Landmine Goes Click

Hello there,

This is my first review so... it won't be very great. But as I find myself troubled sometimes whether to watch a movie or not, I thought I might help others about this movie.

So here is what you should do depending on what you like:

Watch it: if you like strong psychological movies that show the real human nature, those movies that make you succumb into deep thinking after seeing it. Maybe not the best example but kind of like The Stanford Prison Experiment, if you saw it.

DO NOT watch it: if you're only looking for a movie to pass time, it will be terrible for you unless you just discovered your new passion for psychological movies.

Hope my review will help many people with deciding whether to view this movie or not.

Men are drawn to anger or vengeance in a very primal form, from display of injustice to random road rage. There's something viscerally fascinating about people trapped in extreme predicament, and this movie capitalizes on this so well. With only three simple acts, it's a startlingly engaging clash of personalities, although this may get a tad overly intense or violent.

Story follows a group of friends while they are on vacation. Unfortunately, one of them steps on a landmine. Thus they find themselves in precarious position, especially when they are harboring a nasty secret and an unfriendly local stumbles upon them. For the sake of not revealing too much, the plot is not complex, in fact it's very streamlined to more effectively convey the emotions.

This is also not a big budget movie, its presentation practically hinges around the small cast of actors. There are many continuous shots at play here, each scene would resume for a good few minutes, giving the characters plenty of time to plead, antagonize or scream at each other. It doesn't have much gimmickry, often relying on the human drama to carry each scene.

It's a steady approach for thrill that's astonishingly effective in its simplicity. Audience would be engrossed in the struggle just by the sheer grim of the situation. However, this also creates a couple of problems. One being that the condition itself is rather implausible, mainly exaggerated for dramatic purpose. The second is the use of violence, this is by nature a very visceral story, even though it's mostly psychological, but it might not be everyone's cup of tea.

Landmine Goes Click does one thing very well, as soon as it triggers there's a very intense mentally exhausting and gritty human drama, it's a cavemen reaction and a surprisingly compelling one.

The difficulty reviewing a film like 'Landmine Goes Click' is that its one of those rare films where the less you know going in, the better. The set up is that 3 American friends (a couple and their mutual best friend) are on a walking/climbing holiday in the beautiful and remote Georgian countryside. Things take a turn for the deadly when one of them accidentally steps on an old landmine, a leftover from the war that ravaged the country a few years ago. What happens from here is so full of twists and turns that to say any more would definitely spoil things so I will advise not reading much about the story (or watching the trailer) before watching. Needless to say the story goes off on brutal and twisted tangents throughout that definitely keep you interested. The direction, acting and cinematography are all solid, the real outbreak star being the gorgeous Georgian landscape. The film isn't perfect. Some scenes drag on a tad too long, and the pace dips a little in a couple of places. I also felt that it should have been 'nastier' but maybe thats just me. There is limited on-screen violence. Having said all this I do recommend the film to anyone prepared to try something different. It definitely makes you think as the credits start rolling. The film certainly doesn't go where you expect it to, and ultimately these days, thats high praise in itself.

6.5/10

I read all the reviews on here and thought, yeah, another stitch-up job where all the friends on production get together and post fake reviews. But I gave it a shot anyway and, guess what, this delivers and my assumption about fake reviews were blown out of the water. The movie maker, Levan Bakhla, is obviously inspired by the other great movie maker Michael Haneke and it reminded me of Funny Games, one of my favourite movies. Yes, the story can be improbable at times but that doesn't detract from the suspenseful way the director carries you along. It's not your usual revenge movie where the baddie gets his comeuppance, but it comes pretty close to it...with interest. I was totally held by the whole thing, especially in the last thirty minutes.Sterling Knight does a good acting job as Chris and is quite scary. Its ending will have you discussing with friends the outcome. All I can say is, well done, Levan Bakhla. You sure know how to direct a good movie.

...it caters to a specific audience. namely those who enjoy movies like "i spit on your grave" or "they call her one eye".

while this is obviously not a high budget film it certainly does not "feel" cheap like some reviewers here claim. i suppose these lucky people have never had the "pleasure" to see a "cheap" film. don't be fooled. the entire presentation, camera work, sound, music and acting are solid...no more, no less.

someone also wrote that this movie had "nothing to say", which is almost comical considering the kind of film we are dealing with here. films like these do not focus on "story" or "character development". they mainly try and trigger basic human emotions in the audience by simple means and with varying success. it's called "exploitation cinema" and as mentioned before, it's not for everyone.

that being said i found the ending of this film to be uncharacteristically thought-provoking. ultimately it does have something to say and as a result manages to lift itself slightly above most of it's genre brethren.

fans of the genre won't be disappointed.