hammer46_

I've seen The Vanguard at the BIFFF in Brussels. A got drawn by the Poster 'refreshing, will leave you craving for more' Yeah Right. This film is extremely low budget (there's nothing wrong with low budget films if they're well made, but this one obviously is not) and has the look and feel of a student's project. The idea is OK, but the horror in this is totally absent. THere's no gore either. The one scene where blood splatters out of a guy's chest, it's so fake it's not even funny. The plot is full of holes and doesn't work up to a climax. There's only a flat line. The zombies are unconvincing and confused: do they attack you always, or just when they feel like it? The playground is a field and a couple of hundred square meters of wood. The characters only run around in the wood and go nowhere (just like the plot). This film is a total waste of your precious and expensive time. If you want to see zombies, go see Romero's latest: Diary of the Dead, at least that one is well executed.

Hackers is a dream of a movie. Admittedly, not the best you've ever seen, but overall, it does have an atmosphere you can't but like. It's a romanticized view of hackers, depicting them as a cool subculture not harming anyone, but also showing the potential threat they can become. Although an older film, the computers they used at the time were more or less up to date, which is all the more credit to them (compared with the simple mistake made in "Simone"). I absolutely like Angelina Jolie in the role of Acid Burn. She's so much more natural than in her later films, but already shows the "tough chick" personality and spirit so well known from her later performances. Johnny Lee Miller (probably best known from Trainspotting, at least to me) isn't too bad either. There is chemistry between them. Matthew Lillard does what he can do best: be the most flamboyant character in the film. You can't but love him. The plot is simple and well known, someone has to clear their name for something they didn't do. As for the soundtrack, it fits seamlessly in with the atmosphere the film breathes, and consists of Orbital, Prodigy and Urban Dance Squad, amongst others. All in all, I had a really fun time watching this film.