My quick rating – 4.0/10. Altered drops us into an alternate present where genetically enhanced elites run the show, and regular folks, or anyone not born from a designer gene catalog, are treated like disposable background characters. Right off the bat, we meet Leon (Tom Felton) and Chloe (Elizaveta Bugulova), two outcasts trying to fight back against a system stacked higher than a Marvel movie’s VFX budget. After a quick bit of exposition, we’re shuffled straight into a future-tech heist, which is honestly where the movie is at its strongest… mostly because the pacing doesn’t give you time to question anything yet.
Unfortunately, once you do start questioning things, the cracks show fast. The genetic elitists, supposedly evolved beyond us mere mortals, look less like sophisticated superhumans and more like the rejected creature designs from a Syfy pilot. Their modifications are strange and not in any way intimidating, unless you’re afraid of awkwardly applied prosthetics. Being separated from Chloe for about two minutes sends Leon into a meltdown like he’s been wandering the desert for years. And then there’s Mira (Aggy K. Adams), a famous singer who goes from kidnapped victim to soul-bonded ride-or-die in the span of a single montage. The script bends itself into a pretzel to make these relationships happen, and none of it feels earned. “Script of convenience” is the nicest way I could put it.
Leon’s superhero-ish suit doesn’t help matters. I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be intimidating or a rejected costume from Kick-Ass. And yes, things do take a hard left turn into sudden romance. The whole movie has this “was this written by AI?” vibe. If not, someone was definitely speed-running the screenplay at 3 a.m. Timo Vuorensola has done much better (I have seen Iron Sky), so the laziness here is disappointing.
Predictability is the real villain. You’ll see every plot point coming long before the characters do. The action scenes? Completely laughable. When the anti-genetics group slaughters an entire restaurant, not a single drop of blood hits the floor. It’s shockingly sterile. Audio editing swings wildly from scene to scene, and there are jarring music-video-style cuts that seem like they’re supposed to convey a vibe, but instead land like unfinished placeholders.
The frustrating part is that the core idea isn’t bad at all. Some environments look solid, and a few effects are serviceable enough to communicate what’s happening, even if “strength” and “random flower energy” are as deep as the power system goes. Bugulova deserved more dialogue because she’s genuinely the best thing on screen. Felton gives what he can, but his character is written to be irritating, so there’s only so much he can do.
The message is worth hearing; the execution is not. Altered is watchable once, but barely. Not the worst concept – just a painfully weak delivery.
