The Capture

Novice filmmaker Jim Agnew makes his directorial debut in a film he also wrote, and clearly made on a shoestring budget - and succeeded.

His directing was actually quite good, and although the writing had some plot issues, it was still creative and interesting.

The acting was spot on by all cast, and the cinematography was on point. I felt the pace was a little slow, even for the short 78 min length, and that perhaps this should have been edited down with a faster pace to a short film of about 40 mins.

The score was also fairly decent and apropriate but felt out of place in a few scenes. My main issue was the sets... clearly not much of the budget went into them, as a few desks and fluorescent bulbs with outdated equipment and miles of thin phone lines don't make for a convincing set that apparently needed to draw power from many major cities in many states.

Nevertheless, for a very low budget C-grade film with B-list actors, this was a fun little sci-fi. A well deserved 8/10 from me.

The Capture gripped me early, but the further into the movie it got the more the grip was loosened and by the end it had thoroughly lost me.

It tells the story of a group of scientists who use risky, questionably immoral and dangerous methods to break space and time to find out what truly happens when you die. Is there an afterlife? Are all the reports of angelic entities at places of mass death true?

Based almost entirely in one location with a 3 person cast it plays it's low budget well and delivers a fairly original concept. Sadly what it doesn't do is provide you with a competent payoff, the finale is really quite weak.

Considering the movie tries so hard with it's pseudo-science to come across smart the ending demonstrates a lack of intellect and common sense.

It is very frustrating when an interesting movie fails to wrap things up well and ultimately it kills the entire film.

Nice ideas, failed execution.

The Good:

Solid concept

Convincing premise

Fittingly moody tense atmosphere

The Bad:

Too short

Finale is an utter failure

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Short tattoo sleeves on girls can look fantastic

This was like a proficiently-cooked meal that was ultimately unsatisfying. There as nothing special about it. Don't get me wrong, the acting was fine, the directing was fine, the writing was fine, cinematography and sound, both fine, but all those together didn't add up to more than the sum of its parts. Great films have something - and hopefully more than one thing - that will make them memorable. This had none of that. Hopefully the cast and crew will work their way up to bigger films that take greater chances. The Capture played it safe - no surprises, no "wow" moments, just a heavy, unseasoned meal that will leave you anxiously awaiting your next meal (movie) in the hopes that it'll satisfy.

It started out strong. It was interesting for the most part, but man toward the end, it just literally drops off and is ruined by that ending. The characters were all interesting and seemed appropriate in their roles, even though the girl is easy to hate.

Really, it felt like they were making a movie, ran out of money and just called it good before finishing it. It's too bad, it had potential with an interesting idea.

Recently saw this on amazon, pretty good, a lot to take in and a lot of talking about science and the spirt it world. Which makes it great in some parts and a little slow in others. It was obvious that this film was made for very little money but the acting and the presentation were good. The end is a head scratcher but in these type of thinking man films that's good. If you're looking for action and explosions this is not for you but if you like intelligent since fiction this is more what this film is.