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Deus is the story of a group of astronauts aboard the starship Achilles who are dispatched to explore an enigmatic black sphere orbiting Mars after emerging from their ship’s hibernation. They discover the sphere is transmitting the word “God” in more than 4,000 languages. What does it all mean?

Written and directed by Steve Stone, the majority of Deus is the crew talking on board the Starship Achilles trying to come up with solutions, but no one takes action until the final act. Not much happens in between. The pacing is slow until a rushed last minute finale. What makes it more frustrating is how the devastation of the sphere is often referred to but a demonstration of its destructive power is never shown. After all that build-up, there’s no payoff. The set designs make the Achilles look dark and dingy with a bland colour palette behind the actors. Granted, lower budgets affect how a film gets made but it never really feels like they’re aboard a Starship. What few scenes that do show space exploration are so lacklustre it’s distracting. The lighting isn’t just off balance, its so dimly lit it puzzles me why not brighten some scenes up to make darker ones more impactful?

The cast includes Claudia Black, Richard Blackwood, Philip Davis, Lisa Eichhorn, and David O’Hara. The Achilles is full of bland characters with no personality. All the actors give mundane performances behaving like they’re on autopilot. By that I mean it feels like they’re just going through the motions to finish the production process. For example, there are no discernible reactions or sense of urgency when giving bad news. Someone could have expressed interest in anything in their lives outside their deep space missions. We know nothing about these characters. Do they have spouses or siblings? How about hopes or dreams or fears? It could have used more humour to make characters likable and relatable too. This is why the crew of the Nostromo in Alien worked so well.

Overall, the story isn’t very interesting nor are the bland characters in front a monotonous setting. Perhaps another draft or two of the script could have injected the much-needed personality traits into the characters and improved the pacing. The 90-minute film felt like it was over 3 hours. The final act is jam-packed with so much exposition it’s enough to make anyone’s head spin. It’s as if the decision was made to explain everything last minute while writing the script. Too many bizarre writing choices inhibited my enjoyment of the film. The uninspired illogical writing shows no imagination and it’s not pretty to look at.

Themes of humanity, conspiracy, facing adversity, and religion are focused on but could have been discussed more deeply by posing philosophical inquiries for the audience to ponder but instead puts them to sleep without providing anything to wake us up to get us involved in what’s happening. The biggest frustration is Deus doesn’t respect the audience as intelligent viewers. It reminds me of Sphere, Event Horizon, Star Gate, Contact, and Alien. I wouldn’t recommend this inferior version of those films. And remember, whether it be out of fear or frustration no one in space can hear your screams.