To a certain extent, first-person cinema has always been Hollywood at its most uninspired. “What do kids like? Video games. What do video games have? First-person camera angles. Therefore, if we create first-person movies, then all that sweet, sweet video game money is ours for the taking!” The truth, of course, is a little trickier than that. The format can work when a filmmaker finds a way to give its perspective narrative importance  —  Unfriended is a strong example of this  —  but too often, the first-person perspective is a neat trick that quickly tires audiences out (sorry, Hardcore Henry).

So I’m not quite sure what to make of this first full trailer for Kill Switch, the science-fiction thriller starring Legion and Beauty and the Beast star Dan Stevens. As we discussed with the teaser trailer, the original short film was rumored to have connections to the Half-Life or Lost universes, and the best parts of this trailer seem to lean into that same technology-gone-wrong approach. I also like that the movie doesn’t seem to use first-person perspective for its entirety; as with any visuals, variety is the spice of life, and Kill Switch could go farther than its peers entirely on the basis of its fifty-fifty approach.

This trailer also seems to hint at the possibility of two earths, where the machines we’ve created to power our cities effectively draw energy from our parallel environment (kind of like Fringe, come to think of it). And while my gut tells me that Kill Switch will be nothing but another disappointing slight action movie  —  seriously, Saban, you don’t get to describe Tim Smit as a “visionary director” when he’s never made another feature film  —  there’s enough substance here to pique my interest at the very least. I want to be here when Hollywood cracks the first-person narrative, so once more into the breach, etc.

Here’s the full plot synopsis for Kill Switch:

A military experiment to harness unlimited energy goes horribly awry, leaving a pilot with no choice but to fight through an imploding world to save his family and the planet itself.

The fillm will also star Charity Wakefield, Bérénice Marlohe, and Tygo Gernandt. Kill Switch hits theaters on June 16, 2017.

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