Where One Stands

Where to begin? First off, on a scale of 1 – 10, I would fairly rate this movie a solid 2. That of course, is purely out of pity and little more. I knew nothing of this movie going in, but I was immediately able to see right through it.

Truly, what the maker of this movie (Christopher Jones) wants is to have a "showreel" for Hollywood, a vehicle for his big ego and you feel a very big sense of pretentiousness hanging over the entire production because of it.

Christopher Jones, a name you will know well because it is plastered over every facet of the movie and cheaply made DVD, is not what one would call a "typical leading man". Given the number of close-ups he had in the film, it's evident that he thinks himself to be better looking than he really is. There are always exceptions to the "leading man" stereotype (see Jack Black or Adrien Brody), but Christopher Jones lacks what is necessary to carry a film (from what I have seen of his screen work, at least).

To be fair, his acting was not too bad, but the situations were contrived and dialog seemed very forced, as if just there to fill in gaps between redundant montages and over-choreographed fight sequences. Lest we forget the constant shift into slow-motion, as if that is somehow supposed to make a scene more dramatic as opposed to going through the trouble of actually developing the characters.

The script is a mess, I mean really a mess. The story is very incoherent and would take multiple viewings for the viewer to "figure out" just what the heck is going on. I'm unsure of what process was used in developing the script, but it's evident it took a backseat to the fighting aspect and the movie is a complete wreck as a result.

The direction was extremely poor and it's quite obvious that the director just does not know how to make a movie. The pacing is bad as the editing is quite choppy and has no real aesthetic. Visually there is a lot of inconsistency throughout; some scenes will look nicely lit (like in the bar, I recall), while others look outright terrible. This must be due to the 5 or 6 Directors of Photography I saw listed in the head credits.

The camera work is pretty shaky and the compositions are unimpressive. The audio quality is pretty weak, sometimes you just cannot hear what the actors are saying in a given scene. The music is unbelievably cheesy, comprised of little more than a few chords composed by some dweeb noodling on his low-end synthesizer.

Overall, seeing this was a very lackluster experience and I couldn't bear to see it through to the end. I normally don't take the time to write such reviews but if I can spare anyone else out there from wasting their time on this piece of trash as I have, then it's time well spent.

If you love independent cinema, don't be fooled by this one – this movie is just pathetic in every sense imaginable.