Red Faction: Origins

I've never played the video game, nor have I ever heard of it (other than the recent TV ads for its latest release) so I can't write much about how authentic or faithful it is to its roots. This, in a sense, is a good thing, since a movie should be able to stand on its own.

'Red Faction: Origins' clearly proves two things. The first is that you don't need gazillions of dollars to make a halfway decent movie. Sure, it will certainly not be an Oscar contender, and it uses plenty of (sometimes soap-operaish) clichés and plot twists - some of which you will likely see miles ahead - but compared to the usual idiotic mess that Sy Fy scrapes up from the bottom of their production barrel, this is actually pretty good! It has got a fairly interesting and cohesive story that doesn't violate the basic rules of logic, it has engaging actors/characters, serviceable (if rather low-budget) sets and props, and SFX that range from low- to medium-TV quality. Brian J. Smith is proving himself again to be a reliable performer, Danielle Nicolet is fairly good, and there is a whole host of well- and semi-well-known actors who offer up (mostly) solid work - though the characters as written don't necessarily offer much to work with.

The other thing this movie proves is that Sy Fy is obviously capable of producing SF B-movies of reasonable quality - which means all the crud they have been pushing unto the long-suffering fans for nearly a decade is not by accident; they must be doing them on purpose. And this thought, frankly, is both depressing and maddening.

If you are an SF fan, 'Red Faction: Origins' is well worth watching. Again, not in the same class as 'Dune' or some other, more polished efforts, and SyFy sure as heck didn't invest more money in it than the absolute minimum they could get away with, but it is solid Sunday afternoon/evening entertainment. In short: the first SyFy movie in a decade or so that didn't send me into screaming fit of rage over SyFy Channel's industrialized incompetence.

I have never wrote a review on a movie and I am not going to start. So this is more of a warning. A warning to warn folks of the horrible story and pure boredom you will experience in this time waster. You could find better fan created movies on youtube.

If you have ever watched one of Uwe Boll's flicks and dogged him for their creation, watching Red Faction:origins will make you think twice before calling another one of Boll's movies crap. Red Factions: Origins, makes Uwe Boll's films look like block buster hits that deserve a Oscar.

You may think that this movie is free to watch, but its not..you will never get the time you spent watching it back. Spend your time washing your dog or something else that will be more exciting.

First off it is important to note that this is a fairly low budget production - a made for TV-movie (Wikipedia info: feature-length science fiction television movie pilot produced by Universal Media Studios and UFO Films debuting on SyFy, it is the first film based on the Red Faction series of video games.)

When you know this, you are aware that the CGI effects might not be avatar crisp, and they aren't! However - they are far above what i had expected, and the story is surprisingly believable. There are a few lose ends, like the reasoning behind some decisions made by various people throughout the movie, but never the less, i have seen plenty of A-list movies where the storyline are way more scrambled and nonsensical than this one.

The general level of the acting is quite good. Especially Brian J. Smith - whom you might know as Lieutenant Matthew Scott from the TV series SG Universe, and Danielle Nicolet has a very solid performance.

The best way to describe this movie, IMO, is a mix between Dune, Star Wars and the feeling you get when playing the game. (And Fallout 3 / new Vegas) Gritty feel, good vs. evil and sci-fi elements... good stuff :-D

I would tell everyone who likes the game, enjoys sci-fi, or likes a good adventure story with a classic "one man and his struggle to make everything right"-frame, to give this movie a chance.

The good: Solid acting Good story A Game-to-movie attempt above the normal standard It's a sci-fi....! :-D

The bad: Sub par CGI compared to A-list movies - but not horrible at all! A few actors who "feels like" B-actors A few plot holes, non to major though

I came into this movie thinking it was another Uwe Boll experience, but i was presently by what Michael Nankin had done with this movie and it's limited budget. It only gets a 7/10 from me, because it does have some of the "made for TV" characteristics, but for what it is, it is one of the best ever!

After 200 years of tyranny in Mars, the EDF (Earth Defense Force) is defeated by the alliance Red Faction formed by the Colonies with the Marauders led by Alec Mason (Robert Patrick). However the alliance is broken when Alec's wife Sam (Sarah Brown) and his daughter Lyra are murdered by the Marauders. However his ten-year-old son Jake claims that white soldiers have killed his mother.

In the present days, Jake Mason (Brian J. Smith) is a soldier from the Red Faction and Alec is a drunken troublemaker. Jake is assigned to retrieve the technology of the EDF Battleship Hydra will crash on a neutral zone with Tess (Danielle Nicolet). However he finds that white soldiers have arrived first and they get the Hydra. Jake attacks one of the soldiers and finds that she is his sister Lyra (Tamzin Merchant). When he returns to the Colony, nobody believes in his words.

Jake decides to find Lyra and deserts the Red Faction. He crosses the Marauder territory to reach Asimov, where he believes he may find a clue of the location of his sister. Along his journey, he teams-up with Tess and the Marauders Leo (Devon Graye) and Corvallis (Gordon Kennedy). Soon they discover that the white soldiers belong to the EDF and their leader plans a war between the Red Faction and the Marauders led by the Matriarch Omaya (Kate Vernon).

"Red Faction: Origins" is a surprisingly good Sy-Fy movie, with a solid story and great cast. The status quo of the Martian society divided in Red Faction and Marauders is presented too soon and rushed and fortunately I saw this movie on DVD and I repeated the explanation to understand how these people and EDF are entwined. I believe that some of the bad reviews in IMDb belong to viewers that have not understood the story. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Facção Vermelha: Origens" ("Red Faction: Origins")

First, I had never heard of the Red Factions game before reviewing this movie. I'm looking at it as a stand alone SciFi movie from SyFy Channel. I'm a sucker for Grade B Science Fiction movie so it looked worth trying.

For SyFy Channel, it wasn't that bad. There was no ridiculous monster eating damsels in distress. The special effects were adequate, but with CGI computer horsepower these days it doesn't take much. The sets and much of the production team were Bulgarian, but this is SyFy channel and you expect the best in Bulgarian film making. The actors were OK, but that's rarely the problem with these movies. What's usually the problem with SyFy Channel movies is the script, and that was kind of OK. Not an immortal classic but you didn't cringe.

I give it a fair six. It's worth seeing on a slow afternoon with a pizza.