Everything is wrong with this movie, from the absolutely abysmal acting (bar one character), awful cinematography where literally EVERY SINGLE SHOT would be framed in a way where the top of the actors head would be cut off... you couldn't like... move the camera up a bit? Or maybe just shoot a wider take? Speaking of wider take, there's absolutely no consistency in chase scenes, or scenes where the actors are running through the woods, it's literally just random shots / cuts of our actors running through the woods randomly, you don't know where they're going, why they go in certain directions, how far away the bad guys are from them... there's one scene where this fat guy takes our main characters (Jake) daughter and somehow gets away from our main character... even though he had... maybe a 5 second head start on him... I'm not even kidding.... ARGH!!!
The directing of the action was absolutely atrocious, from the moment they show the "wrestling" scene filmed at The Stockade gym, sets the bar for just how bad the action in this film is going to be. There's even a scene where Jake is punching soldiers in the head... but the soldiers are wearing helmets... WHAT!?!? Also why is everyone doing giant capoeira esque spinning kicks?!?!? Yeah, let me just telegraph my attacks AS HARD AS I CAN....
The film also had an absolutely disgusting and inconsistent colour palette throughout. It tried to go for this murky post apocalyptic feel, but then some other parts, it's like they forgot and everything looks normal. There was also a hilarious scene that was VERY CLEARLY shot in the day, but they colour correct it to make it look like night... even though there's perfectly casted shadows over the people's faces and ground... Couldn't have just made the scene take place during the day?
There's a scene in the film where two people are talking and Jake reveals himself to the enemy, and one of the actors looks and sees our main character, BUT continues talking to the other guy normally... and only after a few seconds, does he ACTUALLY react and say "WHO ARE YOU, STAY BACK!!!"... like... as opposed to reacting mid sentence and being surprised... nah just finish your sentence THEN react to this threat in front of you. Continuing on from this same scene, Jake is VERY CLEARLY holding a person in his arms, even though they're wrapped in blankets, to which our two actors ask "WHAT'S IN THE PACKAGE?"... HNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH
The over abundance of pointless exposition was also an incredibly and stupid way to try and educate the audience into what your film is about... too bad NOTHING ELSE MAKES SENSE IN THIS FILM.... Who was the script supervisor? Did anyone even proof read this screenplay? Or did this director simply wanted to mash a bunch of genres together and film poorly choreographed action scenes first then write a script around them..? Cause that's honestly how it feels...
Oh look, filming inside a cave!! How are we gonna light it in a way that we can still create the shot but make the light source within the films universe believable? Yeah let's just use a bunch of high tech studio lighting in order for us to film this scene, but our characters are using candles to light the cave up, yeah this shot isn't totally over exposed or anything.
NO ONE'S CHARACTER IN THIS MOVIE MAKES ANY SENSE... AT ALL... who are the resistance? Why are they trying to fight against the Telstra tower people? Why is the guys wife working with the Telstra tower people but secretly has an ulterior motive? What was the deal with the first settlement and why they wanted Jakes daughter? What was the deal with the semi cool looking dude in the suit who was never utilized for anything? Why is the "bad guy" at the end suddenly siding with Jake? WHAT???!?!?!?
WHY DOESN'T ANYONE USE THEIR GUNS!!!!!!! There is so much poorly choreographed hand to hand combat and fight scenes, and of course the movie goes for the whole "one hit KO" approach, regardless of where people are hit... but like.... If anyone in this movie USED THEIR GUN... Jake wouldn't have made it as far as he did...
Why is the score in this movie so inconsistent with the tone that the film is trying to go for... actually WHAT KIND OF TONE IS THIS MOVIE GOING FOR?!?!?! Is it trying to be grim? Is it trying to be hopeful? Is it trying to simulate Hobbiton from The Hobbit (I'm not kidding).
There were 2 (but apparently 3) REALLY REALLY bad editing mistakes throughout this film... they are GLARINGLY OBVIOUS when you spot them... Also, don't use the fast forward function during car chase scenes, it's just a lazy way to try and make it like the cars are going a lot faster than they actually are... and it's glaringly obvious...
There's also a scene where the entire world is frozen in stasis, which I'll admit is a pretty cool concept, too bad you couldn't get your extras to stand still... kinda breaks the believability of your universe when you can tell your extras are having a hard time standing still and you can see em shaking... couldn't have gotten a second take?
USE A TRIPOD!
....ARE THOSE GUNS NERF GUNS!?!?!?!? Wow... they used nerf guns.....
The 2 hour run time was COMPLETELY unnecessary
This movie was trying to be a blend of sci fi with crazy action and contain a mad max style car chase scene... and it fails at all of them.
If you want a GOOD movie about infertility, go watch Children of Men.
If you want WELL DIRECTED fight choreography, go watch ANY Jackie Chan film or Gareth Evan's The Raid 1 and 2.
If you want a Mad Max style car chase scene, go watch Mad Max Fury Road.
I really really want to try and give this movie the benefit of the doubt and at least say that it was an admirable attempt for a first time film... but it wasn't.
Just because you filmed this in Canberra, doesn't mean I am going to let this movie and its faults slip by... But hey, Che Baker and Dallas Bland actually made a film, and that's more than I can say about a lot of people who have half baked ideas for what they want to do and never actually accomplish it. So even though this film is a flaming dumpster fire, at least it exists, and at least it looked like they had a lot of fun making it, so good on em, but still:
1/10.
The directing of the action was absolutely atrocious, from the moment they show the "wrestling" scene filmed at The Stockade gym, sets the bar for just how bad the action in this film is going to be. There's even a scene where Jake is punching soldiers in the head... but the soldiers are wearing helmets... WHAT!?!? Also why is everyone doing giant capoeira esque spinning kicks?!?!? Yeah, let me just telegraph my attacks AS HARD AS I CAN....
The film also had an absolutely disgusting and inconsistent colour palette throughout. It tried to go for this murky post apocalyptic feel, but then some other parts, it's like they forgot and everything looks normal. There was also a hilarious scene that was VERY CLEARLY shot in the day, but they colour correct it to make it look like night... even though there's perfectly casted shadows over the people's faces and ground... Couldn't have just made the scene take place during the day?
There's a scene in the film where two people are talking and Jake reveals himself to the enemy, and one of the actors looks and sees our main character, BUT continues talking to the other guy normally... and only after a few seconds, does he ACTUALLY react and say "WHO ARE YOU, STAY BACK!!!"... like... as opposed to reacting mid sentence and being surprised... nah just finish your sentence THEN react to this threat in front of you. Continuing on from this same scene, Jake is VERY CLEARLY holding a person in his arms, even though they're wrapped in blankets, to which our two actors ask "WHAT'S IN THE PACKAGE?"... HNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH
The over abundance of pointless exposition was also an incredibly and stupid way to try and educate the audience into what your film is about... too bad NOTHING ELSE MAKES SENSE IN THIS FILM.... Who was the script supervisor? Did anyone even proof read this screenplay? Or did this director simply wanted to mash a bunch of genres together and film poorly choreographed action scenes first then write a script around them..? Cause that's honestly how it feels...
Oh look, filming inside a cave!! How are we gonna light it in a way that we can still create the shot but make the light source within the films universe believable? Yeah let's just use a bunch of high tech studio lighting in order for us to film this scene, but our characters are using candles to light the cave up, yeah this shot isn't totally over exposed or anything.
NO ONE'S CHARACTER IN THIS MOVIE MAKES ANY SENSE... AT ALL... who are the resistance? Why are they trying to fight against the Telstra tower people? Why is the guys wife working with the Telstra tower people but secretly has an ulterior motive? What was the deal with the first settlement and why they wanted Jakes daughter? What was the deal with the semi cool looking dude in the suit who was never utilized for anything? Why is the "bad guy" at the end suddenly siding with Jake? WHAT???!?!?!?
WHY DOESN'T ANYONE USE THEIR GUNS!!!!!!! There is so much poorly choreographed hand to hand combat and fight scenes, and of course the movie goes for the whole "one hit KO" approach, regardless of where people are hit... but like.... If anyone in this movie USED THEIR GUN... Jake wouldn't have made it as far as he did...
Why is the score in this movie so inconsistent with the tone that the film is trying to go for... actually WHAT KIND OF TONE IS THIS MOVIE GOING FOR?!?!?! Is it trying to be grim? Is it trying to be hopeful? Is it trying to simulate Hobbiton from The Hobbit (I'm not kidding).
There were 2 (but apparently 3) REALLY REALLY bad editing mistakes throughout this film... they are GLARINGLY OBVIOUS when you spot them... Also, don't use the fast forward function during car chase scenes, it's just a lazy way to try and make it like the cars are going a lot faster than they actually are... and it's glaringly obvious...
There's also a scene where the entire world is frozen in stasis, which I'll admit is a pretty cool concept, too bad you couldn't get your extras to stand still... kinda breaks the believability of your universe when you can tell your extras are having a hard time standing still and you can see em shaking... couldn't have gotten a second take?
USE A TRIPOD!
....ARE THOSE GUNS NERF GUNS!?!?!?!? Wow... they used nerf guns.....
The 2 hour run time was COMPLETELY unnecessary
This movie was trying to be a blend of sci fi with crazy action and contain a mad max style car chase scene... and it fails at all of them.
If you want a GOOD movie about infertility, go watch Children of Men.
If you want WELL DIRECTED fight choreography, go watch ANY Jackie Chan film or Gareth Evan's The Raid 1 and 2.
If you want a Mad Max style car chase scene, go watch Mad Max Fury Road.
I really really want to try and give this movie the benefit of the doubt and at least say that it was an admirable attempt for a first time film... but it wasn't.
Just because you filmed this in Canberra, doesn't mean I am going to let this movie and its faults slip by... But hey, Che Baker and Dallas Bland actually made a film, and that's more than I can say about a lot of people who have half baked ideas for what they want to do and never actually accomplish it. So even though this film is a flaming dumpster fire, at least it exists, and at least it looked like they had a lot of fun making it, so good on em, but still:
1/10.