Rolls with an easy confidence right from the start – distinct characters, quickly established as they hunt the ghouls in the shopping centre, before scenes at MI-16, Atlantis and Downing Street re-establish the status quo in rapid order. Corinne’s path from the Cornerstone oil rig back to Dr. Blake unfolds at a logical speed – it’s all too easy to have people jump conveniently from place to place, but Corinne’s journey feels honest – and the dramatic opening scenes of her escape set up the first act nicely.
Corinne fits the classic template of ‘person with powers abused in the name of science taking revenge’ (yes, it’s a template) that is the root of so many good SF stories (or even
X-Men plots), and Raina’s awakening gives Alec some very meaty drama to work with too, the paternal side of him not something we’ve had chance to see before. It’s a good role reversal of the bits we’ve seen of his own early days with Baines, although with some neat gender reversal thrown in.
The old screenwriting adage of arrive in a scene late and leave it early really works well here – pauses for character beats aside, there’s not a wasted moment throughout this. Halfway in and things are still building, but there’s been progress on all threads throughout. Makes a good contrast to the often ponderous
Kings Cross, which sorely lacked this kind of pace. Alec and Dragan’s rainswept rooftop clash is great stuff, Dragan like one of those monstrous, indestructible goons so beloved of 80s action movies.
When Raina’s side of the plot kicks in things get moving again, but with the shift in focus I started to notice that this has felt more like a Season Four premiere than a between-seasons movie – Corinne’s story has had several good beats but it’s fighting for screen time with Raina’s arc. Her mind-controlled sinking of Atlantis would have made for a cracking S4 opener, but as Corinne’s story isn’t integrated with it in any way, we’ve got the unfortunate effect of two regular episodes smushed together into a movie. Cornerstone’s plot has to wait until eighty pages in to fully get going beyond Corinne’s escape and the team’s fight with Dragan, which doesn’t work as well as if this had been focused purely on them.
However, once Dragan sets up his attack on MI-16 then we’re back into the meat of things, with the destruction of the Core another pre-season game changer (and the comparisons to
Torchwood continue with this move!). The oil rig raid is the kind of slick, extended action sequence that Adam is proving to be a real expert at, the titanic Alec/Dragan fight a definite highlight.
What saves this is the same thing that kept saving
DSR, or
Parcel View against any plot or style wobbles – the characters. The Core Four of Alec, Jackson, Boone and Chloe are the rock of this show, and they’re such a well-oiled machine by now that they stride through the scenes with consummate authority. Relegating Wexler and Neriah to supporting cast doesn’t hurt (Neriah struggled to make much of an impression outside a handful of episodes in S3 anyway), and the Alec/Raina relationship, while nothing new in many ways, still resonates. Even the more political diversions Rufus goes on work – they hold together well on their own and form a good change of pace from the MI-16 action.
Nitpicks? Well, the shoehorned, clichéd Britishisms (‘Sonny Jim’, ‘who’s he when he’s at home,’ ‘stick this in your pipe…’ ‘more than one way to skin a cat’) still make me cringe, and as I’ve just said this is less a standalone movie (as ‘Absolution’ did so well), more an extended opener for the upcoming fourth season. It’s all good, well written stuff, but a bit of a cheat when it could have built a single, focused story around Corinne and Cornerstone. That said, it does serve as an induction for Raina into the group, upgrades Jackson (at last!), gets rid of Atlantis (making the hoo-hah at the end of S3 about it rather redundant, though) and sets the board ready for 4x01 later this year. And even with a gooey festive final scene. Awww.
