My Unbiased (cough, cough) Awakening Review

(as per my recent post in the Steele Group)


Ah! Wednesday night!

You see Wed I finally got to see the full prelim (a couple of shots being redone) version that was shown in Vegas. Needless to say I didn't watch it with the attention it deserved much the first time as I was too excited and kept rewinding certain parts and just enjoying the whole experience and soaking up the culmination of (gulp) 2-3 years of putting this together. After the first go-round, I watched it again from start to finish and again LOVED every minute of it.

Of course, I'm gonna be biased about the story, but when it came to how it played out on camera, I was almost speechless! I was asked if it "was better than I thought or worse than I thought" to which I replied "Neither". While that might seem like shortchanging it, I said it as the ultimate compliment -- it was dead on and sooooooo many scenes were played out EXACTLY like I had envisioned them. Never did I think that it was be so true to the original story (eventhough I was repeatedly told) and so close to my original concept in specific parts. Considering I had little direct contact during filming and am over 3000 miles away, I thought that was pretty amazing. Ok, ok......as for as details:

As for the acting, Tamra/Mandi came along lightyears from Girl of Steele! That's not to say GOS was a trainwreck, but it this one she really took the role of the Lara to the hilt and really played her "downward spiral" as I totally envisioned. The combination of her sweet voice with tha sarcastic smirk and tone really makes the character and is how I totally pictured Lara would be. Mike's calm, conservative and calculating David was a perfect compliment to the schizo Lara. I told Mike I dunno how he found time to do everything you did, but in doing so he pulled off a great David!

The chemistry between the "good guy duo" (Cpt Harris and Sgt Benson) and "bad guy duo" (Major Konrad and Dir. Richards) were also great --especially the latter. Heather (aka Maridee from AdaraSteele.com), I thought was incredible in portraying the looney, power-hungry psychotic director. She was outstanding!

I could go on and on about the cast and how good everyone was, but I'll just say it was excellent. However, special props should go out to Greg Parker for his role as Donald, the research assistant and lending some comedic relief to the film in several spots (find all the scenes in which he's eating!)

Effects, I'll be brief cause I've told Kelly and mention here in the previews I saw how great they were and seeing them together all at once only solidified that. A couple of them were really, really cool! I'd like to gush more, but I might give away something so I'll refrain....

One of the really neat parts I thought were the credits (Please note I said "neat" not the "best" ). While I dunno if it will be the final version of the credits, it was neat in that I got to see what a big cast it was for the scope and budget of the film. While most "genre-based" little films might have a handful of people (I think GOS had 7), this one has a cast of about 20-30 --- and that was before Kelly started "cloning" them in various scenes! LOL Goes to illustrate the hard work that Kel and Mike did in coordinating all this and putting it together!

Overall, two thumbs way up and big props to the Steele crew for making something I think genre fans, scifi buffs, comic geeks, indy film fans, Mandi fans, and people-that-just-like-to-have-a-good-time-watching-a-movie will enjoy!

Peace
LF

Excellent point, Brantley! And while I don't think I'm backpeddling on my previous comments, it should be noted that everything is said with one eye on the perspective of it all.....


Is it better than any genre-based fan film I've seen? Yes, without a doubt

Is it entertaining? Yes

Is Mandi better than Meryl Streep? Probably not

Is is better visually than Batman Begins? Probably not

Is it good for a indy film? Yes

Is it good for a B-movie? Yes

Is it good for a movie period? Yes


I think we all understand this isn't Titantic (though I imagine Kelly and Mike would have liked even 1/10000th of that budget) but with that said I'll let others judge. I know 1-2 people that frequent here saw it in Vegas....would love to hear their public opinion.....

LF

He admits he's biased, but I'm sure he's sincere. And I'm hoping he's right!

Meanwhile, the mult-million dollar AEON FLUX, starring no less than Charlize Theron, opened today -- without any advance press screenings. You know what that usually means: the studio thinks it has a turkey on its hands.

Now, I can't SWEAR that THE AWAKENING is a good movie, and in any case I don't expect it to be any more than a good B-movie. But I've been impressed by the clips, and by the dedication of all the people involved. You know, a good hot dog can be better than a bad piece of filet mignon, and sometimes a garage band can be better than a big name band.

We'll see. But it's interesting that a garage film studio MAY have put out a better superheroine movie than Paramount.