HOVER – Review

SYFY Films will release the science fiction film HOVER in Theaters on June 29, 2018 and VOD and Digital HD on July 3, 2018.

Review by Matthew Lowery

There comes a certain expectation when you see “SyFy Films” at the start of a movie. You expect to see a ridiculous movie with bad acting, an almost non-existent plot, and tons of lousy CGI. Essentially, when you think “SyFy”, you think of movies like Sharknado, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus, or any other silly-looking monster movie. But then comes along a movie like Hover, which is actually a bit of a step-up from what one would expect out of SyFy Films. While its story isn’t necessarily original and some of the CGI sticks out like a sore thumb, it is an admirable film full of good intentions and some interesting ideas.

Set in a near future world similar to our own, the movie follows a young woman named Claudia, played by Cleopatra Coleman who also wrote the film, who works for a company called Transitions. With her partner John, played by Craig muMs Grant, they visit people who are deathly ill and provide a quick and painless death by giving them gasses that kill them but without the horrible feelings one goes through when dying. At the same time, there’s a rival company called VastGrow, who have developed high-tech drones that help farmers grow their crops as well as protect them. After John is killed mysteriously, Claudia gets a new partner and continues with her job, until she starts hearing about how the locals are revolting because the drones have been killing them off. Soon, Claudia gets thrown into the mix as she tries to figure out what’s going on and who she can trust.

The third feature film of director Matt Osterman, Hover is certainly one of the smarter movies you would see from SyFy Films. While it’s obvious this movie is low budget, the film makes up for it by focusing more on the story and the characters than the effects. Cleopatra Coleman does a fairly decent job as Claudia, showing some sadness in the more emotional scenes, but she also is rough in some spots. Craig muMs Grant, though he has limited screen time, does steal a lot of the scenes he’s in, as he’s very intense and grounded in his performance. The rest of the cast ranges from pretty good to just average. The effects, while not the greatest, are still good for this kind of movie, and there actually are a few practical effects in the movie, which I was surprised by.

As much as this film is well intentioned and as much as you can tell that Osterman and Coleman are really trying, this movie isn’t that great. While the first hour or so is pretty decent, it does start to go off the rails in the last act. This is when it turns more in a prototypical SyFy movie, with ridiculous action scenes, cheesy CGI drones flying around, and said drones making people’s heads explode ala Scanners. I can’t deny that there is a charm to how silly the movie gets, but when the first two acts are played relatively straight, it is a bit jarring to have it go there.

Overall, Hover isn’t an awful experience to watch. It’s certainly well-intentioned and you can tell that the filmmakers have a message that they want to put forth, but I would say if you’re curious, this is probably worth a rental.

3-1/2 out of 5 stars