I recently saw this film at a film festival screening.
This film left such a taste in my mouth, I felt the need to create an account and leave my first ever IMDb review.
It's obvious whoever made this spent an arm and a leg. Production value was insane. I did a brief check and it appears some of the SFX were crowdfunded. Great for you guys.
Now to the film. The script for this was like a first draft for Indiana Jones the video game. The characters were unlikable. They possessed no real distinction between one another and the story was very, eh.
The acting was decent enough but fell completely flat due to the lines uttered. The grand chancellor of England actually did a great job with his lines, but again, so unlikable, so unrealistic(I understand it's a steampunk world, but people do not behave this way).
The locations in this were amazing! They shot at an actual air base. The chancellors palace was amazing! The shot of the lighter falling was awesome.
The sound design was a key issue, hokey. It was like roadrunner and Wiley Coyote sound design. Killed whatever redeeming value this movie may have had.
Lastly, certainly not least, the movie ended, phew. But, it didn't. The credit reel on this movie starts with a detailed cool looking map sequence. Then more credits start. With no exaggeration, they must have listed 5000 names in the credits, maybe more. This was the longest credit sequence I've ever seen(keep in mind this is for a short), Mr. Director, you didn't make Casa Blanca, give us a break. Half way through the credits, the audience started laughing. Jokes continued for another 5 minutes until we were put out of our misery.
It's hard for me to leave a negative review. I realize how hard it is to make something of value, particularly a short for an up and coming director, but sheesh. This vision was poorly executed considering the resources. Somehow, this film keeps getting into festivals so maybe my review is way off.
3 stars for completing this with awesome production value.
