 Thanks for checking out this movie review video So this is for the 2017 release game of death and a lot of people may not have heard of this film I hadn't heard of this film But there was some buzz online and social media and particularly this horror group I'm in and some people were saying man. How did I not know about this film? It is on shutter at the moment when I'm doing this review So that's where I watched it and because of the buzz I was like I'm gonna check this one out and especially when I took a look and I said it's like an hour and 13 minutes and That blew my mind because if you've watched enough of my reviews, you know I'm very big about if you don't need a longer runtime Don't make a longer runtime don't stretch a film just to fit a time So I was very intrigued by that to be like, oh, that's awesome They didn't try and stretch it to an hour and a half or whatever. So great now that said Wasn't the biggest fan of this film. In fact, I really dislike this film. I think it's kind of in my opinion I hate it. I think it's garbage, but there are a few good things about it And like I always say as my biggest claimer I do believe that every film is worth watching at least once just so you personally can make up your mind on How you feel about it because they're definitely gonna be people who love this film They're gonna be people who hate this film like me. They're gonna be in betweeners Well, I say hate this film. I didn't hate the film I just disliked it I guess because there are things I recognize as pretty good in this film And I'll talk about those. I'm also not going to do spoilers on this because I realized that it's from 2017 So it's you know, not super super new, but I I don't think a lot of people have seen this and if people want to Go ahead and do it. I don't want to ruin it anytime So this is directed by Sebastian Landry and that's this is a second feature film and also Lawrence Murray Lagasse Who did or this was his first feature film and it was written by Landry Maurice Lagasse Edward H bond and Philip Collin Hedge Hodge do I'm sure I messed that up. So I apologize, but This is one of the things that it gets to whenever I see a script The writing credits on a script more than two people I start to get very concerned because that means that most likely it's gonna be convoluted It's not gonna have one voice like it needs to have Every time you add a person into the writing process with a script It increases the chances exponentially of there being a problem or it being a muddled mess The script is not good. I will say that the script is bad. There's a good concept here And for the first about half an hour, you think it's gonna go there and you think it'll all come to fruition But then after that it just starts really spiraling out of control So let me give you the real quick synopsis on this film just a few sentences not really Uh ruining anything because you know, there's synopsis out there that I'm sure everyone's Read they give a lot more away, but it's basically about some teenagers Millennials it's called out in the synopsis millennials Who are getting together and hanging out and they find this game a la jumanji And they decide to play this game and it is called game of death And that is exactly what happens with it. There is death involved with game of death So that's as much as I'm gonna say Like I said, if you have interest go ahead and watch this film It's not a huge commitment because it's an hour and 13 minutes. It's not like it's two hours So you can just kind of give it a shot and be like I mean, I wasn't mad that I spent time on it Not at all because it was relatively short if if if this film was what it was and it was like two hours I would have been pissed So anyway, the intro is cool. It's like a 90s computer great game graphics type intro I love that. I've not seen anyone do that before It was really cool visually really cool and nostalgia wise for me personally Really cool because I remember playing those video games back in the day And it ties into the actual game itself and some stuff about the actual game That said to the game of death game is a really cool design. It looks cool It's used really well in the film too Not just from the standpoint of how it looks and how the rules of the game go But also There's a noise that the game board makes That gets gets integrated into the actual music Which I thought that was kind of brilliant and a really cool inspired thing that happens in this film See, I didn't hate it. There are things I like about this It's millennials and it feels like it it feels like it's millennials since there's so much recording on random With random stuff on their phones It gives it it did a good job of like giving it that kind of like now Nowadays younger generation feel but at the same time like a lot of those recordings were more Distraction and they didn't really add much of anything to the actual film And that comes to one of the other issues with the film is that the characters suck like They're paper thin characters. They're extremely weak. I could have cared less about any of them I I would be interested to know in the comments if anyone watched this film and felt that they really felt for any character involved because I did not I don't know if that was intentional or not But it shouldn't be like you should connect at on some level with Characters in the film and it just does not happen. Like they're poorly written characters This goes back to what I was saying the script is not good There's a good concept and then there were some good practical effects Like there's some good technical stuff and I will say like cinematography for the most part looks pretty cool Directing pretty good. The acting is For a low-budget film is good enough I will say that Some people better than others acting wise in the film as is typically the case with low budget The interweaving in the beginning portion is very very stylish and it has music that plays very very well with it. It's kind of a It's an interweaving of Like montage of a bunch of things going on these kids hanging out kind of partying And the way that they work in the music with the montage of what's going on With the style of the camera work. It looks cool and it is good and it is stylish and it is awesome I just wish the film had more of that to it because it seems like they just use it up in the beginning And then they just drop it basically It's like they were very inspired when they started making the film And then they got to a point probably about the half hour mark where they were like Well, let's just finish this thing I'm kind of over it because it's been taking longer than I want to I've got a short attention span And I let's just finish this thing Uh, it's very sexually focused in the very beginning Which I don't know if it's really supposed to be satire in that aspect or not Because of like the perception of young people and they're always horny and trying to get it on and blah blah blah Because there's like this this just grouping of sexuality and drug use And it's just you know, it's cliche. It's unbelievably cliche which goes back to the whole You know script's not great But um, I don't know if it was intentional for the overly sexual aspect of it, but it's not needed really I mean, you can make it a little bit sexual, but the to the degree that they take it. It's just like Why it just seems dumb Uh, the first death in this is done with CGI you can tell but it's kind of done from a distance So it actually looks good and there is then the second one I think uses a little bit of practical and CGI and it kind of you know There's a mix of the CGI and the practical throughout the film with every death And I think that the way they did that was good It was kind of the perfect mix in my opinion and when they did use CGI It doesn't look like crap They they did it kind of far enough away or in a way that it looks good So good job on that from that aspect. They did well with it Uh, and there's copious amounts of gore too, which I did enjoy And I think that's one of the things that people are really enjoying when I'm seeing people commenting about enjoying it online is the The some of the death aspects of it and the gore So that is well done There's intentional shaking of the camera for intense some intense scenes that are early on But I think they have a they kind of stepped over a line a little bit Like you can shake it a little bit when it's kind of like an intense scene, which is what they did But they did it too much. They went too far with it. They sustained it too long It was it was too much, you know, just kind of like pull it back and then in the in general this film I would just say like be more restrained. It's very over the top It's very ridiculous in the way that it's done and it doesn't work I don't know if it was just supposed to be that way for some reason But for me, it just did not work that way. It just makes it come off as just kind of dumb It's interesting how they incorporate noises from the game into the music Like I was talking about that was pretty awesome and ingenious The characters are exaggerated. That's another thing. I was saying that they're weak characters But they're also very exaggerated. It's kind of like every single character is like one personality trait Just exaggerated to the nth degree basically and none of them are likable. Some of them are downright annoying. It's You I mean, I really just found myself being like I want everyone in the film to end up dying because I can't stand any of them really There's a real drawn-out scene that's supposed to be funny, but it's actually unbelievably annoying and stupid Um, and that kind of gets to another thing with this film, which is yes I said kudos because it's only an hour and 13 minutes, but it feels longer than that How can a film that's under an hour and a half feel longer than that? That's a pacing issue. That's a writing issue. That's just an issue issue Uh, yeah, that's bad. That should never happen. That should never happen And like I said, like it was moving well and it was engaging for like the first half an hour It's just like it just all started the wheel started coming off after that and it was just this downward spiral into just like boring and drawn out and unfocused and exaggerated and dumb and just Yeah, it just it went downhill fast Uh, at one point they transitioned to a montage of different animations as a way to speed up What would have been kind of the best part of the film honestly I think they did that for budget now the animation portion of it does look kind of cool And it's a mixture of a bunch of animations, which I thought was interesting Um, but at the same time like that was potentially going to be your bread and butter montage if you did it Like actual filming wise But I assume it was based off budget So I guess it wasn't the worst thing they could have done But at the same time I think they should have kind of cut some of the other stuff and tried to see if they could make it Like gone bigger at that time like really gone bigger because the way they end the film They could have and should have probably gone big and they just it's just like this whimpering finish in my opinion that was very unsatisfying and Whatever very overwrought So the acting like I said good enough cinematography looks good and especially for being low budget I will say that you know visually there's some really good stuff going on kudos for only the Specifically an hour of 13 minutes of 24 seconds, but it's still too long at that Somehow that says the script is not there Should have spent a lot more time on that script and maybe had less people involved There's a good premise with good gore, but there's no real story with with a cast comprised of super weak characters Like I've already said The point they're going for I believe in this film is that younger generations are brought into a world where they're They are screwed No matter what they do and it wasn't ever of their design Which is a good point and a good theme It's been done before a little bit Here and there like assassination nation is a very great example of what this film kind of tries to do but those things On vastly different levels assassination nation is an amazing film. This film tries to do basically the same theme terribly just Yeah, just a nosedive so that said the directors I would like to see do something else Not have them involved with the actual writing get a really good writer get a really good script Because it looks like they have a good eye and with practical effects and uh cgi It looks like they know what they're doing like they could put together a good film They just need the bones like the the good bones to to build around So I would be interested to see what they'll do in in the future So out of five stars with half stars in play It's one star I mean, it's a one star film. I can't really I can't give it much more. I I was between one and one and a half, but at that point. What's the point? Between one and one and a half because it's bad But yeah, it's got to be one just because the story is just not there It's so meandering and unfocused and ridiculous Uh in a bad way. It's it's not nearly as fun as it really should have been for how vapid it is So Yeah one one star But let's talk about this Put some comments down there Were you one of the people who really loved it and if that is the case go ahead and tell me why I'm always open to hearing Why people really like something maybe there was something that I kind of missed I don't know maybe it plays on some other level that I'm just not sensitive to I don't know But we can talk about that go ahead spoilers in the comments. Doesn't matter. We can do spoilers down there Do me a quick favor though hit that subscribe button if you can and you can because it literally takes a second That is your way to repay me because I'm not making money or anything doing this I'm just putting out these reviews for people and myself really because I just want to talk about these films And it's the comments that are really what I'm looking for here. 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