Full disclosure: I happily contributed a few bucks to both Eddie Lebron and Daniel James for their work on this film. I'm also rock out to The Megas regularly, and I'm a huge Mega Man fan from my early days of video gaming. Yes I'm probably biased in this review. Also, review may contain some spoilers.
That said, Eddie Lebron's Mega Man movie may not stand out to a large number of people, but it stands out because of what it is: an independently made movie, done over the course of a few years, honoring one of the most well known video game franchises of all time.
It's a movie based on a video game. With very rare exception, they turn out horrible because they don't stick with the source material or they make it as cheesy as can be. See the Super Mario Bros. movie, Street Fighter in both it's live action incarnations, Double Dragon, to an extent Doom, etc. as examples of video game movies done wrong. This movie sticks very true to the original game, one of the classics of the NES, allowing for some ret-conning done in a sequel to include Blues/Protoman and throwing in plenty of nods to the original. It gets the story right, and when it comes to video game movies, that's half the battle right there.
It's an independent movie, without much budget. That's why some of the costumes may look like someone went to a 'bike shop' and some of the CGI may be lackluster. Still, considering that it is an independent movie without any backing from from a studio or from Capcom, it gets more right than it gets wrong. With a bigger budget it could have included more robot characters from the game rather than just 'reports' of them on a TV screen, or grander battles with the robot masters and the Yellow Devil, but even boiled down the movie gets what it needs to get.
Acting: Well, some of it was definitely hammy. Personally I found Dr. Light to be rather stiff, but not intolerable. Dr. Wily I found hilarious and fully engaged in his role. Rock & Roll both hit their characters pretty well, and while not much can be said about the Robot Masters, they're on screen for how long anyway?
Sound: Ups and downs... There are places where the sound effects are lackluster or even missing. The real gem here is the score by Daniel James, created from scratch with the exception of nods to Wily's Castle and Protoman's whistle, two very recognizable NES themes even years after the game's release. James does an excellent job of conveying the mood of the film, creating themes for the characters, and providing great symphonic energy at all the right moments. The ending credits with songs from video game cover band The Megas also fits well.
Overall, if you want high quality production but don't care about story, go back and see some of the awful video game movies of the past. You're welcome to waste your time on that kind of eye candy that will do nothing for you. If you want to see a video game movie done right, and you're willing to forgive some flaws in production value because of it's independent nature, there aren't many movies that will top Mega Man.
That said, Eddie Lebron's Mega Man movie may not stand out to a large number of people, but it stands out because of what it is: an independently made movie, done over the course of a few years, honoring one of the most well known video game franchises of all time.
It's a movie based on a video game. With very rare exception, they turn out horrible because they don't stick with the source material or they make it as cheesy as can be. See the Super Mario Bros. movie, Street Fighter in both it's live action incarnations, Double Dragon, to an extent Doom, etc. as examples of video game movies done wrong. This movie sticks very true to the original game, one of the classics of the NES, allowing for some ret-conning done in a sequel to include Blues/Protoman and throwing in plenty of nods to the original. It gets the story right, and when it comes to video game movies, that's half the battle right there.
It's an independent movie, without much budget. That's why some of the costumes may look like someone went to a 'bike shop' and some of the CGI may be lackluster. Still, considering that it is an independent movie without any backing from from a studio or from Capcom, it gets more right than it gets wrong. With a bigger budget it could have included more robot characters from the game rather than just 'reports' of them on a TV screen, or grander battles with the robot masters and the Yellow Devil, but even boiled down the movie gets what it needs to get.
Acting: Well, some of it was definitely hammy. Personally I found Dr. Light to be rather stiff, but not intolerable. Dr. Wily I found hilarious and fully engaged in his role. Rock & Roll both hit their characters pretty well, and while not much can be said about the Robot Masters, they're on screen for how long anyway?
Sound: Ups and downs... There are places where the sound effects are lackluster or even missing. The real gem here is the score by Daniel James, created from scratch with the exception of nods to Wily's Castle and Protoman's whistle, two very recognizable NES themes even years after the game's release. James does an excellent job of conveying the mood of the film, creating themes for the characters, and providing great symphonic energy at all the right moments. The ending credits with songs from video game cover band The Megas also fits well.
Overall, if you want high quality production but don't care about story, go back and see some of the awful video game movies of the past. You're welcome to waste your time on that kind of eye candy that will do nothing for you. If you want to see a video game movie done right, and you're willing to forgive some flaws in production value because of it's independent nature, there aren't many movies that will top Mega Man.