Director: Marc Price
Year: 2021
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Action
Plot:
Arriving at an abandoned factory, a team of indie filmmakers decides to prep the location to begin shooting despite all the obstacles the location and their minuscule budget restricting their dwindling talents. As they prepare to set up a particular shot, they realize that next door is a gang-land murder being carried out by a gang of criminals who are soon caught and ordered to die for what they’ve just seen. Trapped inside the building without any weapons, they’re forced to rely on their filmmaking skills and tricks as well as their own fighting skills to try to survive the night against the relentless criminals on their trail.
Review:
This one proved to be a genuinely enjoyable effort. The type of guerilla filmmaking shoot they’re on, from the improperly-wired building, personal squabbles, and general unprofessionalism that holds up the shooting until the very end before they witness the murder offers a fantastic retelling of the trials and tribulations affecting the kind of low-budget indie crew they really are. That makes the action scenes far more thrilling and impactful by seeing the group who’s in over-their-heads trying to defend themselves from the gangsters coming to take them out. These scenes are highly enjoyable and feature quite a few hard-hitting and genuinely exciting martial arts battles with the performers getting a chance to showcase their skillset quite frequently, resulting in bloody and brutal brawls throughout the film. When not relying on martial arts fights, the brutality of the traps and hand-held weapons utilized to aid them adds immensely to the fun here, all giving the film a lot to like.
There isn’t much to dislike here but there are some minor issues. The main drawback is the fact that the villains are far more comical than they should be, especially when they’re trying to be intimidating and threatening. Laughing at their ineptness to keep the film crew alive, bungling their missions to the point of infuriating the crime boss, and generally being pathetic yes-men rather than skilled underworld criminals. That significantly reduces their effectiveness with their behavior as such and creates an odd tone shift with the intensity of the mission leaving this one to be quite jarring. The last issue here is that the finale feels underdeveloped with a lack of interaction between everyone and just coming off as a coincidence of events without any kind of emotional resonance. Otherwise, there’s quite a lot to like here.
Overview: ***.5/5
With some nice action scenes, far more brutality than expected, and a nice sense of fun overall, this one is enjoyable enough to hold itself up over the few minor flaws on display. Fans of indie action fare or are just curious about this one should give it a shot while viewers who are turned off by these features or the film’s approach might want to heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment