Wicked Spring

"Wicked Spring" is a very ordinary low budget indie which plays out like a slice of Civil War life as men from both sides spend time together during a respite in the Battle of the Wilderness. This plotless film is put together with relatively unknown actors delivering mediocre performances; lots of reenactment battle scenes which give no sense of generaling and strategy; and a big dose of visuals to make up for the absence of content and story arc; etc. I'm a Civil War buff of sorts and have seen just about everything from Ken Burns CW to Glory to the Gettysburgs to the Civil War Journal, Red Badge of Courage, North vs South, etc., etc. and, though I think I understand what Hershberger was trying to do with this movie, it just didn't work for me. Keep expectations real and make this the last CW movie you watch. (C)

Wicked Spring is like a beautiful blonde that you see across a crowded room. She looks great, everything is in the right place. You decide to approach, and as you get near you begin to see the flaws carefully hidden beneath the make up. Still she is very attractive up close. But then... She opens her mouth to speak. And you discover she is a total vacuum with absolutely nothing to say. Instantly, you wish you were somewhere else talking to anybody but her. Wicked Spring looks good on the surface. High marks for period set design and wardrobe. But then you realized this writer/director is more impressed with surface gloss than any real substance or depth. I agree with one of the other comments that said Wicked Spring would have been better with some severe editing, turning it into a short. At a more abbreviated length it might stand up a bit better as one could overlook the lack of character development and lack of any meaningful drama.

I see that a lot of people feel the same way about this flick. And it's all because NOTHING HAPPENS! Hard to believe that a war flick could be boring, but this one is. In the entire course of this film we watch as soldiers from both sides go off to war, fight in a pitched battle, face each other in an oft repeated truce, and then succumb to an all to predictable end. That's it. Dialog is very minimal, characterization is non existent, and the battle scenes are tepid at best. Horribly uninspired and weak.

I have to disagree with most of what's been said about this film. Sure, it's pretty to look at and the uniforms are right, but where's the plot? Where are the correct sound effects? Where's the character development?

The only good things about this film are Brian Merrick and DJ Perry. The scene with the letters is completely moving and believable. Too bad it takes that long to get to something meaty! The stuttering kid and the monkey-faced man could have been completely eliminated as they provided absolutely nothing.

The opening sequence was a waste - the facial hair change on DJP was too drastic - it didn't explain enough - and it was so dull it didn't catch my attention to make me really want to watch the film. That and the voiceover was just completely overacted (like most of the acting in the film).

Wicked Spring could do with a re-editing (it's really only got enough good material to be a short), some additional character development (why the heck was Harrison so upset when the guy in the beginning died?), and some realistic sound effects. Oh, and something that makes this interesting to the non Civil War buff.

Yawn.

In a word...slow. It was so painfully boring and slow that my wife and I digitally sped the movie up and it was still way too slow. Some of the story line could have been interesting, but they didn't do anything with the story really and the acting was really not very good at all. We both were left wondering if and when anything was going to happen. And nothing did!

I would recommend to anyone that you do not ever rent this movie, as it is definitely not worth the money of a rental fee. And I would definitely feel sorry for you if you actually spent money to buy this thing!

Avoid this super boring and slow movie, unless you want something to fall asleep to!