Moderately successful effort
To be perfectly honest, I had some fun with this.
Like others have said, if you don't expect much, you might find it enjoyable. And, it's not hard to keep the expectations realistic after director's debut, Zone of The dead. This film is a step up.
The locations are fantastic, paired with intriguing premise, what can go wrong? Well, let's see....
Acting is questionable, characters paper thin, story rushed and what we do learn about them doesn't keep us exactly rooting for this bunch. The film starts out in least promising way possible, cliché one liners, atrocious acting from most members of the cast (Kristina Klebe, Franco Nero and D. Micanovic excluded) and awful, cheap music to go along with holiday mood.
After initial half hour or so which does test one's patience, Mamula indeed gets off the ground, meaning we finally start getting a taste of some action, essential for projects like this. Thanks to ideal setting (island of Mamula on Adriatic sea; former military base) and some gory fx, the pain of enduring uninspired talk and "character development" is finally paying off. Some generic slasher kills, chasing through the maze of corridors...all's good, but, where's the Mermaid?!
Nymph is the strongest thing this film has going for it, location aside. And, indeed when she does finally appear I was ready to forget all the shortcomings. Could have watched her go all day long, nice make up/fx work there with pinch of bad CGI, but having relatively humble resources in mind, that is really not that big a deal. Although, I could have used a bit more daring approach, the Mermaid should have gotten more screen time doing her "thing", imo.
One of the surprises was Dragan Micanovic, in a role that's atypical for him, he handled the perky, jokey and lively Boban pretty well. Nero shows that he's still got it/with admirable screen presence against the pale bunch; and calm, assertive Klebe takes her role seriously. Overall, not the worst way to spend hour and a half, if nothing, to soak up the natural beauty of the setting with occasional horror action thrown into the mix.
Like others have said, if you don't expect much, you might find it enjoyable. And, it's not hard to keep the expectations realistic after director's debut, Zone of The dead. This film is a step up.
The locations are fantastic, paired with intriguing premise, what can go wrong? Well, let's see....
Acting is questionable, characters paper thin, story rushed and what we do learn about them doesn't keep us exactly rooting for this bunch. The film starts out in least promising way possible, cliché one liners, atrocious acting from most members of the cast (Kristina Klebe, Franco Nero and D. Micanovic excluded) and awful, cheap music to go along with holiday mood.
After initial half hour or so which does test one's patience, Mamula indeed gets off the ground, meaning we finally start getting a taste of some action, essential for projects like this. Thanks to ideal setting (island of Mamula on Adriatic sea; former military base) and some gory fx, the pain of enduring uninspired talk and "character development" is finally paying off. Some generic slasher kills, chasing through the maze of corridors...all's good, but, where's the Mermaid?!
Nymph is the strongest thing this film has going for it, location aside. And, indeed when she does finally appear I was ready to forget all the shortcomings. Could have watched her go all day long, nice make up/fx work there with pinch of bad CGI, but having relatively humble resources in mind, that is really not that big a deal. Although, I could have used a bit more daring approach, the Mermaid should have gotten more screen time doing her "thing", imo.
One of the surprises was Dragan Micanovic, in a role that's atypical for him, he handled the perky, jokey and lively Boban pretty well. Nero shows that he's still got it/with admirable screen presence against the pale bunch; and calm, assertive Klebe takes her role seriously. Overall, not the worst way to spend hour and a half, if nothing, to soak up the natural beauty of the setting with occasional horror action thrown into the mix.
- Shadowplayed
- Sep 11, 2014