Reviews

Movie Review: The Fix

One-liner: A dated feel, detached lead and thin script undermines this intense, thoughtful and visually-stylish sci-fi thriller.

The Fix is a transformative sci-fi thriller about a high-profile model who becomes embroiled in the after-effects of an experimental drug. Set against a dystopian future where the air is not safe, corporations thrive on humanity’s desperate need to enhance their ability to breathe.

This is a film by writer-director Kelsey Egan, who is best known for the sci-fi thriller Glasshouse, which also dealt with an airborne toxin and bleak dystopian society. Egan gets an opportunity to expand the horizon of her previous vision, taking it from a fixed single location to a world-building stage. An ambitious undertaking, The Fix struggles to live in the moment, constantly distracted by attempts to cultivate a sense of on-screen gravity to embed its characters and world. This elusive quality and growing distance severs real connection, making the experience lofty yet contrived and illusory.

The Fix stars Grace Van Dien as Ella, which immediately connects the sci-fi film with the world of Starship Troopers and her father, Casper Van Dien, beginning with an advert that recalls this dynamic. Known for her television roles in Greenhouse Academy and The Village, she has an icy intensity reminiscent of Keira Knightley’s earlier roles. Van Dien stars opposite Daniel Sharman as Eric O’Connors, whose credits include: Teen Wolf, The Originals and Walking Dead.

The intense film taps into a similar territory to the Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried sci-fi thriller In Time as it unpacks a world where the wealthy can literally buy themselves more time. Having a youthful verve, The Fix does seem to be targeted at young adults, presenting a good-looking and young ensemble featuring Keenan Arrison, Nicole Fortuin and Clancy Brown. A mixed cast of up-and-coming local actors with a few internationally-recognisable faces, both Glasshouse and The Fix lean on their pageantry-concocting worlds through their visual aesthetic, styling and wardrobe.

Glasshouse was more resourceful with its setup and concept. Having more budget to work with this time, Egan spreads her wings as she ventures forth into a world that seemed so other in her previous film. Beyond the confines of Glasshouse, Egan brings a script that she had been working on for years to life. While she may have possibly written the lead role for herself at one stage, Van Dien takes it on against a sleek backdrop and cosmopolitan society.

The Fix does have an international feel in terms of its decentralised storytelling, set in Cape Town but not saying this in so many words. There’s a generic future world feel that comes into play with actors carrying a non-regional dialect, explaining why so many call centres find their way to South Africa. Science fiction is a rarity for our local film industry, making The Fix fresh in terms of its genre play and makeup.

the fix movie

“I’m in a glass cage of… of… nevermind.”

Tapping into the genre and recent global events around the pandemic, the use of masks does unfortunately make it seem dated, even if the idea was conceptualised before the COVID-19 pandemic. As visually-fresh as it may be, the dated feel is unavoidable based on the strong correlation with face masks. While there’s some interest in terms of the overriding concept, having characters wearing masks can also be problematic in terms of disguising their faces and creating a natural barrier to emotional connection.

Having this slight distance exacerbates what is already a difficult jump to make in terms of characterisation, creating a buffer and unfortunately more distance. While Grace Van Dien has the right look and plenty of fire when it comes to tackling this spirited and detached character, the disconnect widens on the back of limited points of identification and a rather cold treatment. To get behind this character, her fury festers just below the surface, making her tough and full of fire, but this dynamic becomes one note and humourless.

The supporting characters are also thinly scripted, struggling to add depth and nuance through their pithy dialogue, and tending to push for action over emotion. Primarily concerned with the appearance of things and stylistic elements, the engagement is mostly superficial and lacks the character hooks to draw you into the story, forcing you to watch at arm’s length. While the visuals are striking and reach new heights for the local industry, The Fix is after international level production values, which leaves it modest to sub-par within this context.

There’s a good balance in terms of real versus unreal, not trying to overreach in terms of the visual effects but having enough gimmickry in terms of realising the environment to make it an ever-present distraction. Trying to get the right look and feel seems to be more important than crafting complex characters, compelling drama and weaving together a vivid story. As beautiful as it is to look at aided by a slick edit and good sound, there’s unfortunately a disconnect when it comes to the overall impression.

Going full tilt in terms of visuals, it unfortunately doesn’t have the substance to fall back on, making for a stimulating yet aloof viewing experience as if adapted from a videogame. Not having the character detail or texture to pique interest the characters appear to operate in silos. This cold environment makes sense in a dystopian world yet remains tepid when it comes to immersive entertainment.

As ambitious as The Fix is in terms of achieving its vision, it seems as though it may have cast too big a net to encompass the idea. A noble effort, it seems a pity that more time or value wasn’t dedicated to script development in a bid to enhance the characters and story so that it wouldn’t have to rely on all the eye candy.

Selling the future world comes at a cost and as much as it captures the essence of the vision, it falls short in terms of getting you to care. Perhaps the scope of the film was too broad as a follow-up to Glasshouse. While the ingredients are good, the net result seems stretched and in spite of some reasonable action set pieces, it mostly falls flat without emotional engagement. From an intellectual point-of-view, the story is quite straightforward, pulling in a few classic and curious themes with some flair.

Unfortunately, a distant casting decision, thinly scripted characters and a focus on world-building rather than character and story ends up putting The Fix’s primary focus on the technical, which while reasonable should’ve been secondary. The dated feel is unfortunate and while promising at times with a few moments of inspiration, it largely seems stillborn and a missed opportunity.

The bottom line: Misfire