While it's existential nature renders the plot largely aimless, the scenery and cinematography that brings that to life is breath-taking, not to mention the agility with which the helicopter - in pursuit of two escaped prisoners Shaw & McDowell - pursues its hapless quarry throughout the rugged Spanish terrain.
Beautifully shot abstract film has Shaw as the bold, vicious and erratic elder prisoner who goads his younger, more refined companion McDowell in the necessary techniques for survival - including murder. It's a two-man show here, and although a supporting cast featuring Christopher Malcolm, Henry Woolf and Pamela Brown is credited, they essentially have none of the dialogue and appear only briefly.
While I found the film picturesque, the landscape vivid and diverse, and the aerial stunt-work impressive, the characterisations were not as well drawn, their theatrical-like dialogue, peppered with soulful monologues reflecting on their civilised life before this ordeal, didn't quite (in my experience) paper over the thin plot and largely organic narrative. I guess that's the point though - less is more - and for a film that offers so much texture in visual displays, and aerial acrobatics of its menacing helicopter protagonist, perhaps the minimalist approach is all that's really needed.
Beautifully shot abstract film has Shaw as the bold, vicious and erratic elder prisoner who goads his younger, more refined companion McDowell in the necessary techniques for survival - including murder. It's a two-man show here, and although a supporting cast featuring Christopher Malcolm, Henry Woolf and Pamela Brown is credited, they essentially have none of the dialogue and appear only briefly.
While I found the film picturesque, the landscape vivid and diverse, and the aerial stunt-work impressive, the characterisations were not as well drawn, their theatrical-like dialogue, peppered with soulful monologues reflecting on their civilised life before this ordeal, didn't quite (in my experience) paper over the thin plot and largely organic narrative. I guess that's the point though - less is more - and for a film that offers so much texture in visual displays, and aerial acrobatics of its menacing helicopter protagonist, perhaps the minimalist approach is all that's really needed.