Chariot

Well what can I say about this movie, first off I rarely watch low budget movies, in fact I didn't even realize that this was a low budget movie until I finished watching it and decided to take a peek at what people thought of it.

Wow what can I say a $40,000 budget is to me really simply amazing to come out with such a well done project, the movie is certainly not without flaws but the skills of all involved pull this micro budget off really well.

Bottom line is this movie is a very entertaining time killer and for it to be set on a plane and still keep you interested the whole way through takes some real skill to pull off, plot wise it's not the strongest script to hit the shelfs, but by far nothing worse than most Hollywood big budget movies.

My praise really is not so much the script (not that its bad) but the fact the director/actors and editing is so flawless, basically one of the better movies I've seen in the last 6 months and to find out it was done on a shoe string budget WOW!!

I've never taken time to write a review here on something along the lines of this type of film. I will hope that my attempts do not spoil this.

An unknown 727 flight with seven passengers on board who wake at nearly the same time. We are taken on a trip at 65,000 feet with these individuals who rather quickly expose their personality types and the view can easily see how each effects the outcome.

The Secretary of Transportation, Government Contractor, IT Expert, Master's Degree Student, Language Specialist, House-wife and a Truck Driver. Interesting, diversified group. What could they have in common?

Cole, the first to wake from his drug induced sleep, becomes the leader of the passengers and the misfit as he didn't belong to the "group". I liked his character and found him to be a believable individual and a likely leader due to his even temper and levelheadedness.

Sadly the strength of the other participants, to included the remaining three individuals, are weak, but are supported by a script that seems to be lacking depth. Confrontations are cold, unfeeling, unrealistic and even seem stiff at times.

The premise is a good one and one that I enjoyed. For a 90 minute film, it did keep me watching due to the story line and I was interested to see how it played out, although I had it nearly pegged about halfway through.

I believe it ended properly. In fact, I am happy that the director and writers decided to end the film the way it did. Had this ended any other way, I think it might have ruined what was already a not-so-great movie.

A watchable film and somewhat likable flick.

Seemingly unrelated people wake up on a plane. Very soon they discover that US is under attack. When a dead body is discovered paranoia kicks in. Could these random people work together to survive? And why were they taken on the first place?

The market these days is flooded with low budget horror movies and most of them have nothing on offer but cheap thrills and weak CGI. CHARIOT is not one of those films. It is focused, compact and cleverly written. You can start watching it out of curiosity and will stay with it until the credits' roll. It has some descent acting and characters you genuinely care about. On the negative side - it is hard to finish the movie like this. The writers put themselves into a corner because every possible ending would ruin the story told so far. So they have chosen the only option available. It is frustrating in a way, but a satisfying one all the same.

It is interesting to see how little money may be required to tell a good story. With the similar premise Liam Neeson movie NON-STOP hitting theaters soon it is interesting to see if the big budget flick can pull a better rabbit out of the same hat!

Seven strangers wake up on board a plane, with no idea why they're there, or who their fellow passengers are, it seems as though the world below is gone as they know it, and they must work together to survive.

I honestly had no idea where this was going, or how it was going to end, I was expecting it to turn into a sort of horror, but instead it turned out to be a thriller, shocking to consider it's inspired by real life events.

I can't really understand why this film got a generally negative reaction, surely it's low budget, and some of the acting is a little questionable at times, but this film was packed with intrigue and suspense, you truly had no idea who was involved, or how it was going to end, I thought it was quite well written.

I suppose Cole was the hero of the piece, and probably the best character here, and for my money the best acting performance also.

7/10.

Make to mistake, this movie is a typical B-Movie, but one, that even with all the obvious plot-holes keeps you absolutely entertained for the whole run. Visually this movie is great, and the acting it also actually spot-on. The story is fresh, (or at least more original then most of the A-Movies) that we all know. But again, this is not even news, since B-movies got more to prove then all this typical Hollywood flicks. Anyways, the only bad, or not so good part in all this, are the details, not even the story as a whole. Many things seem just completely illogical, as for instance the reaction of the characters to specific dramatic situations. Even thru the flaws in this regard are in my opinion the only big major problem, it will not bore you the slightest. This movie actually managed me to keep me watching to the very end, ( something that Black Mass (2015), totally failed me to do. And that, says something.

Overall, a great B-Movie to watch if you want to kill some time. I'm giving this movie a good 6/10 just because of some IMO big irrational flaws in the script. Otherwise, it would be even a solid 7/10!

PS: don't skip the credits!