I think the first problem with this movie was that the director and screenwriter thought they had created a Quentin Tarantino screenplay, when in fact they had written a Garth Ennis ("Preacher", "The Punisher", "Constantine") outline for a graphic novel. I enjoy the work of comics writer Ennis, but it takes a certain skill-set and talent to translate comic book dialog to the movie screen, and these folks haven't got that talent, at least not yet. (They think they do, but that's part of the problem).
The second problem was that it looks as if no one bothered to rehearse any of the scenes before filming. Some of the cast members have talent and charisma (and no one flubs their lines or looks self conscious with the camera rolling), but everyone here is playing the broadest of caricatured stereotypes with less nuance than you'd see in a good high school drama department's presentation of the same material. And lines that probably appeared cheerfully nihilist, irreverent, and funny on paper fall flat and die again and again.
The third problem is that the creative crew's strategy to make up for lack of decent sets and lighting was to use video color filtering on nearly every scene. Everything is grainy and crappy looking and that gets old. (I assume this was done intentionally to set a mood).
The fourth (HUGE) problem is that the sound track is grating and monotonous. I understand what they are going for and why they are limiting themselves to sleazy blues and metal guitar in the background, but that doesn't change the fact that there's just too much of it, and it gets boring and irritating after a while. (I have the same problem with all-synthesizer scores in other cheaply made movies, nothing against the musicians here).
And the movie just stops dead with at least one of the plot threads unresolved (or two depending on how you interpret it). I will give the movie credit for a final "stinger" that's funny in context.
I hate to say patronizing stuff like "Not bad for a first effort with local talent", (that makes me sound like a pretentious jerk), but there it is. With more polish and rehearsal and maybe some collaboration with a professional or two, this might have been decent, maybe 5 stars.
Should you watch it? I leave that up to the reader. This might be the perfect movie cocktail for someone with different expectations or in a different mood.
The second problem was that it looks as if no one bothered to rehearse any of the scenes before filming. Some of the cast members have talent and charisma (and no one flubs their lines or looks self conscious with the camera rolling), but everyone here is playing the broadest of caricatured stereotypes with less nuance than you'd see in a good high school drama department's presentation of the same material. And lines that probably appeared cheerfully nihilist, irreverent, and funny on paper fall flat and die again and again.
The third problem is that the creative crew's strategy to make up for lack of decent sets and lighting was to use video color filtering on nearly every scene. Everything is grainy and crappy looking and that gets old. (I assume this was done intentionally to set a mood).
The fourth (HUGE) problem is that the sound track is grating and monotonous. I understand what they are going for and why they are limiting themselves to sleazy blues and metal guitar in the background, but that doesn't change the fact that there's just too much of it, and it gets boring and irritating after a while. (I have the same problem with all-synthesizer scores in other cheaply made movies, nothing against the musicians here).
And the movie just stops dead with at least one of the plot threads unresolved (or two depending on how you interpret it). I will give the movie credit for a final "stinger" that's funny in context.
I hate to say patronizing stuff like "Not bad for a first effort with local talent", (that makes me sound like a pretentious jerk), but there it is. With more polish and rehearsal and maybe some collaboration with a professional or two, this might have been decent, maybe 5 stars.
Should you watch it? I leave that up to the reader. This might be the perfect movie cocktail for someone with different expectations or in a different mood.
