Given the opportunity to download your mind into someone else’s brain so that you could use their body to avoid terminal illness of your own, would you do it?
That is the general question posed by The Anomaly.
Ex-soldier Ryan wakes up, trapped in a van. Barely awake, he realises he’s not the only one locked up in there – there’s also a little boy. While trying to get away from the unknown strangers who abducted them, Ryan is knocked unconscious. When he wakes up, months have passed without him having any recollection.
For the better part of the movie, Ryan (Noel Clarke) tries to figure out what is happening to him and even gets some unexpected help from a hooker by the name of Dana (Alexis Knapp). At the same time he tries to figure out the role of Harkin Langham (Ian Somerhalder) and later on that of Harkin’s father.
As many modern sci-fi action movies, this one, too, paints a rather dark picture of the future, though it might not seem that way at first. After all, the thought of living your life in another body, so real that you no longer feel having a proxy, sounds rather tempting. But how high are the costs exactly? What are you willing to sacrifice? For example, your own benefit will be at someone else’s expense, whether you want it to or not.
Despite “The Anomaly” being rather action-laden, I still cannot help but think of it as a little undersold. The questions asked are important – and they are hardly limited to the ones asked on the surface.
However, on the negative side I should have to mention that at times the film gets a little confusing. Perhaps watching it a second time will help clear that up.
And concluding with the arc that initially made me watch the movie in the first place: Ian does prove that he has more to offer than a pretty face or playing just another addict. His semi-villain is very believable. And I dare say there must have been at least a little training in order to perform some of those action sequences. Yes, despite stunt doubles.
Still, if action really isn’t your thing, don’t touch this one.
