''The Anomaly'' is a 2014 British

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

action thriller Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include lif ...

film co-written, directed by and starring

Noel Clarke Noel Anthony Clarke (born 6 December 1975) is a British actor, screenwriter, director, and comic book writer. Rising to prominence for playing Mickey Smith in ''Doctor Who'' (2005–2010), he played Sam in the films ''Kidulthood'' (2006), ''Adu ...

and also featuring

Ian Somerhalder Ian Joseph Somerhalder (born December 8, 1978) is an American actor. He is known for playing Boone Carlyle in the TV drama ''Lost'', Damon Salvatore in The CW's supernatural drama ''The Vampire Diaries'', and Dr. Luther Swann in Netflix's sci ...

and

Luke Hemsworth Luke Hemsworth (born 5 November 1980) is an Australian actor who is known for his roles as Nathan Tyson in the TV series '' Neighbours'' and as Ashley Stubbs in the HBO sci-fi series ''Westworld''. He is the older brother of actors Chris Hemsw ...

. The film was panned by critics.

Plot

Ex-soldier Ryan Reeve wakes up in the back of a moving van next to a young tied-up boy, Alex, who is being held prisoner. Strangely, the boy seems to think Reeve is the kidnapper though he has no memory of ever having seen the boy before and looking at his watch, he last remembered it being six months previously. After freeing the boy, making a run for it, and attempting to figure out what has happened to him, all he remembers was being at a facility treating his severe

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...

. As one of their pursuers catches up to them, suddenly he blacks out again and awakes in a room with a mysterious young man (same as before) named Harkin Langham, who seems to think he is someone else. When Langham discovers who he really is, he disables Reeve and knocks him out. Reeve then wakes up in a mysterious bedroom having sex with a beautiful young woman. She identifies herself as a prostitute named Dana, who seems to remember meeting and engaging in sexual activity with a much more violent and sociopathic version of Reeve. He tries to explain his predicament, but she remains skeptical. He asks her to come with him, but she says she cannot leave as she is the "property" of a Russian gangster named Sergio. Reeve offers to free her if she will help him solve the mystery that his life has become. The two manage to escape, but Reeve again loses consciousness when the mind control system reboots and again Langham catches up to him. He must work out what is happening in bursts of exactly nine minutes and forty-seven seconds, as the control and conscious awareness of his body is repeatedly being hijacked and shuffled through different scenarios by person/s unknown. He teams up with Dana as he battles a conspiracy in mind control known as "Anomaly" led by Langham. Langham, meanwhile, urges him to stop fighting it, as it has nothing to do with him, however, he is convinced otherwise.

Cast

as Pvt. Ryan Reeve/Anomaly #66 *

Alexis Knapp Alexis Merizalde Knapp (born July 31, 1989) is an American actress. She portrayed Stacie Conrad in the ''Pitch Perfect'' film series (2012–2017), Alexis in the party film '' Project X'' (2012), and appeared on the first season of the TBS come ...

as Dana * Brian Cox as Dr. Francis Langham *

as Agent Harkin Langham/Anomaly #X *Rachael Jowett as Margaret *

as Agent Richard Elkin/Anomaly #13 *

Ali Cook Ali Cook (also credited as Alistair Cook) is an English magician, actor and comedian originating from Yorkshire. Cook played Sgt. Paul McMellon in the feature film ''Kajaki'', which won the ''Producer of The Year Award'' at the 2015 British I ...

as Agent Travis/Anomaly #97 *

Art Parkinson Art Parkinson (born 19 October 2001) is an Irish actor from Moville in Inishowen, County Donegal, in Ireland. He began his professional acting career at the age of seven. He is best known for his role as Rickon Stark on the HBO series ''Game of ...

as Alex *

John Schwab John Schwab (born 15 September 1972) is an American actor, TV producer and musician who resides in London. He produced '' The Hide'' with Christopher Granier-Deferre, which was nominated for a BIFA 2010. He is best known for his film and televi ...

as Harrison Samuel *

Michael Bisping Michael Gavin Joseph Bisping (; born 28 February 1979) is an English actor, sports analyst, commentator and retired mixed martial artist, who competed in the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight division of the UFC. A professional competitor ...

as Sergio

Production

The film was produced in the United Kingdom in 2013. Clarke performed his own stunts, modifying his diet and receiving fight training for the purpose.

Distribution

The first official trailer was released on 19 April 2014. The film was shown at the

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...

in June 2014Neil Young
"'The Anomaly': Edinburgh Review"
''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', 18 June 2014. and entered general release in the UK and the Republic of Ireland through

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

on 4 July."'The Anomaly': Noel Clarke fights time in sci-fi puzzle"
cinema,

Euronews Euronews (styled on-air in lowercase as euronews) is a European television news network, headquartered in Lyon, France. The network began broadcasting on 1 January 1993 and covers world news from a European perspective. The majority of Eurone ...

, 7 July 2014.

Reception

The film was unanimously panned by critics, with a

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

approval rating of 0% based on 17 reviews, making it the worst reviewed British film of 2014. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, it has a score of 27 out of 100 from 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

Mark Kermode Mark James Patrick Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter and podcaster. He is the chief film critic for ''The Observer'', contributes to the magazine ''Sight & Sound'', prese ...

of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' called it "ambitious but uneven". Other critics described it as "hilariously naff science-fiction mularkey" and "a peculiar Brit flick best described as a noble failure"David Edwards
"The Anomaly review: Noel Clarke delivers a peculiar film best described as a noble failure"
'' The Mirror'', 4 July 2014. and referred to "tangled conception and tortuously opaque execution"Guy Lodge
"Film Review: 'The Anomaly': Derivative and incomprehensible, Noel Clarke's shoestring sci-fi actioner doesn't live up to its title"
''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', 17 June 2014. and to "meag erewards for those willing to endure its laborious convolutions".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anomaly, The 2014 films 2014 action thriller films 2014 science fiction action films 2010s British films 2010s chase films 2010s English-language films 2010s mystery films 2010s science fiction thriller films British action thriller films British chase films British mystery films British science fiction action films British science fiction thriller films Films about security and surveillance Films directed by Noel Clarke Films set in the future Techno-thriller films Universal Pictures films