bentheimpaler

This movie could have skated by as an Estonian "Kung Fury" knockoff, but it only seems that way from the trailer.

Despite all the pervasive shenanigans that make up the bulk of the runtime, it remains surprisingly accurate to Orthodox Monastacism and Christian Philosophies, to the point that my Priest (who adored this film and seen it at least three times) is CONVINCED that at least a few of the brothers in the movie must have come from Mt. Athos. It's a delight.

The film is on Youtube: If you like Heavy Metal, Spirituality or unapologetically goofy feel-good movies, this is well worth your time!

Having never seen the broadway show: I cannot remember a film with less likeable characters. In a story with pretensions of depth, complex themes about predjudice and a revolutionary disposition, every character is paper-thin and acts like a spoiled child.

With confused worldbuilding, a glacial pace, and unnecessary "twists" , it both fails on it's own merits as a fantasy musical, and outright insults the audience as a companion to one of the greatest movies in history.

The sets, costumes, and cinematography were all gorgeous. But that was the extent of my enjoyment.

Avoid it if you aren't a fan of the Stage Version.

In brief, this movie is competantly acted and creatively uses CGI to blurr the lines between the simulator and the film with a couple of amusing real-world sequences being shot to look like gameplay footage.

But that is where the positives end.

Despite some brilliant actors rounding out the cast, the dialogue all reads like a first draft of the script. There is no subtext, no nuance or real emotional depth to almost every line spoken.

In most scenes the characters are essentially just announcing how they feel or what they think with little to no actual conflict brewing as they speak.

This lack of human interest might be immaterial to the target audience if the racing alone was worth the price of admission, but most of the cinematography is just as overt and amateurish as the people we are meant to root for, with driving scenes being frankensteined together out of close-ups and rapidfire cuts.

At no point is there any appreciation of geography on-screen, with the movie having to literally tack labels above the cars to tell you who is driving it, what their position is, and what lap the race is on. Resultantly, the climax of the movie is only slightly more visually stimulating than reading the wikipedia page on how that race went.

I was shocked to see that this was allegedly directed by Neil Blomkamp. Though, given the hyperactive editing and some awkward post-production dubbing thrown in, I would be willing to believe that most faults are as a result of the studio either toying with his vision after the fact, or having hired him as the last-minute-stand-in for whoever actually directed most of the film.

This movie is aggressively dull and predictable, and not worth the time to either enjoy it or mock it.

Just read Jann Mardenborough's actual story online, and then play the game. This was a failure to capture the appeal of either.