Movie review - Altered

Altered *1/2 (out of 5) This futuristic sci-fi flick tries hard to make a metaphorical tale of importance about class systems and technology. The premise is that a nuclear holocaust surprisingly made some people genetically enhanced, while others who were immune to that effect, called either “specials” or “freaks”, became a subordinate class, living in post-apocalyptic squalor. Our protagonists are a wheelchair-bound inventor (Tom Felton) and his adopted teenaged charge (Aggy K. Adams). They’re trying to upend the class system, while scratching out a meager living from providing his tech services to his fellow specials.

Altered seeks desperately to be profound. Unfortunately, wanting depth and achieving it are two very different things. Lame dialog and illogical plotlines undermine the effort. Rather than offering any sort of fresh take, the film settles for remixing familiar sci-fi tropes and presenting them with unearned earnestness. When the inevitable twists arrive, they register less as revelations and more as boxes checked on the way to an ending that mistakes ambiguity for insight. The action sequences are poorly planned and executed in many ways.

Visually, the film serves up the usual futuristic gray-blue palette, alternating between the bleak underclass environs and the posh attire and surroundings of the enhanced class. Director Timo Vuorensola and cinematographer Anton Bakarski borrow the aesthetics and language of better sci-fi, and assume that familiarity will do the heavy lifting. Their set designs may be the best feature of the production. Since Timo is also the credited writer, he seems to be more adept with the camera than with the pen. The plot relies too heavily on coincidence without credible character development. It just isn’t as profound as it seems like it’s trying to be.

The two leads could have shined with a better script that contained a credible cautionary tale. In summary, the movie isn’t really bad; just disappointing.

(Altered debuts on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on 1/20/26 from Well Go USA.)