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"Beta Test" short review ... (1 Viewer)

steve jaros

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Steve
Saw this weird sci-fi video gamer movie today and admit it stumped me in terms of giving a positive or negative review. So let me list the pros and cons.

Cons:

-Extremely low budget. Seems like it was filmed in a single house with guerrilla outdoors shots stolen when the cops weren't looking.

-Acting is laughably bad, like old direct-to-VHS movies from 20+ years ago. Not Disney direct to video, but the kind of stuff you saw on the "action" shelf at Blockbuster. The stuff that made the latest Jean Claude Van Damme movie seem like Goodfellas by comparison.

Pros:

-With release of Pokemon GO, the theme of a video game unfolding in real-world space is frighteningly timely.

-Despite no budget, the first-person shooter scenes -and this is about 50% of the movie, maybe more- have an artistic-retro style to them, evoking fond memories of playing Doom and the like in the early 90s. Whoever did the SFX spun gold out of straw.

-For all its silliness, the corporate-evil angle is portrayed with a knowing smartness, reminiscent of the first RoboCop movie.

OK, I guess I've thought myself through this: On balance, the pros outweigh the cons. Not by all that much, but a win is a win.

6/10 stars, so go see it. :)
 
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