Change Your Image
chanticleer605
Reviews
Exile (2008)
Nice, but slightly disappointing
I've been wanting to watch this movie for a long time, and when I did, I was quite happy.
The story is quite interesting--a blind pilot crash lands on a barren and hostile planet and has to rely on a female android for survival. The location is stunning--it conveys the hostile and barren environment perfectly. The costumes were also good, especially those of the Grandlibon troops. Special effects were poor for the most part (forgiveable, since it is a low budget flick) except for the silver Attack Eagles in the sky. The digital gunfire was also more realistic than in the director's previous film. The pseudo-love story between the pilot and the android was interesting. The action scenes were short, few, and somewhat slow-paced, which lead to some disappointment because the trailers on YouTube made it look like a big action flick while it is almost more of a drama. The alien creature was brilliantly designed. However, once we see the full thing and its slimy fur body, then it becomes dismally obvious that it's a guy in a suit (this was because the alien creature wasn't finished and the director could not delay filming, so they had to go with what they had). The back-line for the plot is also very well-developed--perhaps too well developed. I wanted to see the Grandlibon-Kamoorsta conflict explored more. The movie itself was too short for my taste, at only about 78 minutes of running time. The Off World documentary that came with the special features was also too short, less than half the lengths of the documentaries of the director's previous two films. The score was real good, a nice combination of electronic and orchestral sounds and instruments.
Despite the complaints, the movie itself was still really good, especially for its budget. The plot was original, the creature design was great, and you can see that a lot of heart went into this production. It may not be as fun a ride as Mike Conway's previous film, The Awakening, but it's definitely a step up.
The Awakening (2005)
Great low-budget film
This movie is a really great film. The special effects aren't the best, but you get the idea. THere's blood, guns, a superhuman woman on a rampage, Marines, Black Ops, and lots of times where Lara (the protagonist) chokes someone, breaks their necks, and once where she takes out a guy's heart, all with sick-sounding cracking sound effects.
The amazing part is that the producers made this awesome action movie with a budget of less than 6 thousand dollars! They sure know how to use money! This movie is really cheesy at times but you gotta give the producers credit for their efforts. Some cheesy effects are like the animated gore (only when someone gets shot) since they didn't have blood squibs. Most other times the blood is an actual liquid substance so it looks real. There's one scene where Lara throws a stereo set into the air and instead of landing a few feet away, it didn't land on screen! It looks like she threw it into space! I laughed at that one! Another con is that the action scenes are pretty short. There's no five-minute shoot outs in this movie, but that's okay. It's still great anyway. If Mr. Conway (the director) can make a 5,900 dollar film look so good, then his next film (with a budget of at least 30,000 dollars) is no doubt gonna look excellent! I've only seen the trailer of his next film but it looks great. I think it's safe for me to say, "If you think THE AWAKENING's very great, just wait until EXILE!"