The knowledge of how the movie must end hangs like a pall over its first 90 minutes, transforming an otherwise remarkable rags-to-riches tale into something steeped in regret.

With a paint-by-numbers storyline and lackluster villain, the chief pleasures come from Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, and David Harbour.

Adept at providing the violence fans expect from an exploitation flick and, despite its pretense of offering political commentary, that’s really all this movie is.

Uses reliable science fiction/time travel/alien invasion tropes in ways that could be interesting but ultimately turn out to be regurgitations of stories we’ve seen before.