Corruption, redemption, bombs, secret identity, true love, Tories, Patriots and Benjamin Franklin; what more could you want?
Probably a lot of things, but that's not the point.
Set in the 1770's, this film makes use of authentic sets, costume, language and props, but stays modern at the same time. The acting is good, camera placement and moves are well done. The lighting was right for most of the movie, and the effects were placed well, if a bit overdone.
Many of the shots had a straight-from-a-textbook sense to them. I don't know why. The variance in height, travel speed, proximity and frame rate in the shots kept them interesting. There weren't whole chunks of film where you saw only faces, then another part where it was all in the distance. The D.P. Ethan Ledden kept his shots balanced. We agreed the use of slow-motion was a bit overused, but not terribly. There is one scene when a person is kidnapped (I won't tell you who, in case you haven't seen it), and that bit of the story is told with a slow frame rate. I thought this was brilliant. It was jarring enough, and confusing. You are confused along with Ch- ... the person.
Lighting was a bit of an issue. Outside scenes were well lit, but indoor scenes were questionable. There is, for example, an underwater lab that seems way too bright, to me. Then again, there was lightning all over the place...
...Which brings us to the effects department. Some are classic, some corny, some clever. There is one color-editing blip I noticed, where the colors are suddenly bright and odd, then back to normal within frames. Smoke and light as dramatic effect are used quite a bit. A third effect is lightning-like electricity. Over-animated, I thought it removed from the horror simply because it was unbelievably active. It all looked like those static balls, where you touch the side and the energy concentrates, only gold and on the outside. The fire was also fairly well done.
It is rare you can find a girl who is good at crying on screen. Some wail way to much, some rely on the makeup department, and way too many have the tears coming out of the wrong spot in their eyes. Seeing someone cry naturally was, not pleasant, but nice in the sense of I wasn't rolling my eyes and waiting for the act to be over.The chemistry between actors is good. The only truly poor acting is done by extras. Based on my history with theater, the following is what I assumed happened. The extras were formed into a Tory mob. After a rousing speech, they excitedly rush off-stage in the hopes of destroying the revolution at the root. When the first batch of kids gets off, the stop and look around for the next thing to do. The rest of the boys are left still on set, trying to do an energetic shuffle, wave their guns, maybe shout a little more, and basically get out of the view of the camera. I think I even saw an apologetic glance back at the camera from one of them.
One final note before the conclusion would be the religiousness of the film. This is, basically, the story of a man who realizes he is in the wrong and works to save himself. Literally at death's door, he accepts Jesus and is given one last chance. He goes on to save the world, or at least America. As with many Christian-based films, the witnessing was sort of choked out. The actors did not sound comfortable with what they were saying. I found it sad, that they could spout out revolutionary-war-era grammar with ease, but couldn't talk about the Savior of the world without a hiccup. I wonder if it was more normal to hear witnessing, to hear people speaking into one's life, if it would be easier to act, or if pride has such a presence you still wouldn't be able to do it. The witnessing which was done was well placed. There were no maniacs, but only answers given when questions were asked.
In summation, I was impressed by this film. I was expecting less drama and more glossed-over faith, avoiding confrontation and having the Christians be the good guys, half-done acting and poor explosions. What I found was quite different. There was a spark of fire in this potentially lukewarm story. The elements of film all work together, from camera to light to sound to stage. Mixing of modern and old English was well done. I wouldn't say golden, but silver. We can expect to see more Burns Family Productions in the future.
