Reviewed by Jon Barton
Tom
always kept bugging me to actually getting round to watch the
movie. And now that I finally have, I can safely say Tom's first
feature length is one is a destined string of brilliance. What
SSA succeeds at is sometimes using default props (the evolution
of the planes and spaceships is fantastic), taking them,
re-shaping them and showing all those default smelly directors
who haven't a clue out there what they should really be used
for. The same applies to the movie's pace and editing, which is
always to perfection, and never fails to act as the precursor to
the action to come.
On reflection SSA is a strange beast. Fantastic no doubt, and
often visually wicked to watch, there really aren't a lot of
3dmm films like it. Tom doesn't hesitate at any point to admit
to heavy conversations between action scenes, and to his credit,
only in Ghost In the Shell have I seen editing so perfectly
balanced. The story is well written and obviously observational,
SSA never loses it's science fiction roots to pretension and
falls into the expository trap. Everything is in it's place,
down to the last flashing shiny button on the control panels.
Voice acting is often provoking, and, in a rare turn of events,
SSA again pulls you in with it's emotional and often difficult
middle chapter, with Justin Dorey's character actually willing
to die, in a moving and well directed moment during the assault
on the hostile space station. Some could argue that SSA may be
too short and sweet to satisfy the viewers skeptical of 3dmm's
blunt, working man's toys, to which I whole-heartedly disagree.
SSA only knows exactly when to quit, and when it's time for the
story to end, without a drawn out, faintly senseless excuse for
a mindless action-packed conclusion that fails to be better than
what's already there.
SSA is a feast of a movie, and has everything, even to satisfy
the most impatient viewers among us. Sci-fi wisdom at it's best.
10/10 |