It's really quite well put together (particularly considering it's STV). I do however have two minor & one substantial gripe with the film ;D
The Minor:
- It would have been good to see a little more martial arts in the movie; dacascos' training scene is nice though. I haven't really seen him do much outside of Only The Strong martial arts wise, even in Crying Freeman/Drive/Brotherhood of the Wolf the martial arts scenes are quite brief. Interesting considering OTS is dedicated to a style he hadn't trained in previously (afaik).
- I would have much preferred Romero style zombie make up to the sea-creature-with-exposed-spine look.
And the substantial gripe:
The first half of the movie works well, It's nice seeing a modern Last Man on Earth (I'm looking forward to Will Smith's crack at it as well) -- him setting the detonators, being constantly spooked, a little crazy, etc. It was also a nice touch that he kept a bottle of alcohol on him incase he ever came into direct contact with the virus (sadly overlooked in most films of the genre). But!... The climax felt like a completely different movie:
[Spoilers Below]
Ok, you've set up your character to be the psycho-double cross "I'm not who I claim to be" villain. Unfortunately this is apparent to the audience right from the start, presumably by design. The ex-special forces protagonist doesn't see it coming though (obviously, if he sees it coming you have to write a much more complex script ;P) & gets shot a half dozen times as a result. No matter, near death though he may be he still has enough energy left to push-start a car & then kick some bad guy ass!
I realize this is a staple of the genre but it felt really out of place in the otherwise serious mood of the film. Particularly when the villain is dragging his dead friend around and mushing the head into the chick-in-danger's crotch. It killed the movie for me.
--
Don't take this the wrong way - It's STV, low budget & aimed at cashing in on a much larger film's imminent cinema release. In many respects the film is far better than it ever should have been; the camerawork is good, the lighting is good, the locations are good, the mood & pacing is good, the acting is good enough, the writing is -mostly- decent & the effects are as good as they need to be.
Which is why it *kills* me that the film wasn't able to stick the landing. If it had been played as a straight Last Man on Earth/Zombie flick it would have been good from start to finish.
* What is it with action/horror films and having the equivalent of Fratboy-gets-stoned-while-he's-being-chased-by-jason scene ? (in I Am Omega it's the sewer scene)
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meangeoffmeed
17 years ago
hey dexter, now this is honest commentary/crticism that i appreciate. so thank you. the role i did (Vincent) DID get a little over the top. guess it was one of those things that happens when you get caught up in it, but, Ryan Lloyd also had some shooting date conflicts, and there were other production issues, so that was actually one reason why he got killed off so early. but everyone liked Ryan so much, and he's a good friend of mine, that we kept him around "dead". little inside info there, for ya. i realize the beginning and end felt like two different films after seeing it completed. we weren't able to stick completely to the original script i wrote, but we did the best we could. but anyway, thank you for writing.
geoff meed
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Boomstick87
16 years ago
I also didn't think this was nearly as bad as I've been lead to believe. In fact, it was surprisingly good.
Also, props to you, Mr. Meed. I thought your acting was fine, especially in the scene where you were putting the dead body of your friend all over that chick. Made me laugh.
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meangeoffmeed
16 years ago
thanks Boom. it's not going to win any awards, but it was definitely a learning experience for me, and a chance to work with some friends. that scene was actually on the fly, and not scripted.
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