The God of Death

This movie was better than I expected it to be. The plot was pretty good and the special effects were not terrible I have seen much much worst. I would definitely watch this again.

This is the first review I've done on here, but since no one else has written one yet, I feel those who worked on the film have the right to know why I gave it a 1. It's because I give 1s to movies where I can't get thru the first 15 minutes. Usually it's because the immediate impression of such films is one of total awfulness. "God of Death " doesn't really have that-with the exception of overacting and an air of cheapness that one can expect with a low budget independent film.

No, I probably would have hung in there-at least much longer-as I hate to give up. I'm sure these folks worked long and hard to get this made, and I applaud their efforts. HOWEVER...

Producer/Director/Writer and star R.R. Baker-I'm looking at you. At some point, you have to be willing to delegate, because also adding Sound Director was probably one hat too many. It was the distorted and scratchy audio that made me shake my head in pain, particularly during shouting-or every time "MY son," was said in anger-which was a number of times in that 15 minutes. I pictured a decibel indicator screaming in the red and no one paying attention.

Mr. Baker, maybe an experienced sound person just wasn't in the budget. But maybe next time you could at least get someone part-time. Or get a kid in the AV Club at a nearby high school who'll do it just to see their name on a movie. Whatever you do, do SOMETHING. What a shame to lose a viewer and get a bad review for what should be simple issue.

I wasn't going to say anything at first, but after reading some of the comments, I believe the some of the previous raters totally missed the mark. It is definitely low-budget, but the story totally grabbed me! I agree in that it does seem similar to "Sin City," but the story is significantly different in a good way. It also reminded me of "Max Payne," but honestly I enjoyed watching this film more. It's a very compelling story! I'd also agree that the sound needed some work, as I had a hard time understanding the Death character, but after turning on the subtitles I was totally absorbed!! Even noticed some concepts of existentialism when Death spoke. Deep! Thoroughly enjoyed! Give it a chance and I think you will too.

One thing I'd NEEEVER expect to see in a "no" budget film is fx like bullet time! Gotta say I was impressed! Script was cool too. Felt a little long as it's almost 2 hours, but it kept me watching. I watched it twice. It gets really hard-hitting, especially when Aidan fights the dude who killed his son, but then that crazy intense scene was followed with another with the police chief that had my dying laughing! I seriously laughed out loud at the police chief guy. Funniest dude in the movie. Showed it to some of my friends and we all seemed to get into it. Actually enjoyed and appreciated it more the second time around. Really impressive. Surprised the hell out of me!

I occasionally seek out low-budget movies (mostly sci-fi) because they tend to explore less conventional ideas in less conventional ways. This movie is definitely low-budget, but it just plays like an amateurish student film trying (and badly failing) to be a Hollywood horror. I can endure 3rd-rate acting/directing/filming/effects in small doses, but not when they're across the board. The only thing that kept this from being a one-star rating was that I found some of the stylistic visual flair to show at least some concept of what could be done on a low budget -- the first 5-10 minutes of the film were like a low-budget version of Sin City (i.e., highly stylized) -- but then we go to much more mundane shots that look like video taken with a cell phone camera -- the camera work is just bad.

R. R. Baker loves extreme close-ups... especially of himself. Some of those shots are so extreme that they almost look like a parody. The movie feels like a vanity project. In an early sequence, Mr. Baker portrays himself like some superhero as he fights off a group of police officers (his colleagues, no less) with his quasi-karate and remarkable speed (all after he's barely recovered from a near-fatal bullet wound). Then there are his superhero jumps, most of which end with a shot where you only see his feet landing... to show how high he jumped... I guess?

Most of the acting is just outright terrible, some of it painfully so. There is a tragic death early on which should feel devastating, but by the time it happened, the characters were so badly portrayed that I just didn't care -- there wasn't a single moment that elicited a genuine emotional response.

There's an odd introduction to the movie which had me confused. Baker (as producer/director, not character) talks about how this is an "underground" movie as if it were revealing some hidden truths or some such. But the intro ends by "breaking character" with a schlocky attempt at a jump scare, which unintentionally foreshadows the quality of what's to come. In retrospect, I think the intro was probably put in as an excuse (or acknowledgment) of just how low the quality of the movie is.

As mentioned, I'm ok with low budgets when there's at least a good idea being explored, but The God of Death just played like a hack job -- the quality was extremely low, and the story just was not interesting. I stopped watching after 30 minutes.