rundown of the action. But I will give my own synopsis. It is the future, and mankind has ruined the environment totally. It is so bad, that people cannot breathe, without a gasmask looking device. Those who are infected with the lethal poison, are prohibited from interacting with the uninfected. Above the Earth in a space-station, live the man who COULD repair the situation, but won't; and his idealistic daughter, who can. A hacker/attacker who is tasked with infiltrating the space-station's system. He and the daughter spark a Romeo and Juliet romance. The only problem is sometimes the sound is bad. Seen on Tubi, the free streaming site.

Intelligent film

[cloudlesscloud · 8/10 · 21 May 2024]

We're accustomed to slick Hollywood style films. The signalling that tells us it's an expensive film is often a set of cliches, such as expensive production polish and signals of what is about to happen. Along with familiar faces. This is not a Hollywood film.

But most of the acting is good, the story is good, and the effects are mostly good. Remembering it cost 50k and not millions for production.

Apart from the fallacy that Fusion would provide free energy (it's actually forecast to be much more expensive than current renewables). The story logic and character complexities held together well.