626 Evolution

Oh jeez.

There are good ideas here - not super original, perhaps, and unremarkable, but that's no inherent mark against a feature. John Lyde's is hardly a household name, but I've seen a fair number of his films at this point, and he's a capable director. This is seemingly Larissa Beck's first credit as a screenwriter, but I see that she was involved with 'Mythica: Godslayer,' which I highly enjoyed, as well as 'The Christmas dragon' and 'SAGA: Curse of the shadow,' both of which I thought were pretty decent, too. And I've seen star Danielle C. Ryan in a few movies at this point, and think she's a fairly good actress; I also recognize some other actors to appear here. '626 evolution' had a lot going for it. Unfortunately, all the constituent parts just don't pan out: this isn't very good.

Superpowers are always a fair starting point for a plot. Proliferate use of a first-person perspective is an interesting choice - novel, and schlocky, as stilted 2015 yawnfest 'Hardcore Henry' proved - but can be alright if done well. Designing every shot from a third-person perspective to have the appearance of cameras - security, cell phone, satellite, traffic, "smart home" - likewise has potential, but if the cards aren't played right then the affect may easily have the same issue as first-person camerawork. To these add one final prominent element in the narration of a teenager - or rather, running commentary on the fly, from start to finish, that at times breaks the fourth wall. Nothing about this movie is an intrinsically poor decision, but each individual element is of the sort that requires utmost finesse, dexterity, and delicate handling to pull off, at risk of marring the viewing experience. Put them all together, and the best that could be said is that the resulting movie needs to be flawless, or else it would be rotten.

'626 evolution,' I'm sad to say, is not flawless.

The "narration" of 449 (Ruby Jones) would be fine if employed sparingly, to highlight meaningful inner reflection. Instead it's intended as a comedic aspect, except her quips and one-liners are rarely clever - rather, they come off as the loquacious inane babbling of an anxious teen who constantly mouths off in the hope that it will earn her popularity. 449's commentary even overrides the dialogue of other characters. The camerawork likewise could have carried some weight if it was used more judiciously to spotlight specific moments, but that the entirety of the movie is filmed with these notions front and center means severely detracts from the viewing experience.

These are the worst problems with '626 evolution,' but they're not the only ones. The sound design is also deeply troubled; James Schafer's score and 449's commentary are prioritized in the mix, while all actual dialogue and sound effects are deemphasized. Very critically, that means that the communication of plot is hampered - and plot development is so slipshod in the first place that I honestly am not fully certain of what the complete course of events even is. By the same token - these characters are clearly quite complicated, but who or what are they, exactly? I couldn't say. Meanwhile, editing and sequencing are overzealous and decidedly unpolished, further dampening the experience.

Stunts and fight choreography are fair. Computer-generated visuals and special effects are fine, if distinctly second-tier. Costume design, hair and makeup, filming locations - great. I think the performances are A-OK. This could have been a good movie. But with all the choices that were made for the production, it never really had much of a chance to begin with. Why, after a suitable climax, the very last scene is so pointedly ham-handed that we can't even be left with a good taste in our mouths. I didn't have especially high expectations as I began watching, but I hoped for '626 evolution' to prove me wrong. I'm disappointed to see just how flailing an effort it was in too many ways, with every worst impulse thoughtlessly indulged. I know the folks behind this can do better. Please - do better.

626 Evolution is a low/no budget project with relatively cheap equipment acted by some obviously professional stunt-men, not all of which have acting talent. The end result is a TV-like, low budget, home-made action video. I cannot, in all good faith, give this project a 6 (above average) despite all the obvious efforts of the crew who made it. The whole story and its seriousness plays out as pretentious, try-hard attempt to convince us that it is more than an under- financed love child of the ... director I suppose. They tried really hard to make it more creative and professional - first- person and security/drone/satellite cameras point of view for the great majority of the viewing... and approximately the third of the movie is ruined by the teenage girl narrating some clichés behind camera. Thus, successfully and consistently irritating you due to either the shaky or pointless first person camera view or by the annoying girl reading her lines heartlessly.

Why would you want to watch this movie? Danielle Ryan Chuchran. She is sexy, athletic, knows how to fight and acts well, within the boundaries of the script available. The guys do their best with serious expressions to do their part but, well, not really great actors or at least not with that storyline and budget constrains. The teenage girl presence and acting are underwhelming.

Respect to all involved but it is not a great stand alone project. Danielle Chuchran - now I know you exist :)

UPDATE: After watching Alien:Covenant I give this move movie a 6.

I like the action and mystery in this movie but it was very confusing. Almost no story plot just a movie which has no back story

I've seen some of this director's other films, and suffice it to say, this film was not put together by an amateur. The director has a lot of technical skill under his belt; the problem is he tends to bite off more than he can chew. His scripts tend to be unconventional in that they often deal with a lot of extraneous elements, e.g. non essential characters and plot devices, which most directors wouldn't have the confidence to attempt, and not surprisingly, sometimes it pays off whereas sometimes it doesn't.

To start off, this is an experimental film, the only question is WHY? In my opinion, the script, and the basic premise are very strong, and this could have been a very solid little indie film were it handled better. It's not a character or dialogue driven film, but it doesn't have to be. It's a plot/action driven film, and yes there are some decent action scenes (I had no idea Danielle Chucran could do all that). It was clearly produced with a shoestring budget, but for the mostpart, the director put his funds to good use with some convincing special effects where needed, so I guess the question now is, what went wrong?

First of all, the director made the very bad decision of opting for a "found footage" style film, where all the material we see comprises security camera footage, and footage supposedly from ocular implants. This ends up ruining things in two ways (1) it makes the film seem much much more amateurish than would have been intended, and (2) it's done in a way that makes you feel detached and uninvested in what you're seeing.

An even worse decision however: the director clearly wanted to put across the impression of being watched and being under surveillance, not being in control of your mind or body, and having people see through your very eyes and people controlling you and your actions. So how does he accomplish this? The entire film is sarcastically narrated by a teenage girl ALL the way through. It's cute for about 10 minutes, then it really starts to grate on you. Ultimately, the narration really never manages to synchronize well with the film.

It ends up being a little bit like watching a movie with your annoying younger sister. What this does, why it was a disaster move, is because it removes you even FURTHER from the material itself. Remember, it's an action/plot driven film. If you're taken out of the action at EVERY single moment, you just can't get into the film. Interestingly enough, the girl narrating the movie often literally makes fun of the camera angles, the bad acting, the plot devices, and half the time you tend to think "Hmm yeah, good point, that was a rather shoddy decision wasn't it..." The director: WHAT was he thinking?!

A standout criticism in particular is when she makes fun of the really bad French accents, a perfect example of the director biting off more than he can chew. Danielle Chucran has some acting talent, but her aside, you're hiring the majority of these people mainly for their skill in martial arts and stunts, not for their acting ability. For the love of God, WHY are you making them put on foreign accents? It's the most consistent way to cheapen a film's quality.

In a word, disappointing. So many bad decisions came together to ruin what could have been a decent film. If Danielle Chucran saw the final cut, assuming she's not a complete bimbo, I imagine she would be very annoyed with the final product as well. The narration was like a smudge on virtually all of her scenes. In all honestly, if the director going forward, has trouble getting producers to fund his projects, it serves him right. What a mess.

While the film has obvious shortcomings, it was clearly an experimental movie. Just like the protagonists, it was a mix of DNA from other productions, just to see if it ticks. So maybe the mix of found footage and superhero movies with a sarcastic background commentary wasn't the best combination, but at least it showed effort and was entertaining.

I've seen Danielle Chuchran in two movies now that I watched till the end just because they started with one of her fight scenes. I mean, they just need to make a Karate Kid clone with her as the protagonist and Gina Carano as the villain and they have gold right there. Or just make her fight the whole movie, if they don't need a story at all. Anyway, Danielle can act and she can surely move and, as the movie said, no mirror is going to break when she looks into it.

Unfortunately, just having her in the film was not enough. A movie needs a story, real character development, stakes. It amazes me that people make films with special effects and guns and cars and explosions and somehow find it hard to hire a real writer for the damn script.

Bottom line: a bit slow and boring, but not a bad effort. I mean I've seen most Arrowstorm Entertainment films and this is clearly one of the better in terms of acting. Nobody likes found footage films, though.