Knights of Newgate

As this thing started and was clearly going to be an utterly embarrassing mess, I thought about how films like this not only get made, but get some kid of distribution. I made film many years ago that never got fully finished and have been planning to make another for many years. I'm plagued by the idea that I'd never be able to make something worth watching, so why bother. Then I see something like this and think, fuck it, why don't I give it another go. Then the strangest coincidence happened. A guy pops up in this film, who was actually in my unfinished film from all those years ago. A sign if ever there was one.

So onto this bloody thing. The entire thing was shot on green screen and then had CGI backdrops, monsters and even human actors added to it. It's basically a step above The Incredible Bulk. I found an interview with director W J Carter who talks about how this was both a budgetary and stylistic choice. Though why anyone would want to make this choice is beyond me. He also goes on to say "Total CG environments allow the viewer to become immersed in the world presented to them and accept it as 'normal'." They don't and it doesn't. At all. He also mentions in the interview, which is from 2016, that the film has been 9 years in the making, thus making that almost 15 by the time it came out. IMDB also mentions that writer, producer and director's dad Sidney Carter, sold his house to finance the film, which just genuinely makes me quite sad.

The CGI is somewhere between PS2 and PS3 level and horrible. The Story is as basic as they come and utterly forgettable. Acting is pretty bad, though the fact the poor actors had to do all their scenes in a room, presumably in the director's house, they can't be blamed too much. I know Daniel Jefferson, who was in my film, is a great guy and happy to work on this low to no budget stuff, so I can't say anything bad about him or any of the other actors. I don't like to say anything bad about the people who made it too as they obviously had ambition way beyond their budget and talent. From the interview, it seems that even making CGI as subpar as on show here was really time consuming and hard work, but it's near unwatchable in it's terribleness. I found an old Kickstarter that states that the film upto that point (in 2016) had already cost nearly £600K. That is a shameful waste of money as it is not on screen at all.

I can overlook a generic, cliché story and I can overlook special FX that look like they were from the mid 90's but it's the acting and audio quality I just can't get passed. No-one in this movie comes across as an actual actor and the audio quality is beyond belief. One person speaking can sound like they're using a cheap headset whereas another sounds like they're in the kitchen with reverb hitting everywhere.

It's not often I come across titles this bad. It feels so lazy to the point that it's not worth going into. It's just a massive waste of time.

Okay, let's be honest 10/10 for effort of making what could have been a great movie on a limited, and I do mean extremely limited budget.

When the film opened, I thought it was the opening for The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall, including the same hammy performances from the actors.

So let's break it down.

Plot. Fantastic ideas, great story. Love the fact it was set in London, my hometown. This covers 4 out the 6 score of what I scored it out of 10

Cinematography. Again, some very dynamic shots here. Excellent effort.

Special Effects. I would expect this from a 90s B movie, or a 90s video game. Obvious this was filmed entirely on green screen and no sets were used.

Acting. Not good, but not too awful. Some hammy performances but the action scenes wasn't that bad.

So. If this had a much better budget. Christopher Nolan directing it. Location filming and physical sets, a better cast (and extras, not CGI extras, good way of saving money though). Then this would have been spectacular.

Final verdict? Not a complete waste of time, good for a laugh. Quite entertaining.

Someone please remake this with a decent budget, it could be a hit.

I've watched some rubbish before but this movie has made it to number one. Nothing more to say really.

Lockdown movies are getting worse every time.

The Acting is ok so far for a B or C Movie.

BUT it looks like a try of " Example " to spare EVERY kind of Set. AND it FAILED!

Much sorry, but the whole Movie is NOT even 1 second true set. Its a 100 % Greenscreen thing.

AND the worst. The Grafik level is about Resident Evil 4 GAME ( not remastered and not even bit close to the Remake levels ) .

Even some Actuall Games, who dont need high End Computers have better look then this whole Movie in every scene.

It looks like a School 3D Rendering Program, at more or less beginner or light Advanced level Person, who did the whole " Scenes " and actors only added with Greenscreen.