Bliss – Amazon Prime Review (3/5)

BLISS is a new sci-fi movie on Amazon’s Prime Video starring Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek. Personally, I think the movie should have been shorter and tighter, but I did enjoy it as a whole. It’s quite the mind-bender and will definitely not appeal to everyone. Full Bliss movie review here!

BLISS is a new sci-fi movie on Amazon’s Prime Video. The sci-fi element is different than what you’re used to and yet, it feels familiar if you’ve watched The Matrix. However, it is nowhere near the movie the trailer tries to sell it as!

While it is one hell of a mind-bender, the movie needed to have a tighter pace for the story being told. I suspect this movie will irritate many and be criticized heavily. However, it should also find some fans who enjoy this wacky universe and the actual heart of the story. 

Continue reading our Bliss movie review below.

Salma Hayek saves Owen Wilson… maybe?

The story revolves around a character played by Owen Wilson. His name is Greg and he seems both quite depressed and addicted to his prescription drugs. Just when it looks like he’s about to lose his job, things change drastically when he meets a very peculiar lady named Isabel.

Isabel is played wonderfully by Salma Hayek who is a ball of energy – and conspiracy theories!

For a long while, you’ll wonder what’s fact and what’s fiction. Hell, this is a sci-fi movie so it’s obviously all fiction to some degree, but the characters shouldn’t wonder about this as well. However, Greg (Owen Wilson) does and you can’t exactly blame him. Then again, when Salma Hayek suddenly makes him feel alive again, he doesn’t ask too many questions. To begin with, anyway.

The ending of Bliss movie on Amazon Prime Video

I have no doubt that many will dislike the ending of Bliss on Amazon’s Prime Video. Not just because the story seems to switch genres a few times, but also because it seems to do so rather abruptly. To me, the core plot often seemed quite reminiscent of The Voices (2014) starring Ryan Reynolds.

Of those two movies, I definitely preferred the ending of The Voices for the sheer reason that it was more concrete. The Bliss ending does seem somewhat open-ended while it also has a very finite feel to it. I kept waiting for an end-credit scene that never came.

However, I did really enjoy both the bold and crazy ways of the Isabel character played by Salma Hayek. She is perfectly cast in this movie. As is Owen Wilson as Greg, so I can’t falter the casting of this movie. I would have preferred an ending that stayed in the sci-fi genre rather than move away from this, which I definitely felt like Bliss did.

Then again, it is up to interpretation. Not that it’s open-ended per se, but it does leave room for you to decide what to believe.

Watch Bliss on Prime Video

Mike Cahill is the writer and director of Bliss. Previously, Mike Cahill also wrote and directed the sci-fi genre-bender movies Another Earth (2011) and  I Origins (2014). For me, these first two movies came across as stronger and more direct in their plot, while Bliss had more moments of pure, well, bliss. Since his two first feature films, he has directed TV series – including the pilot for Nightflyers.

I have no doubt the story of this movie is close to his heart. At least, I felt this come across while watching the movie. Ultimately, however, the plot and style of this movie end up being too much all over the place. While I did enjoy it overall, I also can’t help but feel that it could have been better. Especially by cutting a good 10-15 minutes of the final half.

The missed potential to make more of an impact, is probably what I’m somewhat irritated by. Basically, I find myself being tougher on this movie because I expected something more or different. Is that fair? Maybe not. But the trailer for this movie did sell me a very different story than what I ultimately got, so I don’t think my expectations were without good reason.

Bliss is an Amazon Original and will be out on Prime Video worldwide from February 5, 2021.

Details

Director: Mike Cahill
Writer: Mike Cahill
Stars: Salma Hayek, Owen Wilson, Madeline Zima, Nesta Cooper, Joshua Leonard, Jorge Lendeborg Jr, Ronny Chieng, DeRon Horton