Range 15 (2016) User Reviews

terrible movie

[bigrob-42388 · 3/10 · 19 August 2016]

I want to preface this that I am an active duty soldier with 7 years in special operations. I thought that being in the military this comedy would resonate with me. This was absolutely terrible. Nothing about this movie was funny. I thought there would be a good amount of team room humor in this movie. It failed to live up to expectations. I related to absolutely nothing this movie tried to play up as comedy.

I gave it a 3 because it was just barely enough to keep my attention. this was more in part bc i wanted to see how the fucktardery was going to end. The sponsor plugs were absolutely annoying and definitely added to the poor quality of the film.

i would watch Sharknado again over this movie.

This Is Not the Movie You Were Promised

[william-v-black · 3/10 · 1 April 2017]

This isn't the worst movie ever. It's a bad movie, but if you're drunk enough it can be an enjoyable-bad movie. But that's kind of the bad thing about Range 15. It's not what it could've been.

When this movie was being made, I followed all of the updates on Ranger UP and Article 15. I'm a vet, I've been in some really twisted things in Iraq, and I was looking forward to what the film-makers said about the upcoming film. A movie by and for veterans, a flick that would get the veteran attitude and outlook right. A comedy-horror film seemed about the best way to go about it.

But this movie wasn't that. It is no way a movie "for veterans." It's a movie for people who love Ranger Up and Article 15 YouTube videos. The characters don't act like cartoon versions of vets or active-duty military, they act like over-exaggerated versions of the already-exaggerated caricatures you see in those videos. I did laugh quite a bit during the flick, but not because it resonated some deep, veteran-aspect of my humor. No, it was just dumb, goofy jokes that came in at random.

What kinda pisses me off about this movie is the fact that it was so heavily marketed as this big deal due to it being by and for veterans. The movie is slapped together. The script is pretty dumb, serving only to get from one joke to the next, and the effects (both practical and digital) are Sega-CD quality. And that would be just fine. It would be just a crappy, Z-grade zombie flick. But it's not that. It's the "first veteran-made" movie. So it basically sets the tone that we veterans can't really be trusted to make anything of actual quality.

And I'm not some film-snob who is out of touch with the veteran world. I'm a vet and a fan of some pretty bad movies. But at least most bad movies are bad earnestly. The film-makers of those films were trying to make something good… they just screwed up. Range 15, on the other hand, really feels like a cash-grab.

They raised over a million and a half dollars from donations to make this film, and the amount of free stuff (weapons, gear, etc) they got form the sponsors (extremely blatant advertising throughout) makes me wonder where the hell any of the cash went. Maybe it all went to hiring the name-actors that do bit parts throughout. Because it sure as hell didn't go into writing, set design, costuming, or effects.

I can't help but feel that anyone who donated got taken for a ride. The movie just doesn't work. It's a very stock zombie movie, but if someone gave a damn about the project they could elevate that. Instead I felt like I was watching most of the cast just jerk themselves off over how awesome they are (with the exception of Jack Mandaville, who actually gave a legitimately funny performance). It was like they didn't care. They got a bunch of money and cameras, hung out for a couple weeks, threw some credits on the thing and figure it was good enough. No passion, no effort, and roughly zero f***s were given towards making a movie instead of a glorified "look how funny we are" home movie.

I guess at the TL;DR version would read like this:

This movie is bad, but not 1-star bad, and there is some humor in it (seriously, someone tell Jack Mandaville to start auditioning for real movies). It sucks because it so heavily hyped up the veteran aspect that it makes veterans look either incompetent (as in they can't make a movie) or easily-duped (as in they donated to a movie wherein the film-makers just phoned in the production).

Stream it illegally, borrow the DVD from a buddy who paid for it, but don't spend money on it. It's worse than a straight-to-SyFy flick, and those are free.

Better than the last Ghostbusters

[kellvallon · 4/10 · 26 August 2018]

The movie is flat out terrible. It's one of those movies that is so bad I kind of actually like it. It was better than the last Ghostbusters movie which I didn't even bother to finish.

Meh, a real review... a few spoilers

[millercreek406 · 2/10 · 12 July 2016]

This review contains a few spoilers.

I looked forward to this movie and saw Range 15 in the theater. My friend who came with me and myself are both Army veterans. The movie was disappointing though and while there were a few funny parts, the audience and ourselves were not laughing through-out the film as claimed by some other people.

All the cussing was funny at first but then it just grew old and seemed to be used more as a script filler for lack of anything better.

Dark humor and violence has its place in a movie like this, but it just got weird and awkward at times, as if the writers were trying too hard for material.

Indeed, there were loads of inappropriate jokes - which a lot of veterans enjoy, but too many of these jokes were extremely disrespectful and hateful - well past the point of being funny and beyond most of the audience's comfort zone. The audience was nearly 100% veteran or active duty as we live near a major Army post and other military assets.

SPOILER ALERT. I agree with other reviews that nothing was left untouched - women, cleavage, sex scenes, sex toys, penises, amputations, killing children, butts, spewing blood, and so on. I know a subset of the veteran community likes this humor, but it certainly does not represent ALL of the veteran community, not by a long shot. My friend left the theater for a while because the movie had just become so lame.

SPOILER ALERT. I might add that there were very few zombies. If a group's going to make a film about zombies then have zombies! Don't just throw a handful of folks into make-up and give the main actors a script that claims the whole world is in danger. Where was the real danger ever?

I gave the film only 2 stars as an average between the script/plot and the acting/cast. I gave 0 stars for the script/plot - it was distasteful and lame: just too weird or too hateful and reaching for laughs but way too far past the point of being funny. I gave the acting/cast 4 stars because it was OK.

Aside from rating the movie, all the efforts and length these folks went to in order to get the movie made - well, that deserves 10 stars and congratulations to them. All these other reviews giving the actual movie 10 stars, though, seem to be coming from the film makers and their friends. The clout that veterans carry can go very far, but truth be told, this movie's just not that good.

False ratings, movie is one of the worst I've seen

[confirmeddeath · 2/10 · 15 August 2016]

Firstly, I don't really care for rating movies on IMDb I only care for looking at the ratings to determine the "quality" of the movie... to determine whether it's worth watching or not.

8.5/10... That's the worst rating I've ever seen, it's so far from what the actual rating should be and honestly this is one of the biggest false ratings I've seen on IMDb and hence rating this movie 1 out of 10 to make the rating represent what the movie actual is rather than a big lie, but had the rating not been so off I'd given it 3/10 on a generous day.

The movie...

It tries to be comedic, but it fails. I actually can't see how somebody could think that the "funny" acts in this movie would be funny...

I would give myself a medal of honor for enduring this movie.

Let's be honest, even if people had a weird and twisted sense of humor, at best the rating would be 4-5 out of 10, but 8.5 out of 10?

I understand people like to falsely rate movies when the crappy movie has their favorite actors in them and all that but I actually truly don't understand 8.5/10 with over 2k+ ratings...

EDIT: Going through the "reviews" I had to come back and edit my "review"... I don't actually know what to say other than that this pisses me off, crappy movie gets good ratings because of idiots meanwhile really good movies get crappy ratings because of idiots.

I... got... no... words... to... explain... what... this... is...

This was more of a rant than a review but rating a movie for any other reason than rating the movie angers me, that's not what the rating system is for...

EDIT2: Would be nice if IMDb had a mass "block/ignore" option that you can use to ignore future ratings by people who voted a certain movie above 5, that way in the future you wouldn't watch another movie rated 8+/10 that sucks and confuses you for a whole hour and makes you question What The Actual Fu...dge!

Over rated rubbish

[LOL101LOL · 1/10 · 15 August 2016]

Just watched it and it was very hard to not throw a brick at my TV, it is that bad! The ratings and reviews on IMDb giving it a 10 star rating are bogus. The acting is wooden, effects are cheap and the jokes are cheap and childish. Avoid this one as wasting any of your precious time on this can be better spent.

0 out of 10 although I gave it a 1 out of 10 as that's as low as I can go ratings wise on IMDb.

And here is some more text so this review makes it onto IMDb. And here is some more text so this review makes it onto IMDb. And here is some more text so this review makes it onto IMDb.

1 out of 10. Wish I could give it 0!

[WatchAndSmile · 1/10 · 15 August 2016]

Here's the only real review since I don't believe others are. A lot of first time reviewers, making the rating seem fishy... This movie is a piece of crap - literally! I walked away after 40 minutes. The acting is probably the worst I've seen in years. Those people can't act at all. I mean, there are people who can't act and then there are these "actors" who make people who can't act look like movie stars...

The story is old and pretty stupid. Just boring. camera work is bad. Seem very amateurish. Seems like it's made by people who used to make b-rated music videos for no-name actors

CGI is from 1992. I get that it's low budget,but I've seen better cgi effects on "HOW TO videos on YouTube". Don't believe me, check those out. They aren't that hard!

Dialogs and scrips is beyond horrible. Jokes are not funny though they are trying hard.

hey, if you really liked this movie, try "tree of life" I watched that one in 2011 and this is comparable to the nonsense, though I managed to sit through 1 hours of that movie and only 40 minutes of this one.

another film with a false rating (probably paid for)

[playboy-655-842419 · 1/10 · 19 August 2016]

I watch this piece of sh!t last night and I almost threw up as it was so bad and boring. The movie felt like it was directed by a teen and he was wasting daddy's money. The actors we're so cringy and unbelievable.

Im pretty sure that this movie was paid for positive rating because even a 1/10 rating is too generous.

Save your brain cells and go watch something else. Make sure to leave a 1/10 rating so other peoples don't get fooled.

I don't know what else to say since I have to write 10 lines for this piece of crap movie. Go take a walk outside, go visit relatives and stay away from this movie!

Another Vet here

[nicci1972 · 6/10 · 28 September 2020]

I'm sorry America we find this type of humor hilarious. But we still do a kick-a$$ job of protecting your freedoms (while many of ours are put on hold). Was it a bit OVER the top - yes - but that's because they squeezed a career of jokes into a 2 hour movie. I was cracking up and even more astounding- I an female. (The minus 4 is for the sheer ridiculousness).

Ratings are misleading - awful movie

[with_held_user · 2/10 · 16 August 2016]

When I first spotted this movie, I took a look at its score here on IMDb, and found it to be a 8/10. Thinking that I had finally found a horror comedy movie that could match (or even exceed) some of my all- time favorite movies, zombieland or Shaun of the dead, I was excited to go see it. I was very wrong. This movie has the worst acting I have ever seen filled with cheesy jokes and an awkward feel throughout, average sets and props with items and locations I could find myself, and a straight forward plot. The reviews given are false, and are not truthful to the quality of this movie. I am not certain, but I believe these reviews are from a screening where they were told to rate it highly, or possible these were simply people working on the movie itself. Either way, not worth watching what-so-ever.

Not meant for civilians!!!!

[dstylez-95301 · 9/10 · 1 July 2017]

This movie is for vets and our sense of humor and little inside jokes of the military. This is a way for some of us combat vets to blow off steam and be able to make light of situations we have faced in combat. In its own way it's helped me sleep a little better being able to shrug off some of the things I've seen and experienced. Watch the behinds the scenes before you judge it too harsh.

Stupid and funny. Better than Ghostbusters

[equilibrium10 · 7/10 · 3 October 2016]

Yeah, so, little background: 5 years in the Marines as a Scout Sniper. Good times and some of the dirtiest and stupidest jokes man has ever contrived.

Range 15, a lot like this.

Matt Best is a corny jackass so why would the film he has master minded be anything different? Some parts of this are utterly useless while in other parts I was laughing out loud, that jokes worked.

It's funny, it's stupid, it's meaningless and it's different than anything else floating around right now. In short, at least it isn't another f$%#ing re-boot. Oorah for that.

Terrible Movie. Not worth the bandwidth to pirate it.

[ChancellorDongalor · 1/10 · 15 August 2016]

Imagine a zombie movie written by the crack writing team behind Sharknado 4 (with Ann Coulter and a couple of drunk marines consulting) and you won't be too far off from what you get in this movie. There are some almost-fun raunchy moments and a few things that come close to crossing over into 'so bad it's good territory', but it never manages to clear that threshold because all the fun is sucked out by military in-jokes and "hurr durr libtards, amirite?" meta-commentary.

This movie stays laser focused on a very small target audience. If you're a military vet that owns a MAGA hat and listens to conservative talk radio, this movie is for you (and only you). I can't really recommend it to anyone else.

Beyond bad, and not in a funny way

[nyrn · 1/10 · 18 August 2016]

Movies can be bad in a funny way, we all get that. But then there's the odd few that are just so painfully bad, you have to ask yourself what the hell just happened. Putting aside the fact who made it and why, a movie still has to carry itself to the end. I find it hard to grasp how anything like this is even worth the time and money spent. There's no real acting, jokes are exceptionally bad, to the point I had to skip-watch more than half of the movie. How this abortion gets anything above a 1-2 star is really beyond me. No doubt IMDb's rating system is flawed to the point it's no longer even half-functioning. I've seen better films made by 8:th graders.

Honest review

[codiedr · 1/10 · 10 August 2016]

I've been a fan of article 15 and Mat Best's videos pretty much since they started. So naturally I was excited for the movie. However, I'm not going to bs you guys, and say it was the best movie ever. I felt like the movie was over-hyped for a few reasons. First of all I didn't see anything that was disturbing, or offensive. So I don't see why it couldn't get a R eating. Second if I were to look at this as a serious movie then it would probably get a lower rating. The story was felt rushed and was all over the place. It didn't really go deeper into any back stories, explaining why certain things were the way they were, etc.

However, i think the movie was not meant to be taken seriously. It's like Sharknado, but for veterans. So looking at it from that perspective is why I gave it a six with a five being average. Most of the action was already shown in the trailer so there really wasn't anything new in the film. I'm also an Air Force vet so most of the military specific jokes were lost to me. I think they were just things that applied to the Army, which is fine (most of the cast and audience is army). I just didn't find the humor in them. With that being said I would gladly donate to their second movie and buy a ticket to see it.

Supercrap..this movie is supercrap

[wescottluke · 1/10 · 16 August 2016]

This one's actually getting a -10. Its so terrible I find myself laughing every now and then, but in a nervous tick kinda way...like its somehow changing me into a lesser human being whilst sucking my will to live! I got real excited when I saw the rating...and some of the cast like the lone survivor (the actual guy...not Mark Wahlberg) and Ron Jeremy but these are just crappy cameos and the rating has clearly been cooked by the indigogo crowdfunders along with patriotic ex-military vets who think they are funny.

Bad writing, bad acting, infantile plot and incredibly poor production quality...the kids in super8 where doing a better job. This looks like something I made for fun with my mates and my moms camcorder when I was 12.

It worries me to think at some point these guys where actually marines making life and death decisions on other peoples behalf but perhaps they should have stuck to that.

Do not watch...you have been warned...and I'm only 51minutes in. It's supercrap.

So Bad that Is Impossible to be Watched Until the End

[claudio_carvalho · 1/10 · 2 September 2016]

Today I have spent 45 minutes of my life trying to watch this crap called "Range 15". I usually see a movie to the very end, even the bad ones, but this one is unbearable. I was expecting to see a funny trash-horror comedy to laugh based on the IMDb User rating (6.5). However this flick is so gross and stupid that makes the "Jackass" franchise looks like art film. My conclusion is that there are many fake reviews, as already mentioned by other users, promoting this garbage. I regret IMDb does not offer the rating 0. My vote is one (awful).

Title (Brazil): Not Available (fortunately)

Apparently We're Not In On The Joke

[zogarreal · 2/10 · 22 August 2016]

Range 15 Review. I sat down to watch Range 15 expecting a good laugh. I mean who could resist an action comedy with zombies. That's a sure winner right?

The film just starts immediately, with the main character (a Sean William Scott clone) and his lawyer (William Shatner, what are you doing in this?) telling him why he ended up in jail. We are immediately shown a string of funny and insane jokes in a bar from shooting fellow pals to making out with a Keisha transvestite. OK we're getting the tone now. The film then goes on to introduce the heroes friends, a bunch of army misfits that constantly slag each other and tell non- stop homophobic jokes. One of them has a blow up doll attached to him, why… never explained. Actually nothing is explained, after a few jokes that you don't get you start to think that maybe this is a sequel, I missed something. So after checking IMDb to see if the star of the film was related to Sean Scott Williams I discovered that he makes a Youtube show and you have to have been watching the Youtube show to get most of the jokes in this film. Then the bizarre happens and keeps happening. People pop up every now and then that you have no idea who they are and they're all pals with the gang of zombie killers. They crack jokes we don't get and have conversations we don't understand. Then you realize they are all army veterans and that this is a film made for army veterans, by army veterans and you have to be an American army veteran or enthusiast to get most of the jokes. So they just alienated 90% of the audience right there.

Another problem with this film is the constant homophobic jokes, one goes so far as to simulate a gay threesome and the gang fall around laughing because gay sex is hilarious and being gay makes you less than human and a laughing stock according to this film. One female character actually asks one of the team (who she constantly calls fat when he is not fat at all) does he know that 90% of what he says are infantile homophobic jokes to which he proudly responds yes and that's all you're gonna get from us, and the whole film. We can all laugh at things and ourselves every now and then but my god this film never lets up with the homophobic jokes, it's like Don't Ask Don't Tell is still in place and it's 1955.

After a bizarre scene where the team enter a town and kill some cartoon caricature gay people that are peeing on the American flag, some hipsters(?) and fitness enthusiasts, they enter a house where everyone has committed suicide with knives and house hold objects The joke here is that whiny liberal ant-gun people needed guns to kill themselves during the zombie apocalypse, no sleeping pills or other meds in the house then.

So that's basically the theme and message from the film, it's made for right wing, conservative army people and no one else. The film did have potential and some really funny scenes but was ruined by an overkill of crude offensive humour and army in jokes. The rivalry between the hero and his nemesis, a golden boy soldier that everyone loves and admires but is a complete jerk had lots of potential but only lasted a few scenes, then dissipated into nothing. This could have been the main focus of the film, his rivalry with this guy during the zombie apocalypse. There's also a very funny scene with Sean Austin flying a helicopter. One of the team is too honest when he discovers he has been bitten by a zombie.

The third act of the film dissolves into a surreal wrestling match with lots of gay and 'in' army jokes, it drags on for about fifteen minutes and Danny Trejo turns up to fight as well, but I was bored to death at that stage.

Range 15 is a bit like going out for the night and meeting your friend's drunk old buddies that tell lots of 'in' jokes and tell old stories that you know nothing about. You laugh along at first, but then they get a lot more drunk and start insulting people. You get uncomfortable and worried while they carry on the abusing people, and you have to apologize for their behavior. You can't wait for the night to end. When it does you avoid your friend like the plague and change your number.

Seriiously lowbrow, over the top, non politically correct but funny

[billdyj · 7/10 · 20 November 2017]

This is the kind of movie that will either get good reviews or really get trashed, and I think it depends on the person looking at it. Those who think of military people as these saintly people, who piously go fight our wars with Jesus on their minds, etc, are gonna hate it. Likewise those who can't see broad farce and see all kinds of micro aggression's and the like are going to hate it.

For me, as lowbrow and over the top and so forth it was, it was funny, because the humor in it is not meant to be hateful, it is gleefully poking fun at everything and anything, including themselves, and I think it likely represents the dark, out there humor that veterans, especially combat veterans, seem to have. I saw a podcast recently talking about Chris Kyle (American Sniper fame), and his platoon leader and CO said the movie made him out tot his seriously, saintly person when he was a funny, full of hell kind of guy, as good a soldier as he was...if you are easily grossed out, offended, think the military are all soldiers of Christ on a sacred crusade, I don't recommend this, but it you can laugh at people laughing at themselves, it is funny as hell.

Beware of FAKE reviews!!!

[hell-cat-1 · 1/10 · 2 September 2016]

So I will begin by stating that I was fooled by the high rating for this movie, so decided to watch it with my fiancé at the weekend. At first, I thought it was some sort of joke, I love horror comedies and zombie movies but this has to be the unfunniest thing I have ever seen in my life. Tommy Wiseau's "The Room" is like a masterpiece compared to this! It is not funny in the slightest, the acting is horrendous and it is just unwatchable. I switched off after 30 minutes, I just couldn't waste any more of my time, and I've watched some terrible movies in my time that I was at least able to sit through.

In short, this movie is UNBELIEVABLY TERRIBLE in every conceivable way.

This movie is to not be taken seriously.

[haloman-32221 · 9/10 · 18 August 2016]

Before you watch this movie realize it's a satire of the Hollywood industry and the current political situation. It's supposed to be a bad movie. It's made entirely from donated funds. It's supposed to have bad acting and awful effects, it's a solid movie once you realize that it's suppose to be awful. It's made for the jokes and laughs. Don't take it seriously or you won't like it. Come into the movie with the attitude of a spoof movies and it's not bad at all. I could compare it to a combination of a vulgar scary movie and a spoof movie. The plot isn't completely coherent, as it has some holes; therefore the 9 star rating, but like previously stated its not meant to be a multi-million dollar movie it's a bad movie and it's supposed to be that way.

Great for what it is

[sburnskies99d9 · 7/10 · 18 October 2021]

This was hilarious. Solid flick. It's getting a lot of hate, but I'm thinking those folks take things too seriously in general.definitely go in with an open mind, and no expectations other than a hell of a good ride.

Incredibly bad

[fafhrd-productions · 1/10 · 16 August 2016]

I had hopes for this. Danny Trejo is enjoyable even in his worst movies, and laughing at William Shatners acting ability is always great fun, making almost any movie tolerable. Not this time. The only funny thing in this 'comedy' was this: I watched for a bit not knowing anything about this, and noticed how awful these guys were acting as soldiers. I wondered 'Did they even bother hiring a consultant? No soldier would EVER say that or hold themselves in this and that manner.' So I come to IMDb to see how low it's score really is, and find it's rating 8+ and made almost entirely of/by veterans. I'd rather watch a Kirk Cameron flick instead of finishing this movie.

The most effective piece of anti-military propaganda since the Abu Ghraib photos

[Bread_and_Booze · 1/10 · 13 July 2018]

As an appreciator of trash cinema I thought maybe I could get a chuckle or two out of this movie, and boy was I wrong. This is one of the most repugnant things I've ever had come across my screen and I'll spend the rest of my life living with the pit of darkness this movie left in my soul. Is it really that bad you may be asking? Oh, where to begin.

The first thing you have to know about this movie is that it is made by military guys for military guys. Imagine if an Uncle Sam's Misguided Children meme got made into a movie and you'll understand the general tone here.The plot is standard zombie movie fare, hapless bunch of friends wake up to find out that zombies have taken over their town and they have to fight their way out to comic effect. Seems straight forward until you realize that they just skip right past the zombie apocalypse and immediately just start realizing their fantasies of killing all kinds of marginalized people. Trans women? Kill em dead. Gay people? Kill em dead. Non-military men? Spray em with bullets. POC? Dead. It's a bizarre fever dream of violence against anyone who isn't a straight white male current active duty marine (they even kill a bunch of military desk jockeys for not being alpha male enough). Only about 1/4 of the kills in this movie are zombies, the rest are all the people whose very existence triggers our heroic tier one operator. Is that the worst of it? Not even close. There's a scene where they rape a woman who has been zombified, laugh and say to each other "don't worry she's not human, she's the enemy". This is the mindset of these people, kill and rape away and laugh the whole time because the enemy simply aren't people.

I have no doubt after seeing this that every time we see a news story about how the US military shot up a school or bombed a hospital killing dozens of civilians that it is, in fact, not a mistake. These people take joy in victimizing others and this movie is a testament to that.

I'd say this movie is a completely useless slog of bad special effects, unfunny jokes and depraved violence against anyone who dares slight a straight white man, but to be honest it'll probably get a lot of play with ISIS recruitment officers looking to showcase the evil at the heart of American culture. If you've ever wondered why the rest of the world hates the United States and why maybe the people who take up arms against us are right to, this is a good place to begin to understand.

Dude where's my script!

[martyn0563 · 1/10 · 29 August 2016]

As so many others have said this film is DROSS. I tried to watch it but the "Humour" is so far out there only a sick mind could find it funny!The only SPOILER I can tell you about is the whole film! In all my years of watching horror/comedy films I've seen some real stinkers but this one take the biscuit! Anyway the cheap CGI was the very least of the films problems. OK I've now cleansed my film watching mind Onward and upward! don't watch this unless you want to get angry about lost time in your life! Oh I have to write more? OK then thinking of a positive ...... still thinking...... (Spoiler) William Shatner had a good part? I.E. he was not in it for long! Another Spoiler the bloke with the blow up doll is funny for a few minutes then that wears off actually the blow up doll was probably the best actor in it.