Coherence – Only just coherent

If you’re like me, you may well cynically see today’s crop of sci-fi films as nothing more than the same story involving superheroes flying around New York fighting aliens repeated over and over again.  Therefore, I do try to check out slightly lower-budget offerings which rely on story over effects and characters over star-power.  Therefore, I thought I’d give ‘Coherence’ a go as I stumbled across it on a popular internet streaming service.

Six friends (who are only just slightly different from Joey, Ross, Phoebe and co!) are having a dinner party when their night of social small-talk and cheese and biscuits is interrupted by a comet hurtling over their heads.  And, as pretty as it looks in the background of one of their selfies, it proves to split reality creating an alternate version of reality before they’ve had a chance to down their second glass of wine.

Now, whenever a film presents the audience with ‘countless realities’ or time travel, or some other concept which requires careful attention to details when it comes to plot, really does need to keep things clear for viewers without confusing them. ‘Coherence’ just about managed that.  It’s certainly not a film you can go into too much details about when it comes to plot, as most of what I say may give away spoilers.  The main thing I’d say is that you really do need to pay attention, so don’t you dare risk a toilet break without pausing the film as you may end up returning to a completely different set of characters compared with who you left!

The cast do their best with what they’re given in terms of script – mainly it involves looking confused and/or scared while trying to offer theories as to what’s become of their evening.  There’s certainly no big name stars (unless you count ‘Xander’ from the ‘Buffy’ TV show!), but they do enough to make you believe that they’re a close-knit bunch of friends who have known each other for a long time.

If you’re desperate for a science fiction film that does its best to offer a concept that is completely ‘special effects and explosions-free’ then you’ll certainly find one here.  I did find it a little hard going in places and it feels more like a straight-to-DVD film than anything you’d actually pay to watch in the cinema.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights