A motley crew of misfits hunt down an infamous '80s arcade game that can supposedly control people's minds.A motley crew of misfits hunt down an infamous '80s arcade game that can supposedly control people's minds.A motley crew of misfits hunt down an infamous '80s arcade game that can supposedly control people's minds.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
- Awards
- 17 wins & 4 nominations total
Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong
- Persistent Customer
- (as Tayla K. Ebong)
Samuel Arber
- Young Ashens
- (as Samuel John Arber)
Charlotte Arber
- Young Christine
- (as Charlotte Kate Arber)
Nicky Burke
- Mrs Ashen
- (as Nicola Burke)
Taylor Rae Papworth
- 80's Polybius Victim
- (as Taylor Papworth)
Akshy Marayen
- 80's Polybius Victim
- (as Akshay Marayan)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
This film has a plot that keeps you guessing and wondering what's going to happen next. The whole film is enjoyable and the cast do a great job!
A decent independent movie. The previous Ashens movie was a good effort but you needed to be a fan of cult movies to appreciate it. This one however is really good. Wonderfull British humour and good acting. If you are into British humour and can appriciate the geeky theme then this movie will not dissapoint you.
The cast was well chosen and the story kept you interested. The characters had enough dept and all contributed to the movie. There was only one gag that seemed a bit out of place but I can easily look past that one.
The cast was well chosen and the story kept you interested. The characters had enough dept and all contributed to the movie. There was only one gag that seemed a bit out of place but I can easily look past that one.
First of all, it's rather good. The producers obviously invested in their crew and chose their cast with care, and it shows. Do you need to be an Ashens or Nerdcubed fan already to enjoy the film? I don't think so.
I was relieved to see more of a gender balance than is implied by the poster. The principle women are all excellent and help to lift the film, otherwise it could be conceived as a tad misogynistic.
Overall, the film packs quite a pace. It's funny, engrossing and likeable.
Stuart Ashen himself is a very solid actor - low-key, natural, with a good voice. Dan Hardcastle was top dollar. I also thoroughly enjoyed the OTT villains. Together with Joanna O'Connor, Jarred Christmas knocked my socks off, and their scenes were an absolute delight. I also found Ashens' and Christine's journey a pleasant surprise, providing unexpected emotional depth which came as a welcome contrast to the comedy antics of the Heist team.
There are times when you can see the film-making process has been rushed, a couple of scenes where you feel Barmania must have wished he'd had more time. Others where you can truly appreciate the precision and care taken with set-up and framing. The look of the film costume-wise is unexpectedly stylish.
When you consider the scope of the production, the budget and timescales, you have to give immense credit to Barmania for pulling it all off.
Relentless Films should be very pleased. This is a tremendous start.
I was relieved to see more of a gender balance than is implied by the poster. The principle women are all excellent and help to lift the film, otherwise it could be conceived as a tad misogynistic.
Overall, the film packs quite a pace. It's funny, engrossing and likeable.
Stuart Ashen himself is a very solid actor - low-key, natural, with a good voice. Dan Hardcastle was top dollar. I also thoroughly enjoyed the OTT villains. Together with Joanna O'Connor, Jarred Christmas knocked my socks off, and their scenes were an absolute delight. I also found Ashens' and Christine's journey a pleasant surprise, providing unexpected emotional depth which came as a welcome contrast to the comedy antics of the Heist team.
There are times when you can see the film-making process has been rushed, a couple of scenes where you feel Barmania must have wished he'd had more time. Others where you can truly appreciate the precision and care taken with set-up and framing. The look of the film costume-wise is unexpectedly stylish.
When you consider the scope of the production, the budget and timescales, you have to give immense credit to Barmania for pulling it all off.
Relentless Films should be very pleased. This is a tremendous start.
This film set itself two very difficult goals.
The first - creating a comedy heist movie at all - it succeeds at very well. The characters are neither so competent that they are distant, nor so incompetent that the heist itself is unconvincing; the percieved difficulty of the heist is pitched just right, the characters' failing are understandable and identifable, and it strictly limits the amount of humor that comes from character incompetence. The production quality is also remarkably high, especially for the budget involved.
The second challenge is making a character-driven movie featuring YouTubers, who (regardless of acting ability) have the difficulty of their existing fanbases associating them wholly with their "YouTube mood". Ashens himself comes off best, due to his previous acting experience, his fanbase's knowledge of his previous films, and his dry-comedy theme; but as mentioned elsewhere, Dan Hardcastle clearly suffers from trying to play his YouTube persona "Nerd Cubed" in a way his viewers would expect (they even named his character "The Cube"), which leaves his character reacting to a disasterous development like.. well, a YouTuber reacting to an abrupt Game Over on a Let's Play video, rather than a person who is actually in imminent and increasing danger of going to prison for 20 years.
The difficulties of the second by no means overcome the success of the first, though, and the film works extremely well as a convincing heist with some genuinely hilarious moments.
There are a few down spots, though, in part caused by the film's habit of integrating meta-humour about directorial tropes and film-making at odd moments. This often comes up in the backgrounds or details of the film, sometimes so dramatically that it comes close to being its own CinemaSins reel, but when it gets pushed to the foreground it becomes more awkward. The scene where the villain has to pursue Ashens while both are moving extremely slowly through motion detectors probably sounded hilarious on paper but when actually filmed you realize it's just two people moving really slowly in gaits that don't make sense; it looks like a good chunk of that scene was edited out, for good reason.
By far the cringiest of these points was one which a sign inside the facility is written purely in Greek, entirely so that the (otherwise incompetent) Greek-speaking character accidentally recruited by the team can turn out to be crucial. I suspect this was intended as a parody of this trope in team movies, but with no explanation it comes across as so contrived as to just be a horrible example of that trope rather than a joke about it.
As previously stated, though, the highs and the general quality outweight the lows, and while this film will obviously appeal much more to fans of the YouTubers involved, to nerds, and to fans of Ashens' style of humor (whether or not they have heard of the man himself), it's a fun watch for anyone, especially those with prior experience of heist movies.
The first - creating a comedy heist movie at all - it succeeds at very well. The characters are neither so competent that they are distant, nor so incompetent that the heist itself is unconvincing; the percieved difficulty of the heist is pitched just right, the characters' failing are understandable and identifable, and it strictly limits the amount of humor that comes from character incompetence. The production quality is also remarkably high, especially for the budget involved.
The second challenge is making a character-driven movie featuring YouTubers, who (regardless of acting ability) have the difficulty of their existing fanbases associating them wholly with their "YouTube mood". Ashens himself comes off best, due to his previous acting experience, his fanbase's knowledge of his previous films, and his dry-comedy theme; but as mentioned elsewhere, Dan Hardcastle clearly suffers from trying to play his YouTube persona "Nerd Cubed" in a way his viewers would expect (they even named his character "The Cube"), which leaves his character reacting to a disasterous development like.. well, a YouTuber reacting to an abrupt Game Over on a Let's Play video, rather than a person who is actually in imminent and increasing danger of going to prison for 20 years.
The difficulties of the second by no means overcome the success of the first, though, and the film works extremely well as a convincing heist with some genuinely hilarious moments.
There are a few down spots, though, in part caused by the film's habit of integrating meta-humour about directorial tropes and film-making at odd moments. This often comes up in the backgrounds or details of the film, sometimes so dramatically that it comes close to being its own CinemaSins reel, but when it gets pushed to the foreground it becomes more awkward. The scene where the villain has to pursue Ashens while both are moving extremely slowly through motion detectors probably sounded hilarious on paper but when actually filmed you realize it's just two people moving really slowly in gaits that don't make sense; it looks like a good chunk of that scene was edited out, for good reason.
By far the cringiest of these points was one which a sign inside the facility is written purely in Greek, entirely so that the (otherwise incompetent) Greek-speaking character accidentally recruited by the team can turn out to be crucial. I suspect this was intended as a parody of this trope in team movies, but with no explanation it comes across as so contrived as to just be a horrible example of that trope rather than a joke about it.
As previously stated, though, the highs and the general quality outweight the lows, and while this film will obviously appeal much more to fans of the YouTubers involved, to nerds, and to fans of Ashens' style of humor (whether or not they have heard of the man himself), it's a fun watch for anyone, especially those with prior experience of heist movies.
A great film to watch if you like Ashens, British Comedy or general dry humour and slapstick!
Did you know
- TriviaThe registration of the van they use for the heist reads PWND LND or Poundland which is a reference to Ashens' Poundland series of videos
- Crazy creditsAfter all the credits are played out, the distinctive six-note jingle from the start of Ashens' YouTube videos is played, but with the final "Hello!" replaced with "Goodbye!".
- ConnectionsFollows Ashens and the Quest for the Gamechild (2013)
- SoundtracksSettle the Score
Written by Michael Spencer Chapman
Composed by Michael Spencer Chapman
Performed by James Marsh
- How long is Ashens and the Polybius Heist?Powered by Alexa
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