This movie has no right to work as well as it does. And it’s hard to figure out why it works as well as it does.

Writing: It’s hard to even consider this movie to be something that’s “written.” Nobody takes credit on the film for writing, since it’s a straight-up documentary. The closest one could come to writing would be the end result of the editing process. So, let’s talk about the story being documented within. We have a showdown of two men, which takes place in the odd arena of classic video gaming. I’ll put forth a couple facts about myself that may help put my enjoyment of this film into perspective. I’m a classic gaming fan. I grew up on the classics like Donkey Kong when I was a kid. I know and loved every video game that you see being played on screen in this documentary. Any movie that can reference something as obscure as the video game classic Ladybug is OK by me. The rivalry between these two VERY different people is bizarrely fascinating on screen. It probably wouldn’t work as well if these characters weren’t so completely different in core personality.

Production: This puppy is low budget all the way. You ain’t gonna find much by way of style in this film, as much as they might attempt it. I don’t know if their brief attempts at style are supposed to come off as primitively as they do, but it helps add to the oddly low key charm of the documentary. Some of the on screen high-score graphics and charts are well done, and some of the editing is creative enough to lend things some drama. But with characters as geeky as most of those on screen in this film, it’s hard to play up the drama too high. Plus, you’ve got a competition between folks where the competitors sit there for hours, barely moving. To try and compare something like this to a sports film or documentary is kind of an apples-and-oranges comparison. The plot structure is there, but the presentation and events aren’t. This is more about the characters than the competition itself.

Cast: Like the writing category, I can’t particularly refer to these folks as cast members. These are the real folks in the midst of the real events. Billy Mitchell may be the star personality to the story, but he definitely takes the role of the antagonist. He’s something of a paradox to the story, as somebody who can be engaging and almost charming, yet comes across as a completely narcissistic egotist. You can like the guy and despise him simultaneously. He works as a great foil for the lovable nice guy, Steve Wiebe, who plays the determined underdog character. Wiebe is the one person in the story that is crucial to making this documentary and story hold together. Without him being as empathetic and nice as he is, this movie would lose pretty much all its charm. He is a wonderful protagonist. Walter Day, for all his good intentions and historical significance to the classic gaming industry, can’t help but come across as lame and a bit creepy on screen. It’s people like this who always manage to be folk singers, for whatever reason. I mean, when you watch other documentaries on subcultures like this, be they Trekkies or Six Days In Roswell (both of which are also excellent films, by the way), somehow characters like this are always folk singers. Frankly, I always find those people to be a little bit creepy. Some of the hanger-ons to the main characters are the biggest nerds in the film. One can’t help but chuckle at them when they’re at their dorkiest on screen. Again, it adds to the low key charm of the movie.

Music: Composer Craig Richey has worked with some talented independent film style directors like Nicole Holofcener on previous films. He does a pretty good job giving this documentary a fitting score. Nothing to write home about, but it fits the amateur style of the material pretty well.

A solid enough revenge thriller. One I definitely would have made some changes to were I directing it, but it works despite some of the weaknesses. I’ll detail some of that at the end of this review, cause they will be extremely spoiler-laden.

Writing: This is the aspect of the film that comes up shortest. While there’s some nice touches in the characters and dialog, it falls into too many of the standard genre trappings. Compared to the superior recent revenge film, The Brave One, this one comes through as less original or engaging. Still, other factors of this film help make up for said limitations.

Production: Director James Wan, who previously directed Saw and the rather lame looking Dead Silence (he might want to consider something without a Dead title for his next film), does a pretty good job giving the film some style and pacing. While he may not pull off anything revolutionary for the genre, it’s certainly a solid, gritty production. Some of the set design and location filming is a definite plus.

Cast: What can be said of Kevin Bacon in a role like this? He can pull off this kind of thing with ease. While it might not be as good as something like Stir Of Echoes, it’s still a very good performance. Kelly Preston is well cast as his wife. She needs to get more roles these days. Her character isn’t particularly great or original, but she brings a nice quality to the role. John Goodman might be well cast in his role, but it’s so hard to watch the performance and not be distracted by the fact that it’s Goodman performing it. Aisha Tyler is kinda fun as the cop who knows this can’t possibly end well, but has to try and keep things under control anyway. There’s a certain level of amusing frustration in the performance of the character that works pretty well. The actors who play the kids in the family pull things off pretty well. The one aspect of the plot that works least is that of the violent gang, and the actors do very little to distinguish said gang all too much. It’s definitely a weak point of the story and of the casting.

Music: Charlie Clouser, the typical composer for director James Wan, comes through with a hit-and-miss score. While Clouser is usually quite good with material like this, he seems to be doing a good part of this score on genre auto-pilot, hitting things a bit too squarely over the head. The instrumentation leaves a lot to be desired in terms of originality, and the thematic and tonal qualities of the score are pretty average. Not a bad score, but he could have surely done better.

Spoiler Alert: OK, so here’s one change that could have made this one of the coolest movies of the genre, period. There’s a moment where the bad guys suddenly round up and shoot Kevin Bacon’s character and his wife and son, as the camera pans back on them laying on the floor, shot, not moving. I sat there watching, knowing full well that at least Bacon would survive (and I was assuming also his son), but I was musing to myself how stunningly awesome it would be for a movie like this to suddenly take a left turn and hit an abrupt end where the bad guys simply win. It would turn the movie into a fascinatingly original cautionary tale. Sure, there’s no studio in their right mind that would go for that, but it would have been so cool. It would be fun to do a modified edit of the movie that suddenly ends there. While there’s some quality violence in the rampage that follows this scene, it would be a cooler movie if it ended right at that moment.

My main reason for seeing this movie was for a couple of the cast members. Well, the trailer also showed some promise. If you like comedies that are fairly twisted with a dark sense of humor, you won’t be disappointed.

Writing: This is one of those movies where the comedy (and tragedy) is slowly built up. It’s a fun genre plot format that works pretty well for this movie. While the movie may not be outright as funny as the bitingly nasty and hilarious funereal comedy Eulogy, it definitely hits a lot of the marks right. Featuring a wide range of characters, the movie plays them off each other in amusing ways.

Production: Director Frank Oz is no stranger to sadistic and subversively twisted comedies, but this one is a bit more raw than he has normally directed. Between the heavy language and adult content of the film, it feels rather different than his previous work. It’s also a bit lower budget in feel (and probably actuality) as well. Still, it’s a solid production, which like the writing does a nice, slow build for comedic purposes.

Cast: The biggest draw for me in the cast was the great Alan Tudyk. And let me tell you, he really gets to come unglued in this performance. Nothing short of genuinely whacked out, and it’s a load of fun. Another cast member that I knew would be great was Peter Dinklage, and he is just that. Other cast members like Matthew Macfadyen definitely do a good job as well.

Music: Murray Gold is a composer I was rather familiar with thanks to his flat-out amazing work on the revived Doctor Who series. He lends this film a very bouncy and slightly dignified touch of class. It is surely designed to play as something of a counterpoint to the increasing level of chaos and comedy in the film. Gold’s score definitely benefits the movie in a number of ways.

This is a movie that is roughly what I was expecting from having seen the advertising, but it takes a different approach. It’s a well told story with fine production and a superb cast.

Writing: There have been many films over the years based around the revenge plot structure. This one is a little bit unique. The way the character progresses towards revenge is fairly ambiguous. Character development is definitely one of the strong aspects of the film, in both of the main characters. It operates in a world of gray areas, like most of the best character dramas do.

Production: Nothing to complain about here. While it’s in no way original, the washed out blue/gray hue of the film conveys the New York City area in which the story unfolds. It also does a good job at muting the characters and downplaying much of the drama. Cinematography is strong, opting for the use of angles and pitch when the main character is off balance or out of her element. Sound design is also quite impressive. It needs to be, actually, as the main character spends much of the time doing professional sound recordings, which is something of a fascinating hobby.

Cast: It’s impossible to come up with somebody who could have pulled off this role any better than Jodie Foster. This character benefits from some of the roles that Foster has portrayed over the last couple decades, incorporating small elements of each. She capably brings both vulnerability and strength to the character, making the full journey seem plausible. It’s a remarkable performance. Terrance Howard does a fine job as the sympathetic counterbalance, adding some nice subtleties to the story. Nicky Katt is spot-on hilarious as a staggeringly deadpanned partner for Howard’s character. And Naveen Andrews works well in his brief performance, breaking stereotypes a bit.

Music: Dario Marianelli’s score is certainly up to the task. It doesn’t draw a heck of a lot of attention to itself, which is fine. It covers the bases well and adds some nice textures to the material. It helps sell the overall mood and progression of the story and characters.