Loaded

From the plot to the acting. From the beginning to the end. The absolute worst film ever made. I am not surprised the actors from this movie have not gone on to do bigger and better things. Because, after watching this movie, you could see why. The direction is awful, the pace is slow. But, more than that, the description on the back of the box is VERY VERY misleading. Proceed with caution, and if you disregard this and decided to give it a try, I am so very sorry, because I know it's 120 mins of my life I would like back. C. McCormick, I hear, is actually considering doing more things. I am trying very hard not to hold this movie against her, it being her first film and all. But, believe me, it's hard. Still in the end, I left not really knowing what the movie was all about.

This was a movie that I won from a podcast. It was part of the 8 Midnight Horror Movies - Hatchets & Cleavers. What is ironic is that most of the movies in the pack don't fit these criteria. I decided to work through movies in my collection that I hadn't seen before so I gave this one a watch.

We start this off with Neil (Oliver Milburn) seeing his therapist, played by Dearbhla Molloy. What is interesting here is that he wants to film this. She denies that, but he does it in secret anyway. He will watch this over as the movie goes on.

Neil along with his friends are going to the house of Charlotte's (Biddy Hodson). They are going there to film an independent movie. It seems that Lance (Danny Cunningham) and Giles (Nick Patrick) are the creative team behind this. Rose (Catherine McCormack) is the star while Zita (Thandiwe Newton) is helping in front and behind the camera. They are also joined by Lionel (Mathew Eggleton).

Issues arise when Lionel shows up with a box of condoms to give to Rose. Lance walks into the room and thinks they're hooking up. Rose is supposed to see Neil though. It doesn't help that Lance happens to see them again when Rose removes her clothes with Lionel there. He relays what he's seen to Neil, who we know struggles with mental health. This ends in tragedy when Lionel gets hit by a car driven by Neil. There are factors here that complicate this even further.

Now I will say that there are good parts to this movie. I'm a fan of getting a group of characters in the middle of nowhere and them turning on each other due to the isolation. This is compounded by the fact that they take acid. Lance brings it and recommends that they use it to learn more about themselves on camera. This ends up leading to the tragedy that will change their lives forever. This also becomes a catalyst for bad decision making and the worry about getting into trouble from said decisions as well.

There isn't a lot that happens in this movie and it is carried by the acting. I thought that it was good to set up Milburn like they did in the beginning. It also makes him worried when the accident happens. He was driving and it was set up that he had a motive with Rose and Lionel. He has an important decision to make. Cunningham is a jerk, but I like the fact that he's there to press buttons. That adds tension. It is wild to see a young McCormack who I know from Braveheart. There's also Newton who I knew originally from the television show ER. She's gone on to do the most from here. Hodson is solid along with Eggleton. Patrick also has an interesting role since he has a notebook with newspaper clippings about serial killers. This doesn't go anywhere aside from pushing the buttons of Zita. I did like the acting here even if it comes off pretension with things they debate.

I'd say that this is well-made as well. It doesn't have the biggest budget which is interesting that this crew is making a low budget movie. There's a lot of dialogue and the characters getting into debates. I don't know if they go anywhere and it causes the story to meander. The credit I'll give there though is that it shows these characters are getting under each other's skins for different things. I did like the debate between Giles wanting to make a more arthouse film where Lance wants to make something that will sell commercially. It feels more like a debate between a studio and artist. Where this ends up was interesting, I'm just not sure we needed everything to get there personally. Not one that I can recommend to everyone. You need to like low budget dramas. If you want to see Newton and McCormack in earlier roles, especially the latter is topless a couple of times. This is just a bit too pretentious for most viewers.

My Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

This is a tale of some uninteresting British youths who plan on making a horror movie but end up starring in one. I knew that this movie was not a critical success, but I was hoping that it would be a British version of "Kicking and Screaming", or something of that sort, but instead I was left with more of a "Howard the Duck" impression.

The only reason for renting this themeless, plotless mess is to check out Catherine McCormack in her first major role. Although hindered by poor writing and directing, she still manages to shine as the most complex and interesting character. Unfortunately her plot lines are truncated and never truly play out, right through to the end of the movie when the credits appear out of nowhere. Also look for Thandie Newton trapped in a poorly written part.

(1/10)

Loaded is one of those films about a bunch of friends who gather at an isolated location for a weekend during which they discover things about themselves and each other. In this case we discover that all the characters turn out to be just as pathetic and uninteresting as they seemed to be in the first five minutes. The premise is they're all there to shoot a horror movie. I don't know if the film-makers intended the film-within-the-film to be as bad as it appears because the actual film isn't much better. I have no idea where the title came from, probably something the marketing people thought up to make it sound trendy and trick people into seeing it. The trick worked on me, but spare yourselves. There is no reason in the world to sit through this rambling, pretentious, stinking movie.

A wonderful movie full of rich characterizations. The video carton was misleading, in that it made it seem more of a thriller or horror film, when in reality it is more about relationships and the stupidity of youth. If you like movies that rely on dialog and characters more than plot or action, you'll probably like this one. I did.