Every film is designed to arouse the audience to invest in a story. At least, that’s the way it should work. Screenwriters have an idea at hand, and then they design storylines that characters play out. But yes, it’s not that simple. To accomplish a good script, there has to be balance between all storytelling elements, but above all, the way the story is told must be interesting. Otherwise, why bother telling a story if viewers won’t be able to connect?
The idea behind Protocol 7 is great. From a storytelling standpoint, it’s almost admirable when we dig deep into the premise and realize how well-connected it is to our current reality. The problem is that there’s something missing from the execution. Protocol 7 isn’t a very interesting adaptation of its essential story, and soon after it puts its pieces out in the open, it loses steam with a series of poorly written characters. Not even its third act, typical of a legal drama, can save it from being a forgettable movie. But yes, the subject matter is important, and just for that reason, it should be watched for everyone to make up their own mind about it.
In the film, Alexis Koprowski, is a mother who’s going through the issues of discovering her child is autistic. The communication with her husband also fails, as they’re unable to cope with such a mysterious condition that has no guidelines. She’s also a lawyer, and when she meets a virologist who has no problems with whistleblowing, and a doctor who seems to hold all the answers, she decides to go on a quest to fight big pharma, as it seems they have falsified test results for a vaccine.
How exactly this is connected with her child is for you to witness in a convoluted plot line that at some point arrives at the evidence compilation in which Alex could fight a pharmaceutical corporation in the most boring courtroom ever. This is big issue with the film that decides early on to stay strictly inside the boundaries of realism, and does nothing to make its characters’ journeys more compelling, and at the same time, more believable. Yes, it’s a film adapting several stories that deserve to be told, but creative liberties should be considered to make a film poignant and engaging.
Nevertheless, it’s a film with a good production value: performances are actually not bad, the cinematography is good enough, and its script structure is basic but effective. Its theme, and how it’s addressed may be a bit fantastical, but somehow the conflict has to be resolved in under two hours. Protocol 7 won’t do much beyond its simple execution of a story, but sometimes it’s how these films work. Like sparks that should jumpstart a conversation about vaccination and government trust, regardless of which side you stand on.
Film critic. Lover of all things horror. Member of the OFCS. RT Approved Critic.
