ENDLESS (2020)

Genre: Drama/Fantasy/Romance
Director: Scott Speer 
Cast: Alexandra Shipp, Nicholas Hamilton, DeRon Horton, Ian Tracey, Catherine Lough Haggquist, Eddie Ramos, Zoë Belkin, Famke Janssen
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: PG (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 26 November 2020

Synopsis: When madly in love high school graduates Riley (Alexandra Shipp) and Chris (Nicholas Hamilton) are separated by a tragic car accident, Riley blames herself for her boyfriend’s death while Chris is stranded in limbo. Miraculously, the two find a way to connect. In a love story that transcends life and death, both Riley and Chris are forced to learn the hardest lesson of all: letting go.

Movie Review:

The YA market is potentially huge but never really take off except for the success of Twilight, The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner franchise with the occasional hit liked The Fault In Our Stars. Still, that doesn’t really deter filmmakers from dipping their hands and toes into the teens market which explains why a movie liked Endless emerged out of nowhere.

Although Endless is not based on any existing novel or comic property and is credited to writers Andre Case and Oneil Sharma, it feels very much liked a less mature, rehashed version of Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze’s 1990 hit, Ghost. Sadly, exactly three decades has gone by and no other movies with similar themes has topped the supernatural romance drama and that includes Endless.

Ten minutes into the movie, leading man Chris (Nicholas Hamilton) is killed in an automobile accident in a car driven by his girlfriend, Riley (Alexandra Shipp). We have probably watched less than ten minutes of prologue to know how madly in love our two young lovers was. Chris is the typical chiselled bad boy who comes from a single parent family while Riley is aiming to be a lawyer although deep down, she has a penchant for art. And guess what, she is the only daughter of a pair of snobbish rich parents who wants her to study law just liked them.

Before the story can delve into the economic disparity of their families, the huge differences in terms of career path between the young love birds, Chris is dead and he is stuck in limbo on earth with a fellow helpful ghostly presence, Jordan (DeRon Horton). Chris is definitely not having an out-of-body experience by the way, he is really DEAD. So at some point, Riley realised she can communicate with Chris after googling for some information on the supernatural. The catch is the longer Chris linger around Riley, he is going to indirectly “kill” her. Thus is letting go the best way to prove your love?

Endless is basically a teen movie made for teens. It is shamelessly engineered to be a tearjerker but fails to do so. One obvious reason is simply the audiences do not get enough time with the couple before Chris is gone. It is often cliched, heavy-handed and filled with banal dialogue. The filmmakers intended the movie to be sort of a title to cope with the loss of a love one but the message never really comes off as sincere or believable.

There’s a recurring subplot of Chris dealing with the absence of his father and Jordan concealing the actual truth behind his death. Interesting developments that are far more interesting than the supposedly weepie romance. Again, these are plot fillers before jumping to the next sequence of Riley trying hard to communicate with Chris once again, whispering sweet nothings and getting misty-eyed.

Alexandra Shipp who also produced the effort is a talented young actress having appearing as a young Storm in X-Men: Dark Phoenix and movies liked Love, Simon. Capable of displaying a range of convincing emotions, Shipp is utterly wasted in a forgettable effort. Her fellow X-Men alumni, Famke Janssen appears as Chris’ mom, Lee. You can conclude Janssen has very little to do here except crying her heart out in one scene and screaming her head off in another.

It’s easy to predict how this movie is going to end. Everyone lives happily ever after, Chris magically returns to life and Riley goes to law school. No, we are not going to spoil the movie despite the hackneyed narratives. If you are a teen or preteen, you might find Endless endlessly engaging. The rest of the people please proceed with caution.

Movie Rating:

(Only the youth crowd will find this appealing)

Review by Linus Tee