Pycal

Protection Detail is a generally well made indie American Triad gangster film that wears its influences on its sleeve. In large part, the film owes a heavy debt to Johnnie To's 1999 Hong Kong crime masterpiece The Mission. While they do say to "steal from the best", there are some beats that play a little too similar to said earlier film which is always a risk for a film of this size to take considering it draws the fire of inevitable comparisons (fair or unfair) to a bigger movie many consider classic. That said, the movie is by no means a remake and shows off plenty of its own courage and ambition. Director Michael Fredianelli deserves praise for insisting on an entirely Asian-American cast and keeping the action mostly confined to San Francisco's Chinatown. It doesn't go for any safe "fish out of water" tropes and instead works to immerse the viewer in a culture and community very much present within the US, but seldom explored without compromise in American cinema.

As it goes, there are a few glaring flaws present in the film such as strangely unprofessional hitmen bad guys, a sloppily staged gun skirmish or two, and some other leaps in logic. However, action is one of director Fredianelli's strong suits and he makes up for some of these lesser realized moments by delivering in spades during some of the film's other set pieces-- one such highlight being a well choreographed warehouse shootout heavily inspired by the work of director John Woo.

The movie's actors headlining the film should also be commended as Boynton Paek excels as the unhinged bodyguard called Knife and Michael Nosé proves excellent as the loyal soldier type nicknamed Pinball. James Aaron Oh is another standout playing a rather sinister villain with a vicious nature and commanding presence. While it might not be directly on par with all its influences, Protection Detail is a solid indie crime film with plenty of flavor that ends on one hell of a bang.

Indie filmmaker Michael Fredianelli takes off from his usual comfort zone of earth bound tough guy cinema to explore the final frontier with a sci-fi movie set mostly in space. This microbudget production is an impressive one and many of the visual effects utilized are jaw dropping especially when it comes to the indie arena. Of particular standout is the segment of the film depicting the Mars surface-- Sci-fi geeks will only recognize the familiar Agua Dulce terrain when they're done marveling at how skillful (if obviously exaggerated for effect) a recreation of the red planet the film achieves. It makes Mars seem truly frightening in all its desolate rocky and dusty landscape. Similarly, the movie makes the cold vacuum of space seem equally as vast and scary and borrows much from the look and feel from the Hollywood sci-fi classic Alien.

Well there is no denying the technical achievements on display with Ultra Red, its biggest problem is its script. It utilizes a plot that very much resembles Star Trek's The "Naked Time" and its Next Generation follow up "The Naked Now" and deals with an extraterrestrial substance that effects the brain similarly to alcohol. However the way the substance is discovered and delivered comes off clear as day as a rather clunky MacGuffin. Furthermore, there are other problems with believability. The crew of the spaceship (NASA no less) in the movie is comically unprofessional and it wasn't enough for the lead character to be a genius rover vehicle designer, but also a master thief with a rap sheet a mile long as well. Other times, the film's technobabble just comes off poorly developed like when we're told that a futuristic weapon operates on the same principle as said rover which itself is more clearly modeled after present day technology. Now, I'm no scientist, but elements like that read more as pure kayfabe to me and took me out of the movie a bit.

While it's highly ambitious and impressive in many facets as well as highly entertaining for much of its running time, Ultra Red stumbles in too many places to be a clear win and instead comes off as a rather mixed bag.

If you put Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Jason Takes Manhattan into a blender and added a pinch of Under Siege, Venom Coast would resemble something of the concoction that would result. As far as newer microbudget horror films go, it certainly ranks above average and features one of the most grotesque rogues' galleries of killers seen in a long time. Speaking of kills, the victims in this movie are dispatched in creative and gory ways with some very noteworthy practical effects on display.

Venom Coast is recommended for fans of the new breed of films commonly referred to as the "people of privilege suffer" genre seen in such recent movies as Infinity Pool, The Menu, and to an extent, the two as of this date produced Knives Out films. Not recommended for viewers who might have a penchant to feel superior to their material as a lot of the onscreen victims do make horrible decisions to their detriment in this film, but it's way too easy make an assertion that one would come out better than the characters from a position of seated armchair comfort. By far the biggest flaw that comes about in the film is the ending. Without saying much, things get messy for some of the characters involved in the story on account of a major mistake they make, but it comes off as a missed opportunity with how it is dealt with in the script. Instead of further addressing the moral complications of said mistake and fleshing out the ending with a bit more conflict and drama, the film takes a much easier route which is a bit of a shame. All in all though, Venom Coast is well made and highly entertaining. If you want a good old school popcorn slasher movie, it delivers.