I’m kind of a sucker for found footage movies. And since I’ve seen all the popular ones, I’m only left with the straight-to-Netflix pieces of shit.
Now that I’m thinking about the found-footage genre, I kind of actually do wanna do a video just talking about the topic in general.
Nevertheless, I will finish this written review and workshop my found-footage video idea.
Phoenix Forgotten isn’t the worst found-footage movie I’ve seen.
There’s your quote for the back of the box. In fact, if someone who worked on the movie wants to use that, just go ahead, I don’t mind.
Now that I think about it though, I’m not sure what makes a good “bad” found-footage movie for me. I’d like to think that story and characters mean a lot.
Unfortunately, I have caveman brain.
I like a good monster. Found footage movies almost always converge into “camera man getting chased by a monster”. And I love that shit.
Phoenix Forgotten is no different. The last 20 minutes of the movie are an adrenaline-filled, intriguing experience. But what about the other 60? I feel like I’m gonna keep coming back to this, but it wasn’t the worst 60 minutes of my life. In fact, there were some pretty interesting character moments.
To give a quick plot rundown, a kid and his friends go missing while investigating a potential UFO, the (real-life) Phoenix Lights of 1997. The search is eventually given up for the group, but his sister takes matters into her own hands and begins investigating his disappearance nearly 20 years later. The majority of the film is footage shot by the sister in present day, with occasional footage shot by her brother interspersed throughout the runtime.
Back to the character moments, it was interesting learning about how the the kid’s disappearance affected his parents. The dad became kind of obsessed in finding him and the mom just wanted some closure and to move on.
Okay, I guess it’s not that interesting, but it’s something.
Alright I’m gonna stop bullshitting you. I just watched this movie for cool alien costume/CGI. I’m not gonna act like the story kept me watching, I was on my phone like a quarter of the time. The characters didn’t actively make me angry, and there were even a few cool moments. That’s all I ask for in a found-footage movie.
Well, except for a COOL CREATURE AT THE END. That’s my number one ask. So was there a cool creature at the end?
No.
But I did feel satisfied after watching.
As far as I noticed, they don’t show an alien. During the final act, the tension was built up pretty well. I feel like it’s kind of a cop out when tension is built up only to be released with a loud sound and a shaky camera, but it felt appropriate here. The loud sounds and bright lights were (presumably) brought on by a UFO. You get a glimpse of what I think is the UFO and it’s pretty cool. It’s insanely loud and bright and that’s conveyed pretty well on film.
One of my favorite aspects of the genre is that it effectively teleports the viewer into the position of the camera. You’re left to think about what you would do in that scenario. I don’t fuckin know what I’d do if I was getting chased by a UFO in the Arizona desert. Probably run away. Luckily I don’t have to get chased by a UFO to feel my adrenaline pumping, I could just watch this movie again.
I feel like I’m not giving this movie a fair shot critically.
I just kinda wrote off everything besides the action-packed ending and that feels weird to me. But that’s just not the reason I come to found-footage movies. Well not all found-footage movies, I can recognize there’s some really amazing ones like Noroi: The Curse. But that’s different in a way.
It’s my guilty pleasure I guess. I’ll put on some found-footage movie, just kinda tune out until the ending, which is when the action usually kicks in. Phoenix Forgotten definitely didn’t disappoint with it’s final act.
Do I Recommend It?
If you’re a fan of the genre, specifically when there’s aliens involved, then this isn’t a bad choice. It has slightly more interesting characters and plot than a lot of other found-footage films below 40% on Metacritic. There are definitely films in the genre with better final acts, but there’s also a lot with worse. If you want an average, middle-of-the-road found-footage film, then you can’t go wrong with Phoenix Forgotten.
It’s not the worst thing ever.