Imortal

What this mini anthology of films based on the theme of Immortality all have in common is they have nothing to do with the theme of Immortality.

It might as well be called 'Wolverines siblings'. Poorly writen, hastily thrown together this 'Not dying and healing fast' series of tales misses the mark by a Continent.

Immortality is the concept of living forever and experiencing eternal life, it is measuring eons as the rest of us measure decades. It is loss and madness and eventually craving death. What it is NOT is suddenly realising you can't die. This could have been so much better; consider the anguish Connor MacLeod goes through in Highlander when he sees everyone he loves pass away over the ages. Think of the heartache of Gary Oldmans Dracula when his wife dies. Even 2020's 'The Old Guard' took the time to look deep into the curse of Immortality. This pitiful collection that all end abruptly however, refuses to go near such deeply philosophical matters. Instead it's as vapid and as inconsequential as Hayden Panettiere's character in 'Heroes': "Oh no! I"m hurt! Oh wait, I'm fine!" By all means give it a watch but I guarantee 30 minutes after it ends you'll be hard pressed to remember any of it.

This might be a relatively low-budget production but is well written, well made and well acted. I don't think it's a spoiler to write that the four stories concern people who seem to be immune to death. The implications of this are explored with some imagination (and are sometimes rather grisly) but make the viewer wonder how they might react in similar situations. Entertaining, thoughtful and well photographed, the four films are quite disturbing but also engaging and amusing and the central characters are well drawn and well directed. Dylan Baker in the first story is particularly good as a teacher.

Each one is short enough to be over before one starts to pick them apart. And it is set up so there are many avenues to explore after each one ends. The stories come with a twist, which some may or may not predict. It was fun entertainment. None of the stories are award winners on the red carpet, but still decent stories to pass the time with. The first one was, I felt the best, and the last had the most sinister overtones. The first one also had the most paths that could have been taken. The Ted and Vanessa story threw out perhaps the most profound questions about life, the quality of life and prolonging life. The last one had the most unforced errors. A license plate will not simply fall off unbent in an accident.

One would expect that a four part anthology would have something more in common than just the theme. This film was not the case.

Although all four were very well shot - and I'm assuming on a low budget, they were still flawed.

The second one was the most interesting and captivating, with some nice unexpected twists, and well acted.

The third one touched on some real-life issues, and performances were the best of all four, but it was slow, depressing and predictable.

The last one was just a smorgasbord of self-experimentation - albeit with some decent special effects, sub-par acting, with the predictable ending being the only fun part.

The first one was just a pointless story with many plot holes, and without any real substance or merit to its story. Probably the worst performances of the four.

Thankfully all four were nice and short and filled up the 94 min total runtime efficiently.

Well put together movie made of 4 segments about people that learn they cannot die. I do not want to say anything else about the stories, but this film is well acted, well shot, and incredibly well written. I caught it on a free streaming service and was hooked within a few minutes. The description of the movie provided on this page does not do the movie justice at all. Inventive, thrilling, very twisty-turny throughout the 4 stories.