Virtual Revolution

"The year is 2047. A century of technological revolution. The revolution did happen, just not really the way people thought it would."

Apparently there's one thing that'll never change, according to the movie "Virtual Revolution" which takes place in the near future.. And that's the attitude of the political establishment towards the citizens. I concluded that after Dina said the following: "If the politicians want to keep things the way they are, it's because they benefit from it". That's also the most wise thing Dina (Jane Badler) had to tell, because the rest was just irrelevant drivel. But that's the only thing that annoyed me in this rather ambitious science fiction.

The makers have gathered a lot of impressions from other famous SF films. It's obvious they've re-watched "Blade Runner" several times to create a similar atmosphere. Paris from 2047 looks dark and deserted. An utopian city with lots of neon lighting. A big city with sky high futuristic buildings with small spaceships navigating in between them. Believe me, this film has the same appearance as "Blade Runner".

Only Paris seems to be sparsely populated. And this is because the majority of the population stay at home as they are continuously connected to virtual worlds called "verses". Nash (Mike Dopud) is a private detective employed by a multinational who developed and own these virtual worlds. The moment users are being murdered in these virtual worlds, he's sent out to investigate who's behind it. Turns out there's an underground movement of a group of hackers with one main goal : give the connected back their freedom.

"Virtual Revolution" alternately shows images from the real world and the virtual worlds. Honestly, I have to admit that the idea of walking around in such a virtual world sounds incredibly fascinating. Fragging in a Quake-like world or being a firmly muscled adventurer and defeating dragons in a world that resembles Skyrim. I'm sure you'll find me in such a comfy dentist's chair with headphones after a while. And trust me, I will have a swelling around my belly button as well. It all looks interesting. Certainly when you realize, just like Nash discovered to his surprise in a mirror, that you can transform into any desired individual of any gender you want.

Although this is a low-budget SciFi funded by crowdfunding and also the debut of Guy-Roger Duvert as a director, this movie looks impressive and slick. Maybe the story itself isn't groundbreaking and the introduction of a half-dressed virtual heroine waking up in the middle of a lesbian scene, feels like a rather cheap trick. For the rest it's admirable what they've put together. There were certain moments you could compare it with similar Hollywood films with a budget ten times bigger.

But what surprised me the most is the denouement. No predictable end like most blockbusters. It even contains an important message. A message about human liberties and choices that one can make as an individual. Oh well, no big prizes will be won with this movie. But if you come across it somewhere on your VOD service, I would give it a chance. I recommend it and you won't regret it.

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On the surface Virtual Revolution looks enticing.

Regrettably, the not too shabby special effects and reasonable cast, can't make up for this films conspicuous shortcomings. This flicks biggest flaw is its lack of imagination and originality. Virtual Revolution comes across as a rather basic knock off of films like Blade Runner and any other dystopian, futurist, sci fi, you care to name. Why on earth can't film makers look past older films and come up with some new, fresh ideas, of their own?

Virtual Revolution's cause is not helped by rather uninspiring narrative and scripting either. I found the characters bland and uninteresting, with no real depth or substance to them.

The result is a film that's alright for those who have no point of comparison. Unfortunately for veteran viewers like myself, who have had exposure to superb films like Blade Runner, this one pales into insignificance. A five out of ten from me.

I cannot really label myself a sci fi aficionado in the sense that I do not go looking for sci fi movies. I generally prefer my sci fi as context, as opposed to focus of a movie.

This movie surprised me because while it was sci fi, the sci fi simultaneously was context for discussion of the state of society, and how trying to fix society without obtaining buy in of society eminently can backfire.

That the ending was somewhat dystopian seemingly was fitting because it was the choice of the people, as opposed to an imposition of say, a dictatorship.

So, this is a strange one.

Those who compare it with Blade Runner are clueless simpletons. The concept is fantastic. In 2047 most people are connected and on universal basic income, no worries about real-life concerns. The execution, however, is poor and wastes an opportunity to make film history, no exaggeration here. Acting is generally ok, and actually it is good from the main and supporting roles.

However, the screenwriting is severely lacking, and drags everything down. This movie should be structured around the dilemma of whether to free or not the connected people (possibly against their will), and, secondly, on the truth about the protagonist's wife. But we only get a couple of hasty minutes of these themes, and instead *a lot* of exposition on the protagonist's online quests (which I was skipping), which was worthless beyond some point. So much screen time was wasted. The culmination of the movie should undoubtedly be the hacking attempt of the megacorp HQs, but this was also hastily presented in a couple of minutes. .Such a wasted opportunity for an awesome film climax..!

Still, 7/10 for the nice concept and the effort.

Good plot, good dialog, saves the movie from the obvious low budget. Music suits the movie theme. Composed by the director even. Some visual effects catch your eye for not being "Hollywood standard". I've seen worse visual effects with way more budget. Still impressive piece of work with actors doing their best within what they've given. For a low budget scifi flick I'm more than entertained. The storyline was easy to follow and some minor distractions were saved by lively dialogue (my mother language is not English so I don't pay much detail to subtle nyances in dialogue). Very enjoyable scifi flick to pass the time with a nice thought provoking plot.