Endgame (2018) Poster

(I) (2018)

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6/10
It's alright but it's not that special
Rodrigo_Amaro29 January 2023
If you're here, chances are that Joseph Gordon-Levitt's name attached to it was the main attraction that brought you to this strangely simplistic short film. It tells the story of a busy father (Jacob Vargas) who finds means and ways to watch the final volleyball match his daughter Sophia (Vico Escorcia) is one of the players. Joseph plays a security guard suspicious of the father's presence in the school which escalate into a tense situation. Sorry to disappoint but he plays a prejudicial guard instead of some cheerful or heroic role.

The goods, first: it was an okay movie, passable and watchable if you don't have anything better to do or you have a quick work/school break since it's just seven minutes long. It's well acted by the cast and judging by the final credits they all had a great fun time together. One of those cliched stories of children depending on their parents to act well while doing sports and parents making the ultimate sacrifice to support and cheer for their children. It's one a worn out Hollywood cliched that makes me wonder if kids or pre-teens for that matter are really that susceptible or so depending on other people's presence - I know I wasn't all that much.

The weird or the downer side: the racist theme had to be used here as a force of the nature or the world that prevents the dad from seeing the game - wow, what a lame device. But on the other hand I also wonder: why the father felt so comfortable inside of the school to the point of removing his working clothes and just go there wearing a wife beater which exposed his tattoos and then he was confused as a gang member? I know, not an excuse neither a valid justification for the guard but...warning on both sides of the aisle.

And like the previous reviewer I find a mystery that eight screenwriters (you read that right), eight folks wrote this piece. Let's break down some possible facts: a script written by eight people, sixteen hands to compose a ridiculously short film that last seven minutes without any original idea in between, zero news. One person alone couldn't handle the task? I'd like to imagine that this was one of those school projects where the teacher assigns to the whole class to compose one unique story where the twists and turns are tailored by each hand that comes across the previous notes. It's all about passing forward and think positively that the ending will make some sense after the confusion created by the students in between. And as for Joe's presence on a short written by eight people, it makes me mad at his good friend Rian Johnson. The man can write amazing and complex scripts by himself, he always casts Joe on his films but sometimes you can't find JLG at all (voice work in the "Knives Out" franchise) or either it's a blink and miss cameo like in "The Brothers Bloom". Here, he gets the center stage for one sequence with one biased character. Oh man, that was sad but it goes to show that he can stretch a little bit and play a character we don't like, which is the total opposite of his other loveable characters.

It's okay, it's fine but don't expect to get anything so enlightning or new in return. It's pretty manageable and ok, the kids have a funny moment early on. 6/10.
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4/10
Lacks authenticity and really interesting characters, weak writing too Warning: Spoilers
"Endgame" is an American live action short film from 2018 that is mostly in the English language with a little Spanish early on too. The director is Matthew Castellanos and there are a total of 8(!) writers credited here for a film that stays under seven minutes. That has to be a new record. I don't know who did what if they hired special writers for the volleyball sequences, but I doubt it. They are still disappointing anyway. So yeah this is the story of a father who wants to get to a volleyball game in time to see his daughter and of coruse the daughter plays horribly as long as he is not there and then becomes the MVP or something when he shows up. Not realistic at all. Just feel-good forced happy ending material. The key scene is away from the field when a secruity guard won't let the father in thinking he is gang-related and causing trouble or so because of his tattoos, but the real letdown comes from a third character whose one key sentence ("Did you listen to him?) felt so cringeworthy. I also am genuinely curious how they did JGL to appear in this movie as said security guard. Maybe he read Endgame and thought to be appearing in the other "slightly" more famous film with tha title? I have no idea, but I guess this name similarity also propelled this movie in terms of popularity a bit here on imdb. It cannot just be JGL and the guy from "Last Man on Earth", even if I liked seeing him too. For Castellanos it was far from the first directing credit, so the outcome is a bit disappointing, even if he is not part of the writing squad here and they were the ones who messed up the most too. Pay attention to that chubby Kevin Bacon lookalike in the stands. Hehe that is all. I give the film a thumbs-down as a whole. Not recommended. Could have worked as part of a long movie if at all, but as a short film itself it does not. Watch something else instead.
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