This week I broke the blogging habit of a lifetime and did something I swore that I would never do, and if truth be told, it’s most definitely something I will never do again. Let me explain.
A couple of weeks ago I put some brief details of a movie that was to receive it’s US DVD premiere in January – namely 2047: Virtual Revolution, the synopsis being thus:
The year is 2047. Most of the world’s population live inside corporate-controlled virtual worlds and drift further out of touch with reality. Nash, a private investigator/ mercenary is hired to track down a group of hackers who are disrupting and terrorizing the virtual space in a bid to free human beings from their online prisons.
To provide an added flavour to the news I also included the trailer for the film at https://youtu.be/f2jK-vh4jQQ
Now, as you can see, both the description and the trailer suggest an influence of a certain classic cinematic Sci-fi tale of technological dystopia starring a Mr. H. Ford and directed by a certain Mr. R. Scott. I could also talk about that triumphant re-boot of the story earlier this year featuring again Mr H. Ford and even muse poetically and adoringly about the seminal science fiction literature the movies were originally based upon by a certain Mr. P.K Dick. But I won’t. I could just simply say the name of the movie (perhaps my favourite ever sci-fi movie), but I won’t. The thing is that I have lost count of the times I have seen the release of a sci-fi technological dystopic themed film accompanied by the words “In the tradition of….. insert the film’s name“. Even the press release for 2047: Virtual Revolution contained that very phrase.
So this is where I decided to do a little experiment of my own, in the process doing that thing that I promised I would never do – namely to look at some other reviews of a film before I wrote my own. The reason that I never look at other reviews is quite simply that I’m not interested in what others are saying about a film, which sounds more than a little harsh and big-headed than intended. It’s just that I want to make up my own mind and be influenced as little way as possible. However on this occasion I wanted to see just how many reviewers mentioned the name of the film-that-should-not-be-named……… and what do you know, every single darned one did.
I don’t know why this annoys me so much, possibly it says more about me than anything else. It just seems that comparing any film to a seminal classic is not just a little lazy but also detracts from the qualities of the film in question – and this one, 2047: Virtual Revolution has qualities in abundance, of that you can be sure.
For a start the film is visually incredible, there’s simply no other way for me to describe it. I would love to know just how much this independent film cost to make, because it quite effortlessly puts others to shame from a similar stable in terms of quality and depth. Directed by Guy-Roger Duvert and cinematography from Cyril Bron is a delightful collaboration in terms of combining the CGI infused city-scape viewpoints with the very real Paris architecture. This serves to treat the viewer to a visual array of textured delights to produce the Neo-Paris of the not too distant future. The action scenes too are nicely filmed and will satisfy many a viewers need for a well choreographed violent scene or two.
The film rests on the shoulders of Mike Dopud, a familiar character actor to many who has featured in a whole heap of guest appearances throughout television; Arrow, Power, Dark Matter to name but three. Dopud is excellent as the recently widowed Agent Nash who himself finds solace in an alternative life online but is tasked with identifying the people responsible for apparent terrorist attacks on those who spend most of their existence ‘connected’ to the system.
The actor came to my attention some time ago and it my humble opinion that it’s only a matter of time before major appreciation comes his way. This is something we at 5D hope to explore further in the very near future when Mike is hopefully going to join us for a 5D conversation for our YouTube playlist.
The film also comes with a number of philosophical questions regarding the nature of what it really means to be free, plus the potential for virtual reality to completely envelop the human population and the possibility of those in power choosing to exploit the people who are essentially a captive audience. Not only that but there is an exploration of the ethical considerations in assuming the right to intervene on others lives behalf in order to bestow ones own values and definitions of freedom. If you were to remove the concept of VR and replace it simply with A.N foreign country whose lifestyle we just may happen to disagree with….well you get my point. However those of you who may find philosophising in science fiction too much of a chore, well as I’ve mentioned there is more than enough action, visual and auditory treats in this film to satisfy your needs.
If truth be told there are one or two minor gripes with the movie. The major one for me is that the wonderful Jane Badler is criminally underused in her role as the enigmatic Dina, though the verbal interplay between her and Dopud’s character is delicious it could be argued that a real chance to flesh out her character was missed. The other main supporting role of the hacker, Morel also is nicely played, Maximilien Poullein is a definite name to look out for.
Guy-Roger Duvert’s (Eyeborgs) stunning sci-fi thriller, the recipient of over 40 awards, including Best Film at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards and Best Feature at Dragon Con, makes its US DVD premiere January 16 from Wild Eye Releasing.
There look, I went the whole review without mentioning Blade Runner……..oh, wait…….bugger…….
BTW – Thank you for taking the time to read this article, so while you’re at 5D if you have a few more spare moments before you are carried back to your padded cell cell next to mine then maybe have a look around the rest of the site? There are news items, other blog musings, Podcasts and competitions galore! If that wasn’t enough for your geeky heart, well there is always the 5D Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYhAN0Nlqg7614W2df_zI-g/featured which contains the 5D Conversations, Podcasts and even more competitions!