Sons of Liberty

I saw this film at a festival and I really enjoyed it. It wasn't what I expected at all. Sure it has it's problems for an indie film, but the story completely outweighs any issues. Action scenes were very well done for a limited budget and definitely didn't feel like regular old straight to video type stuff. The acting is pretty good wit ha few familiar faces. I will say though, and I don't know if this is a problem or not, but you have to pay attention. It's not a put it on the background kind of movie. I did notice that it's listed as sci fi action, I would personally put it more into the military fiction realm. It did leave me wondering what's next.

Good stuff: Action was solid for this genre Cinematography was awesome Acting was pretty good Better than normal straight to video type movie

Bad stuff: Does require your attention Some of the dialog feels like you need a degree to understand it (though it's not that important) There were a few unnecessary scenes

Horrible. Yes, there was action, but even that was pretty bad. There was so much that must have ended up on the cutting room floor or still in the writers head. It begins with a guy in a hospital bed after something went wrong on a special Op. You have no idea what that was or why it was relevant to the story. The main story is about some Join task force of egg heads and special ops guys. But the only reason I know that is because I read the summary before watching it. There is never an explanation of the team, who's on it or why. You can kind of pick some of that up along the way, but what's the point of having this team if nobody even explains the team. There is a whole set of bad guys, but several have different agenda's including some kind of Occult stuff, but that is never really explored or explained. Clearly it leaves room for sequels, to the extent that they spend more time on that than the actual story. But let's hope this movie just dies instead. If it wasn't free on Amazon Prime, I'd sue to get my money back.

Looks like they've padded their own ratings on this one. Check the ratings breakdown. No way in hell this movie is a 10.

You can always appreciate a moviemaker's ability to craft a film/story their passionate about from a low end budget as it can't be easy to suppress all your ideas to the financial constraint you're under. Director Drew Hall has so far throughout his short career crafted 3 feature length movies under budgets that for a Hollywood tentpole would be barely enough to cover catering and Sons of Liberty (the 3rd entry into a series of films) showcases a director that deserves to be given more play money to craft something matching his undeniable vision.

To say that Sons of Liberty is a good film would be a lie, but to say it lacks creativity and moments of genuine movie-making skill would be a disservice to a film that at times shuns it's low end budget and becomes a solidly entertaining action/thriller that a singular acting spark would of ignited into being a real 90 minute blast. Hall is at his best when the action takes hold yet the film is let down by some truly mediocre acting turns from the leads and whenever the films dialogue takes on full effect you can feel the glaze covering your eyes as a lot of scientific talk and unneeded backstories take a hold on proceedings.

Sons of Liberty features some beyond bland lead turns from main players Adam Cardon and Catalina Soto-Aguilar and when the talking starts there so far too many charisma free conversations that test the patience of the viewer. With actors on board with even half the charisma of these two leads the film would of benefited greatly and the confusion about why people are doing what they're doing would've been lessoned for throughout the film the viewer will find themselves lost in a tale that perhaps was throwing in to many things at once (murders, stolen weapon parts) rather than focusing on a more streamlined plot.

After watching Sons of Liberty I do certainly look forward to what director Drew Hall comes up with next (his new thriller Convergence looks a lively type) and his ability behind the camera seems assured even is his material and actors are not quite there yet. Sons of Liberty may feel like TV movie making personified but there are certainly a lot more terrible movies out there at the moment, and most of them with quadruple the budget. Promising stuff, but still a way to go.

2 sore knees out of 5

This movie is full of great action sequences and great performances. I went in to it thinking that it was going to be of the so-bad-its-good club, but the tense, tight action had me on the edge of my seat. The plot was believable and mostly stayed out of the way. The only bad side was the number of villains made the motivations a little hard to follow. The main villain did a great job, however, so it is a minor quibble. Also, the science stuff was a little over done but not so much that it distracted from the main thrust of the movie. I saw the extended version, so some or all of my complaints might have been edited out of the retail version. Final say: you could do much worse with your Saturday night than watching this movie, and it is easily worth the few dollar rental fee.