Manifest Movie Review: The Thriller You Won't Want to Miss!

After money heist, the new hot favorite of the generation is “MANIFEST”. It is an American supernatural Netflix series directed by Jeff rake that premiered on Netflix on August 28^th, 2021. The series revolves around a group of passengers who boarded flight 828 of Montego Airlines that landed in New York after five years after the day it took off.

The series includes tons of mysterious twists that hooked the audience to their screens. I’m thrilled to mention that the second part of the season until the last episodes 10-11 truly picked up and has us all hooked!! But with good things comes the negative side as well.

Moderate spoilers - They, fortunately, did somehow manage Grace’s relationship with Ben and their family unit is again heading in the right direction (for now), they brought two new characters to light that notably changed and similarly developed the entire scope and course of the narrative, and they brought a mind-blowing truth about each person’s remaining fate to be the underlying force using each season going forward. I’m totally intrigued to see what they’re doing and can’t wait to see how it unravels in the next Season (we are hoping and anticipating it might be based totally on the overall scores and momentum). The next season is just seven months away!!! (On a side observation, its mid-season alternative “The Enemy Within”, appears honestly excellent and like it can be a large success itself.

Great premise, and thanks to the writers/creators for taking on the challenge, but the sloppy writing, character development, and lack of attention to detail are driving me crazy. For example, on November 4th, 2018, the plane landed. It's the Big Apple. In November, New York would be covered in fall foliage and brilliant colors. Despite this, the environment remains lush and green. They obviously shot over the summer, which is good, but the plot should take place in September, not November. Another example: they used Cal's first day of school to represent everyone's first day back, but it was mid-November at the time, and the school doesn't start until September... Character development-wise,

*SPOILER ALERT* Grace and Ben's relationship is really cringe-worthy. Why would Grace give up so quickly? Why would she so simply dismiss the supernatural element of what they're going through when she saw for herself that they returned unaged and unchanged after 5.5 years? It shouldn't be difficult for her to trust her husband when he tells her what's going on and that he's the best person to safeguard Cal.

Also, *ANOTHER SPOILER* as someone else noted, that “twist” of the passenger working for the bad guys was beyond laughable. Why wouldn’t she have simply warned her “boss” via that hidden cell phone that they were onto them well before they all got there?? Instead, she led them right to the bunker site as a result of their tests, there was an explosion, and everything was ruined. It's illogical... The actors are competent, but the script could be better, and the show has yet to find a comfortable balance and direction. To compare it to Lost, as the benchmark for a relatively well-balanced and superbly presented Supernatural drama, by the time I was 9 episodes into Lost, I was hooked and so invested in the story and the characters - the writers really got it right with the tone, balance, incredible character development, and plausibility in an otherwise unexplained, implausible circumstance. Manifest has yet to come close and I fear it never will, though to be fair, LOST really was a unique gem and can’t really be replicated, no matter how many people may attempt it. I really want to like this series. and I'm giving it my all, but I'm getting frustrated with it and don't know how much longer I'll stick with it. For the time being, it has my attention, but at this rate, I'm not sure how much longer it will hold it, and I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't make it past season 2 (assuming it even gets that far... we'll see...).