Reviewed by James Quicksell

There reaches a point in every directors career where they make a movie that leaves a mark. Whether it turns into a staple movie or just another one of those 'big' movies its always gonna be there no matter how long gone the director is. What we have from Andres is just that kind of movie. It is unique in style yet excels in almost every aspect of what the average person expects from a 3dmm movie. I believe that aspect is what will set the movie into the aforementioned staple movie category.

From the get-go this movie sets the viewer right into the world of the heist master himself, Satanik. Andres does a great job in setting up this character in particular because as the movie progresses Satanik's actions help direct the viewers opinions on the character himself. At first the movie seems cloudy because Andres has thrown many characters into our direction but the clever direction and storywriting pick out certain moments that guide the viewer to a deeper understanding of the characters and how they relate to one another. Only seen a few times throughout the course of 3DMM I believe that Andres has managed to take the program one step closer towards real cinema, at least in plot and character development terms. At times this movies feel like a real movie.

This also leads into the direction, which deserves its own paragraph. I'm safe to assume that most people are already aware of the comic book style direction that the movie takes. This in itself makes it one of the most beautifully stylized movies I've ever seen. No matter what is going on on screen Andres always finds a way to make the shot look great. He knows what shot he wants and he achieves it, even if it takes two or even sometimes three 'frames' of this comic book style to show. There is one spot in the movie where he even uses multiple angles to show the action. It might be hard to get without giving away too much but it's truly amazing how he pulled it off. As a man who has often criticized the direction style of others, I commend Andres for seeming showing people how its done. Whether it be panning across a wide angle shot of a street in Rome or up close on the characters the camera angles never seem wrong or off balance. The way the characters are shown along with the way the action is set up it shows that Andres definitely knows what he is doing.

As I've mentioned this movie has a unique style. Aside from the comic book setup the construction of the movie is very slick in nature and works well to the context of what is being achieved. Sometimes it is simple, but it only is when it needs to be. Never crossing the line into the overly detailed phase that sometimes even I find myself going into, Andres manages to recreate some of Rome's most famous buildings in a distinguishable yet very Andres fashion. I found myself enjoying the setting for the most part and not once did it really take away from what was going on. It acted as it should, as a tool to immerse the viewer into these characters' world.

The acting in this movie is something else as well. Jaymond does an incredible job as the title role and for the most part nails the part down to a T. The delivery is perfect and its almost as if this part was made just for him. Jon Barton is also great in this movie as the lead inspector trailing Satanik. Andres does well in using these two characters to create a unique atmosphere along with the direction that I haven't really felt since Toilet Humor 2. The 'real movie' atmosphere. There is one spot where the inspector and Satanik speak to each other which really helps put some pieces of the puzzle together and gives a clear sense of how things are going down between these two enemies. Voices by Snatch, James Burgon, and myself...well maybe not myself, also enhance the movie's overall mood. Snatch in particular plays a particularly twisted role but does a rather impressive job with it. No real complaints here.

The overall mood of Satanik is one quite on its own. At first the audience has to get immersed into the movie and once it does the mood shifts to a confusing one. I myself was unsure of some elements of the characters in the movie but as it progressed and eventually ended I began to realize what these characters were all about. Some of the questions posed by Andres through the characters at the end are quite philosophical but worthy of being thought about. I could be overanalyzing but this is just what I got from the movie. There is also a very 'mature' mood behind the movie. There are a lot of scenes involving mature elements that if you describe them outside of the movie they might seem plain wrong if not downright disturbing but in the movie it works.

So how can you sum up this movie? There are many ways but let's just put it this way: Handel had the Hallelujah chorus. Tolkien had the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. DaVinci had the Mona Lisa. Andres De La Hoz has Satanik.

10/10