****THIS IS A DETAILED REVIEW CONTAINING MANY SPOILERS!*****
This is an amusing and enjoyable little film, the sort of film I admire and add to my video library whenever I have the opportunity. Control Alt Destroy runs 64 minutes and is surprisingly well made.
The story is set on the 4th of July in the offices of Frederickson and Frederickson. (John Ferguson has a small but interesting role as Mr. Frederickson. More about that later). Frederickson's foppish son Kingsley assists his father in running the company but we are never exactly certain what the company does. The film starts out humorously, the performances from all in the cast are pretty much over-the-top and reminds the viewer of the cult classic from a few years ago, Office Space. There is tension in the office and we quickly find that the Fredericksons and employees do not like each other. Indeed, nobody seems to like anybody and we quickly see there is more than a little bit of dysfunction in all of the main characters.
Old man Frederickson announces he is leaving on business, leaving Kingsley in charge. His constant berating proves too much for several of the workers so they leave the office to spend the day eating a fast food lunch and horsing around a local playground. (Why is the playground devoid of anyone else on a sunny 4th of July?). It is during this time the guys imbibe beer and marijuana and relate their father's experiences during the Vietnam War.
Returning to the office, looking through the front door they notice armed terrorists inside. The Frederickson employees are very noisy in determining what to do and one is left to wonder why they were not noticed by the bad guys. But, they weren't and we learn that the geeky Dennis is a former Marine who just happens to have a cache of weapons hidden throughout the office!
Dennis and his pals storm the office and regain control, becoming heroes in doing so.
So, that is the basic story and it is a good one.
Now, I offer a few observations and random comments.
Director Nick Sanford has done an excellent job in combining genres. This film mixes suspense and comedy and displays elements of campy parody. There is a wonderful scene of Mike Gasper, portraying Kingsley, non-puffing on an oversize pipe while purposefully laying it on too thick as the big boss. In the space of 64 minutes, we are treated to fright and laughter, patriotism and cynicism. There is enough undeveloped characterization to lengthen the film, but I'm certain budget constraints prevented this.
The producers did a wise thing. The great John Ferguson was used in a near cameo role. I say near cameo because he was in for two very amusing scenes plus a quick shot towards the film's end. Like all good show people would, Steve Patchin and Nick Sanford left the audience wanting more of him. I have included dialogue from John's scenes:
Carl, (one of the browbeaten employees, upon hearing he has received a promotion), speaking to Mr. Frederickson in his office: "I don't know what to say. Thank you sir! This is amazing – I will not let you down! I will put this job before everything else. Before my novel, before my dog – everything!"
Frederickson, (laughing): "I'm just screwing with you! Get the hell back to work!"
A few minutes later, Frederickson speaking to Kingsley: "I'm leaving you in charge of everything while I am gone
That's what important leaders like me learn to do. When we have something important to do, we leave the least equipped person in charge. That's what we learned from the Republicans!"
Kingsley: "Thank you Daddy!"
Nick did a wonderful job of mixing the genres and mood, but I felt at times the film didn't really know which way it wanted to go. That it worked as well as it did is, again, a credit to Nick.
I felt the dialogue in spots was a bit earthier than it needed to be but that is a subjective opinion. If it added to the realism then it is a good thing.
All of the camera-work and other production values for such a low budget film were excellent.
Rachael Barry as Michelle caught my eye. She has a nice screen presence which I hope she will cultivate. She had a nice comic relief scene towards the film's end after the terrorists have been defeated:
Carl: "Dennis is a former Marine. He orchestrated this entire rescue!"
Michelle, who had earlier rebuffed Carl's advances: "I think I'm not a lesbian anymore!"
I like the Halloween masks and dark appearance of the terrorists. They were almost too good, given the levity of the story.
Twist Jackson, the terrorist leader wonderfully portrayed by Jason Gwynn, was the only terrorist to not wear a mask. This enabled us to see his exaggerated facial expressions.
Al, portrayed by Eric Kuritz, made the moral decision not to execute a captured terrorist, thus claiming the moral high road over his Vietnam scarred father.
We learn that the terrorists risked everything to steal $75.00 from the office safe, although Twist places a high degree of importance in hacking into the company's encrypted accounts, ultimately to gain nothing.
I got the impression the story was padded out a bit to get it to run an hour. Nothing wrong with that but it is noticeable.
For his next effort I would like to see Nick Sanford do a horror or grim film noir feature.
