R'ha

...or against the supremacy of machines. technically impeccable, it is one of films who use, in inspired manner, an idea who seems be so familiar. and this is its basic virtue - to propose a coherent story escaping from the circle of specific genre. because it is a story about the force of vulnerability. about values, heroism and a future of humanity who sounds not real unrealistic. a film about courage and honor. reminding great Sci. Fi series. so, little more than a good short film.

It is nice to not have humans involved in an apocalyptic event. Here we have a race of aliens, trying to survive the assault of the machines that they invented. The biological creature is quite handsome and evocative. He is also very heroic. What the machines lack is thinking away from the controlled programmed center. There is probably a much bigger story to tell here.

The first thing you'll notice about R'ha is its stunning visual effects. This doesn't look like the typical amateur short film-it feels more like a high-quality, full-length space sci-fi movie, just in a much shorter format.

That said, it also delivers a solid, self-contained story with a few twists. As others have noted, one of the most refreshing aspects is that the protagonist belongs to an alien species-and there are no humans in the film at all. It's an underused and welcome approach in sci-fi storytelling.

The ending is satisfying but leaves plenty to the imagination. While the story clearly concludes, the "what happens next" remains unknown-and that's exactly the part I now find myself eager to see.

A couple of years ago I saw the first bit of what seems to be an absolutely refreshing approach of the sci-fi story telling.

It's so refreshing to see a non-human protagonist, instead of all those generic Hollywood faces.

The story itself is awesome and NEEDS a full length movie!

I also feel that way about another short offering, Envoy. I feel they are both teasers that could be developed into a fine sci-fi movie. Of course they have some elements that reflect themes found in existing sci-fi movies, but with so many in print that's almost unavoidable. I feel that such references were presented in a novel manner, or were blended with features unique to these shorts. An important point is that each short, in addition to utilizing effects that have been shown to be popular with the sci-fi crowd, engages viewers in an examination of principles about morality, sacrifice, and honor through the lens of alien beings or AI machines, thus enabling the viewer to step out of the mentally suffocating envelope of pop social consciousness. I'd love to see these shorts get developed into feature films if it could be done without the directors having to surrender too much autonomy because the producer wants to force them into some formulaic mold for making money.