Boy was this a lot of fun, and I can see why it the audience award at SXSW.
It has really well created three-act structure. But before the the first frame, it begins with the most unique introduction I've ever seen. That hooked me in straight away and that was a cool way to start the film.
As for the story itself, it starts of at a gentle pace, introduces us to this near-future world really well, shows some cool gadgets and we understand the characters.
Then some major developments occur in the second act turning the films speed up many notches, and every aspect just gets elevated for the better.
Once we've experienced some thoroughly enjoyable action scenes, the crescendo to the piece was quite satisfying with a predictable yet neatly executed twist.
The performances overall were solid. But it was all about Logan Marshall-Green. It was great to see him back on the big screen after his mainstream breakthrough in Prometheus. After that, he got badly treated and was basically labelled as a B-version of Tom Hardy.
But after his solid performance as a minor role in Spider-Man: Homecoming, that seemed enough for everyone to welcome him back.
Now he's the lead in his latest project, and more than holds his own in this.
I like the beliefs his character has and how it was incorporated into the main plot. That for me was well explored and was executed pretty well.
The rest of the performances were perfectly fine, but were never exceptional. The villains were never given as much development as Marshall-Green's character. So that lowered it down a bit. But thankfully, the performances by Benedict Hardie, Richard Cawthorne, Christopher Kirby and Harrison Gilbertson were all solid.
I always love how much directors and their respective teams can make with a low budget and manage to stretch it to its limits that put multi-million dollar budget films to shame.
That being said, the touch that director Leigh Whannell gives to this blends really nicely. It may have a low budget. But it certainly has that summer blockbuster feel to it and could fit this into many genres.
This has a nice mix of sci-fi, action and a bit of revenge horror. It also has some comedic moments that manages to stand out despite some of the graphic content its battling with. It also manages to pull at the emotional strings really well and at the right times.
Some of the camera movements during the action scenes was very inventive and almost reminded of parts of the comedy Game Night, which came out earlier this year. So great stuff by cinematographer Stefan Duscio.
There were a few small negatives to speak of. As mentioned before, the villains were not fleshed out enough and never gave us a strong antagonist to compete with the strong development Mrashall-Green's character was given.
Also, the general plot is very unorginal. It is definitely something we have seen before. But thankfully, it was made up for many small aspects to the story that almost revitalised this story structure.
So while the general plot and concept may be formulaic. It certainly takes some cool twists and turns along the way and has moments of depth that makes this above average at worst.
Plus, the imagination in the technology used in this was brilliant. It's amazing that even now with the amount of sci-fi films that have been made, you can still make some new types of technology in them.
I had a lot of fun with this and no part of it slowed my enjoyment down at any point. It felt like a mix of Robocop and John Wick and hearing that will appeal to many demographics.
Rating: 8/10
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