The Call Up

Well, I knew it was a long shot that a movie with under 20 reviews ( It has 29 at the writing of this) was an honest review. Friends of cast,cast, employees of production companies, etc. I get it though. A falsely inflated review get's you to spend that cash only to be face palming 2 hours later. The Cinematography was solid. No back yard iPhone movie here. The intro CGI was done well. The CGI in the movie was BAD...the acting was worse. Thee were 2 people whom could act, the others...just were bad. Right down to the final, badly written and poorly acted, scene The plot was as transparent as glass with nothing "Surprising" in the entire movie. In my day we would have called it a "Straight to video" movie. IMO, this should have been a straight to youtube movie.

I'm a little stunned at some of the bad reviews this movies has had. It isn't that bad at all. It has it's typical character types for a movie of this type to give the story a bit of 'zap' and these characters emerge immediately. It's well done for a low budget movie, with good acting and directing ideas, and for once, I didn't pre-empt what the ending would be like. I was a little surprised, which doesn't happen often, yet viewers will determine the way the movie will go, as that is what it is..a game. I can tell you, there are some shocking movies out there that have ratings too high, with acting so laughable and the directing a nightmare to watch, yet this movie holds it own, actors and direction. See for yourself.

I love sci-fi that explores the human impact of developments in technology and the premise for The Call-Up promises plenty of that. How do different personalities react when they realise that the VR game they've been invited to participate in is more sinister than it first appeared?

Although this central dilemma is prominent in the first part of the film, once the plot gets going, the action leads and the pace keeps you engaged as the characters are forced to learn quickly and figure out whether to work together or turn against each other. The way that the film's perspective mirrors that of the protagonists as they switch between 'real' and 'virtual' is impressive and compelling to watch.

I would have liked to see a bit more focus on the psychology of the premise, but with a concept of this scope, there's only so much you can cover, and the action-movie elements win out. The effects are impressive for a low-budget debut and I found the acting convincing, although there isn't much nuance to the characters.

Worth a watch if you enjoy action films that make you think.

I saw the film at a sci-fi festival and found the premise absolutely engaging. Without giving away too much of the story, this is one of those movies that grabs something familiar from the contemporary world and takes it to the extreme, with fascinating consequences. Mixing VR and reality is the holy grail of gamers, but the sort of scenario described here is chilling, to say the least. Funnily, the writer-director takes every trope of the first-person shooter and turns it into a clever detail. And that's where most of the fun comes from. The characters conveniently follow the group casting of any slasher, with all the classic types and a couple of surprises. Maybe I would have wished these characters to be a bit more explored and a little less action scenes, but you can't fault this film for doing what most FPS do! Good fun

For a low budget and a persons first movie to write and direct wow. At first I thought oh no here we again, cheesy. But giving it a chance I was completely entertained. They used just enough to keep you wanting to see it through to the end, fore I for one had to know what was going to happen and was not disappointed. I give this 8/10.The acting mostly was acceptable except for a couple of the characters but over all not bad for generally unknowns. Stick with it past the 1st 10-15 minutes and I think you would like it. This is a movie that should be liked by the gaming community especially as it will really make them want more from the systems they use, or maybe less? This last statement is not a spoiler for if you see the trailer or read the synopsis everyone knows it's a game.