Cosmic Sin is an American sci-fi film starring Bruce Willis and Frank Grillo and directed by Edward Drake. In the year 2524, 400 years since humankind was able to colonise the cosmos, Cosmic Sin sees 7 soldiers part of a team governed by “The Alliance” who are attacked by a newly discovered civilization of forceful aliens. In the hopes of the human race not becoming extinguished and to stop a potential interstellar war, these soldiers launch a precautionary strike against them.
Co-written and directed by Edward Drake, and co-written by actor Corey Large (who also stars in the film as Bruce’s bff Dash), Cosmic Sin brings you action, aliens, impressive looking weapons, as well as some sarcastic and funny humour. What is lacking however is Bruce Willis’s presence as our lead character, despite his name being front and center of all the posters.
I enjoyed seeing Mr Willis back on our screens again, but I was unsure of his character, James Ford the “Blood General”, from the moment he walked into that bar at the start of the film. Even though Willis is known for being a charismatic actor and has starred in many films over the years, his performance in Cosmic Sin is extermely lackluster, and his partner Frank Grillo (who plays his boss Gen. Ryle) seems to be compensating on his behalf.
The start of the film is exciting and intense, and keeps you hooked with the premise of potential alien attacks, but at times the volume of the music and sound effects dilutes the dialogue and it’s hard to hear what is said. Things that might’ve been important were sadly missed. You get the impression that the film is almost finished. The story feels rushed and uneven.
When the film hits the halfway mark it changes pace and the tone differs slightly. You go from slowly following and understanding the premise to thinking that you’ve missed something because now you’re slightly confused at what’s just happened… things start to not make sense anymore. That being said, the performances from Brandon Thomas Lee, Costas Mandylor and Adelaide Kane were real standouts for me, with their superb acting, on screen presence and chemistry.
Besides Wilis, Perry Reeves who plays Dr Lea Goss and C.J.Perry as Sol Cantos were a bit of a let down. Their characters felt hollow, and I felt nothing from them except annoyance. I appreciated that Cantos was a ‘badass’ warrior who loved to kill aliens, but her demeanor and attempts to be funny irritated me. What I did find beautiful though were the locations, with the vast green trees and the colourful neon lights of city bars. The juxtaposition of the vibrant busyness of city life on Earth and in the cosmos – the flying spaceships, the colourful sky and the loudness of the bars was compelling. The forest in particular was very aesthetically pleasing to look at, and evoked a feeling of tranquility, even if only for a moment before the guns came out and aliens started to attack.
This film is only 90 minutes, which let’s be honest, is a rare thing these days especially if it’s a sci-fi involving aliens, and it flies by. However it becomes very predictable with some of the cast dropping like flies within the first 45 minutes. The ending, too, was slightly disappointing and unsatisfactory. Although part of me thinks it was a bittersweet ending and that it came ‘full circle’, there was something missing. Perhaps it felt rushed and there was no specific conclusion but it just didn’t feel earned. I was simply left thinking “oh, was that it?”.
Cosmic Sin is available on digital and DVD from March 1st 2021.
