THE ANOMALY is an extremely confusing low budget British science fiction film directed by and starring Noel Clarke. I like the man myself, I love some of his work, but when it comes to genre films he does seem to make some rubbish and this film's a good example of that. It comes across as a poorly-written rip-off of the Tom Cruise movie EDGE OF TOMORROW or perhaps SOURCE CODE and even after finishing watching it I still wasn't quite sure of what I'd watched.
Clarke plays a soldier whose life is lived in nine minute intervals before it all goes hazy. During each nine minute segment he gradually learns that he's part of a sinister conspiracy aimed at world domination led by a sinister research institute. Clarke must battle against the bad guys and try to beat them at their own game in the time he has left.
This nonsense is merely a background for the film's main focus which is the fight scenes. It feels like Clarke watched a whole bunch of DVDs starring the likes of Donnie Yen, Tony Jaa, and Jet Li, and thought "I'll have some of that". Sadly, these fights are repetitive and include some very poor choreography and stylistic effects, such as the super-slow motion which is utilised at possibly the worst times. Clarke is no martial artist, merely a street brawler, and there's no grace in these fights at all. He throws in some nudity and an old-timer role for Brian Cox, but the end result is still a mess whichever way you look at it.
Clarke plays a soldier whose life is lived in nine minute intervals before it all goes hazy. During each nine minute segment he gradually learns that he's part of a sinister conspiracy aimed at world domination led by a sinister research institute. Clarke must battle against the bad guys and try to beat them at their own game in the time he has left.
This nonsense is merely a background for the film's main focus which is the fight scenes. It feels like Clarke watched a whole bunch of DVDs starring the likes of Donnie Yen, Tony Jaa, and Jet Li, and thought "I'll have some of that". Sadly, these fights are repetitive and include some very poor choreography and stylistic effects, such as the super-slow motion which is utilised at possibly the worst times. Clarke is no martial artist, merely a street brawler, and there's no grace in these fights at all. He throws in some nudity and an old-timer role for Brian Cox, but the end result is still a mess whichever way you look at it.