Ash is a new film from director Flying Lotus premiering this weekend in theaters and on Shudder on a later date. The film was once supposed to star Tessa Thompson & Joseph Gordon-Levitt, only to be replaced by Eiza González & Aaron Paul. It also stars Iko Uwais, Beulah Koale, Kate Elliott, and Lotus. When Riya (González) wakes up on a mysterious planet to discover her crewmates have been killed, a mysterious man named Brion (Paul) arrives to rescue her, setting off psychological & physical terror.

Due to its cast & visuals, I have been heavily intrigued by this. I didn’t know anything about Flying Lotus’ style as a director, but the film still seemed original enough worth watching. It’s clear Lotus is clearly inspired by the Alien franchise, and I even thought a few times that he could be a solid choice to direct an entry in the franchise. His inspiration translates into something that’s rather mentally stimulating with its slow burn pace in the first half and a knockout second half with engaging visuals throughout.

I honestly can’t recognize a film where Eiza González was the leading lady of a film. I am glad the stars aligned in order to make it happen, because when she’s paired up with anyone on screen, Aaron Paul, included, she truly shines. I’m glad to see a film like this give her a big role over her small role in Hobbs & Shaw. Even when she becomes the final girl, she is consistently in command whenever she is on screen.

Aaron Paul, however, does feel miscast. For the life of me, I can’t seem to understand why he continues to be in project after project of this caliber. With his breakthrough performance from Breaking Bad, it seems like he keeps getting work, but not the right work to properly showcase his talents. He does what he can with the film. Unfortunately, it doesn’t give him the capability to shine in the role.

The structure in the first half is either going to lose its viewers or keep viewers patient enough. I can honestly see viewers checking out in the first half and not caring what happens in the second half. To me, the visuals in the first half keep the film visually stimulating that allows Eiza González trying to figure out the mystery with minimal dialogue. With a short 95-minute runtime, the film could have benefitted from adding a prologue that gives more characterization to the side characters. After the set-up, it can then skip the mystery, allowing us to be more emotionally invested in the characters and their story.

The first half is tricky to understand. By the time the second half hits, I understood better as to what was going on and was fully on board with the concept. I found the mysteries to be resolved in a satisfying way. It delivers on the action and the horror with some big payoffs. Eiza González also gets to shine in this portion that I hope gives her more leading roles. As a fan of The Raid films, there is even a small moment that reminded me of those films that left me satisfied.

While I really enjoyed the visuals, I did find it distracting against the human characters. It doesn’t always look great and it can be noticable that there is a green screen. The cinematic look can even feel resonant to a music video, which I suppose is fitting since the director comes from music. To be fair, I haven’t listened to his music, but I do like what he did here. With what I suppose is a small budget, I think the film did a good job with what they had and I hope it gives Flying Lotus more opportunities to go bigger and better.

On first watch, I was ready to give it a 4/5. After I slept on it, I am going down a little bit in my score that you will see towards the bottom. I did enjoy the film for its originality, but there is something missing in its structure to make it more appealing in its structure and its visuals. It’s going to be a challenging watch for viewers that I hope will get more appreciation over time.

Overall, I found Ash to be engaging in its visuals, structure in its lead performance. Any criticisms from others are completely valid as the first half can be confusing and slow, and the side characters don’t get enough screentime. If you have the opportunity to see this, I can easily see this being an interesting one to talk about with other viewers. Whatever Flying Lotus does next, I am in.

VERDICT: 3.5/5 (Pretty Good)