White Wall

I often find there to be two kinds of movie watchers; those that see the bad and judge based on it, or those that see the good and enjoy it. If you are the former, do not watch this movie. If, however, you like a less than glowing movie for being more than 'enjoyably bad', keep reading.

This movie is NOT 'enjoyably bad', but rather shows a growth in film production skill significant enough to surpass enjoyably bad movies in quality (not enjoyability). That is ironically this movie's downfall. While the unique story and setting may draw some critical fire, they are well done if you are willing to accept a slightly unusual post- apocalyptic stage for the story. So too is the movie's music and cinematography (its highest point). Acting, however, is flat and in a movie that visibly takes itself seriously, it makes for a notable distraction. The problem is that the acting is ALMOST passable, meaning that instead of laughing at a poorly delivered line and enjoying it for the laughs you get, you will instead just mind yourself annoyed at what could almost have been a solidly good film. The script also could have been much sharper, making the already stilted acting even stiffer.

Pacing is slower than one might expect from the way the movie presents itself. For what looks to be a low budget action movie, there are remarkably few action scenes, and shots linger long enough that story feels slowed to a crawl at times. What this looses in classical attention grabbing it gains in artistic value and atmosphere (due largely to the previously mentioned gorgeous cinematography of the film). This lingering camera trades out for an odd combination of long fixed shots and short hand-held close ups during action sequences. This makes for an interesting blend that feels strange at first, but by the movie's final fight scene beautifully ties everything together into a final, brilliantly shot finale.

It's hard to know what to expect from this movie. Even in classifying its genre, it tackles so much that its hard to place. It is a futuristic/modern post-apocalypse woven with elements of kung-fu, western, and film noir mystery style aspects and an oddly atmospheric meandering storyline that pretty much guarantees that this movie is NOT what you are expecting. So my final bit of advice; go in without expectations. Let this movie be what it is and try not to judge it for anything else. If acting is a major issue to you, I may recommend you skip out on this one, but if mediocre scripting and delivery won't get in the way of a decent and unusual story, good musical score, and beautiful camera-work, this movie may be worth your time.

I happen to stumble across this movie completely by accident hoping that once in a while an unknown film can be surprisingly good. This definitely wasn't the one. Actually, it is now officially the worst movie I've ever seen, beating the Legend of Chun Li.

White Wall is plagued by clichés such as a virus wiping out the Earth, the forced "love story," and pretty much every character's personality. The story seems to have been written by a middle schooler. Apparently Shawn was able to run experiments on the virus from a closet as a janitor after being a gang-member.

The acting in this movie is probably the worst thing about it. If the director was serious enough about the movie he would have let someone else be the lead character unless he was trying to cut costs or something. He shows maybe 2 different facial expressions the whole movie and tries to sport a messenger bag while attempting to portray a bad-ass. He wasn't the only one that did poorly but definitely took up the most screen time Costumes were way off. What's with all the fedoras and the poncho guy? Was this "our" 20th century? There's no imagination here.

You could say "they were limited by costs or inexperience" but I don't think that's a real excuse. Look at what the Blair Witch or paranormal activity did with only a camcorder and a cast that equally looks like plain college kids.

I did find a few positive aspects to White Wall which might have been the musical score and some of the cinematography that no doubt made the low budget action scenes look at least a little intense.

In the end, I was only motivated to rate this movie because of the fake ratings boosting it.

White wall is a tale of two brothers and their resentment towards each other in an intense post-apocalyptic world where crime rules above all else. We follow a group of brothers who grew up together in an internment camp who manage to get out alive and go their separate ways. That is until Shawn, one of the brothers, finds out that one of the others has been killed. This takes him down a dark path unravelling secrets that create for a gripping storyline.

The acting in White Wall is better than I originally anticipated considering the low budget for the film and the writing only makes the story more convincing. The cinematography is great and reminds me of the film "parasite". As well as this, the environment of the movie reminds me of the film "I am legend" which incorporates small wasteland towns and villages.

The tension between the brothers builds throughout the course of the film and ends with a glorious battle between Shawn and Jude that is brilliantly shot. Overall, I would consider giving this a watch if you enjoy impressive cinematography and films with a strong story line.

The movie is an interesting take on the whole post apocalyptic genre. It isn't anything new or particularly original, but it does deliver its own spin on a movie done a lot of times. I liked that the world wasn't such a ridiculous deviation from life prior to the disaster. The gangs weren't leather clad freaks like a Mad Max movie. People weren't all crazy and roaming around robbing each other. They had their normal jobs and lives. There was just an somewhat oppressive government trying to maintain control, and small cells of people rebelling against that system.

The movie looked good and had a decent idea, but the acting was very flat. Not one of the characters delivers a convincing performance. So none of the scenes have any emotional impact. This is probably due in large part to the stilted dialogue in the script. In the hands of a better write and director, I could see a big time Hollywood blockbuster. As it stands, it probably isn't worth much of your attention.

The acting is so distractingly bad that it is downright painful to push through the opening sequence, but, as awful as it was I continued on for another half hour making sure I gave this movie every chance. When two fundamental aspects of a movie are of such a low quality, in this case the writing and the acting, it's a wonder how the movie can be made at all. I wouldn't make my worst enemy watch this movie let alone a complete stranger that is the only reason I'm writing this review. This "movie" should come with a warning label; 'This film may leave a mental stain that could result in brain trauma when recollecting any of it's contents at a later date, and in some cases has resulted in individuals wishing they were Helen Keller.'