I picked up a copy of this movie at Rock n Shock 2009 in Boston, and just got around to watching it.
First off, on a technical note... the audio/visual sync was about a second and a half off, but sometimes things like that are a result of incompatibility with the DVD player, so it could be that. I haven't tried it on another player. Anyway...
There's earnest effort here, if not flawed all the same. For the bad: The over-saturation of colors... while in itself as a stylistic choice (to present a kind of "hyper-reality") is fine, in combination with the costume colors, made things very hard to see, especially early on in the film. You couldn't tell who's side was on what, because they were had similar color schemes, that all blurred together when the final color mix. More variation and a tad less on the saturation.
Dialogue... a lot of the exchanges are really just strings of curse words (at least it sounded like it), and when there was actual plot-moving speeches made... they sounded a bit pretentious, over-blown or with an air of "I'm being intentionally vague here" kind of thing. A good fix would be a less-is-more approach. Say less, tell us less... show us more.
Editing... Imagine my surprise when we see the title sequence 22 minutes into the film. Seriously. 5 minutes past when the first act should be ending, we get the titles. Frankly, I say take them out all together, or put them at the very beginning. The "opening" is too long for it. Generally, there seemed like a lot of "padding" to the scenes to make them longer, and it wasn't needed. It could be tightened up a lot. Sure, it may have cut 20 minutes off the film, but I'd rather see a 1 hour movie that clips along then an hour and 20 movie that's 20 too long.
The good: (To be fair) Choreography: There were really only 2 choreographed fights... and the choreography itself was pretty darn good. (But I would have liked to see more of the skill displayed in the 1st one, in the 2nd) The only thing that took away from it, was some editing choices... I think faster cuts, more angles, and some "locked" angles, in lieu of hand-held, would have worked better. It would also have better hidden the fact that the actors are pulling their punches.
Resources: All in all... for what they're working with, I've seen worse. Sure, some of the secondary actors may not have the skill, but they were all being earnest. Sometimes effort can go a long way.
And the girl playing "Hydra" was pretty hot. Maybe I just have a thing for tattoos.
First off, on a technical note... the audio/visual sync was about a second and a half off, but sometimes things like that are a result of incompatibility with the DVD player, so it could be that. I haven't tried it on another player. Anyway...
There's earnest effort here, if not flawed all the same. For the bad: The over-saturation of colors... while in itself as a stylistic choice (to present a kind of "hyper-reality") is fine, in combination with the costume colors, made things very hard to see, especially early on in the film. You couldn't tell who's side was on what, because they were had similar color schemes, that all blurred together when the final color mix. More variation and a tad less on the saturation.
Dialogue... a lot of the exchanges are really just strings of curse words (at least it sounded like it), and when there was actual plot-moving speeches made... they sounded a bit pretentious, over-blown or with an air of "I'm being intentionally vague here" kind of thing. A good fix would be a less-is-more approach. Say less, tell us less... show us more.
Editing... Imagine my surprise when we see the title sequence 22 minutes into the film. Seriously. 5 minutes past when the first act should be ending, we get the titles. Frankly, I say take them out all together, or put them at the very beginning. The "opening" is too long for it. Generally, there seemed like a lot of "padding" to the scenes to make them longer, and it wasn't needed. It could be tightened up a lot. Sure, it may have cut 20 minutes off the film, but I'd rather see a 1 hour movie that clips along then an hour and 20 movie that's 20 too long.
The good: (To be fair) Choreography: There were really only 2 choreographed fights... and the choreography itself was pretty darn good. (But I would have liked to see more of the skill displayed in the 1st one, in the 2nd) The only thing that took away from it, was some editing choices... I think faster cuts, more angles, and some "locked" angles, in lieu of hand-held, would have worked better. It would also have better hidden the fact that the actors are pulling their punches.
Resources: All in all... for what they're working with, I've seen worse. Sure, some of the secondary actors may not have the skill, but they were all being earnest. Sometimes effort can go a long way.
And the girl playing "Hydra" was pretty hot. Maybe I just have a thing for tattoos.
