Reviewing a movie or in this case a documentary is always trying to find a balance between personal preference and analyzing facts and trying to come up with a balanced feedback which is useful for others to read.
First things first though; this film project is the result of a Kickstarter that was successfully funded about five years ago (Round about $30,000 or so if I am not mistaken). It took rather long for the movie to be released. The reasons seems to have been mostly due to limited time (the do not quit your day job just yet rational) and the need to find additional funding. No wonder if I look at the nice animations and the content shot not just in the US but also in Europe!
Was it short with just over an hour? Maybe to some it was. I think one hour is about my attention span anyhow so for me (personal opinion) I think it was long enough. I did understand that there is more to come as there is a truckload of footage being shot that never made it to the video as otherwise it would have been 2+ hour movie.. so.. I kind of like this approach of getting us up to speed first before coming with a follow up.
This may not be the documentary for the hardcore geek who likes to see which flavors were available, listing all Commodores sold. No line up of endless machines which were in essence just another Amiga with some incremental changes.. This is about when the Amiga conquered the computer market.
So for who is this movie then?
The intent has always been to make a movie that you as the true geek and Amigan can show your best friends, what this crazy hobby of yours is about, why this Amiga is still in your heart and why the heck you still use it today. It is also the move for the so called Joe Regular who heard of the Amiga and tell the story on how it became this great machine but due to bad marketing and poor management became this cult machine we know today. I thought the interviews were great and hilarious at some point and I appreciated the humor the founders brought with them after all these years to talk about it. Surely it is sad (to me too) to see it never made it to the top as in all honesty, I understand them for being sad as this was the best machine out there at the time. I think the sadness and the joyfulness were pretty nicely balanced throughout the movie and the clips from back when I think were nicely added in. I also liked the focus of it being told from the perspective of the creators and what they envisioned.
If I had to give one point of criticism, it would be the end. Some say maybe it was rushed to an end whereas I feel it was not easy to find a good end. How do you end something like this? Maybe like the Amiga itself.. you leave it open.. it never stopped.. so maybe that was the filmmakers idea.. who knows :)
On a personal note;
For me, the Amiga will always be about the people and I enjoyed this movie in its own right!
