For the Cause

I rented this movie because it looked nice, nice cover, and some nice screen shots at the back cover. But the cover alone gives you a very wrong impression of the movie. It begins promising when you hear of the war that goes on for years and how the war devastates the people you hope to see some huge army that fights the final battle for survival. but non of that is in this movie. You can see a real nice futuristic fighter plane on the back-cover. Sadly its just for 3 sec in the movie. And the whole deal of those "witches" fighting against some computer animation is just strange and sometimes confusing.

I must admit it's hard to take *any* movie seriously that has Dean Cain or Thomas Ian Griffith in it, seeing how much made-for-video junk they have been in previously - and both of them appear in this movie! Overall this movie is a disappointment - many important elements that would have explained things are not here (I suspect they got edited out along the way), there is a lack of excitement in the action and the lack of war-weariness this 99 year-old war would have placed on its people. Some of the effects and sets (such as the glass caverns) would embarrass even Roger Corman. The climatic battle is straight out of a video game!

Still, a few effects (like some matte paintings) aren't bad, and there are some interesting ideas here and there, intriguing ideas that, in a better screenplay, could have made for a compelling adventure. As it is now, this plays like a (rough) first draft, and it's easy to see why Dimension released this directly to video stateside (after spending two years on the shelf.0

I really tried hard to like this movie, but most of it's elements just don't work. The acting is merely good enough, so is the music. Some of the CGI effects look good, some even great, but there aren't enough of them to hide the low budget. Some sets, like the inside of the glass wall, reminded me of old Star Trek episodes - TOS, that is. What's left is an intriguing scenario, ripped apart by the most disappointing feature: the plot. It starts well, descents into a slow and boring trip and even manages to screw up the showdown. "For the Cause" (aka Warhammer) is more like stretched version of a weak Outer Limits episode. Too bad Tim and David Douglas failed in bringing their obvious passion for film making into the movie.

I really liked the movie, but I think they 'd better made a mini tv-series instead. There was such potential to show more of this world with the two different cultures, develop the characters. There was just too less time to explain the background (about the witches for example) ... and all that.

Like all other low budget sci-fi flicks, this one also fell apart despite having an interesting plot. The set designing was okay, so was the costumes, equipments etc. But where this one lagged behind is the cinematography with special effects. An air of childish simplicity is revealed on this occasion. Everyone expects mature and massive use of special effects in a sci-fi war movie like this; but evidently due to low budget and less actors somehow you'll feel uneasy about the lack of completeness while watching. The background music also seemed insufficient.

But the producers and directors did everything else perfectly to make it worth watching. The story is quite interesting. They did everything necessary to create a wave of tension throughout. The screenplay is not that bad. Justin Whalin (Dungeons & Dragons) did not disappoint me. You do not expect much from the other actors in a movie like this and I'll say they did their part well. The locations were good chosen etc and etc.

So this is one movie which should become quite an eye-opener for new movie makers. If you don't have money, don't venture to make a sci-fi one.