domingo, 20 de diciembre de 2009

Cannabis Cannibal 2: Exodus

It feels really weird talking about this film, since in a small way I am a part of it, casting wise. But still, I feel my part is small enough that I can talk about it without feeling like I’m giving it blind praise. This is the sequel to one of the few true cult films to ever come out of my island of Puerto Rico, Cannabis Cannibal, which had it’s share of faithful audiences without the need for exposure or distribution. The story involves a group of idiots, led by Manny and El Sargento, trying to survive a zombie apocalypse where their weapons include guns, machetes and the smoke of marihuana. The sequel continues with the Manny and El Sargento character, as they continue to survive the apocalypse, meeting new people in the process.
Just like the first one, the sequel is hilarious, mostly thanks to the dialogue. I don’t know whether it was scripted or not, but it sure has an air of improvisational material that just makes it sound better than it could have, particularly coming from El Sargento who steals most of the scenes away from Manny, who sometimes seems like he’s just tagging along for no other reason than to stay alive. There are a lot of new characters but only a few of them really stand out: the “Hijos De Puta”, a Mad Max-style gang of post-Apocalyptic warriors, will bring a smile to anyone who has a passion for post-Apocalyptic movies like After The Fall Of New York and The Bronx Warriors, since they’re cut out of the same mold. I hope the director Franco someday releases action figures based on these three. The other character that really stood out was called Korintio, I believe. I’m not sure who played this person (remember, I just got back from the premiere), but he basically stole the show from EVERYONE in the film. His line delivery and improvisation is incredible and made him to be the best and funniest character in the whole movie. I could watch a whole film based on this guy! Too bad he’s in only one scene. I also have to give Franco credit for doing beautiful work of the slower scenes in the film, the stuff where we get to see the beautiful passages of Puerto Rico. Franco, you got a real eye for beauty and these are without a doubt the best scenes in the film. I’d love to see what you’d make with a slower-paced movie.

Now for some flaws. I’m not going to talk about the technical aspects such as image and sound since Franco knows they’re flawed as well. My main complaint is that the film doesn’t have the appropriate pacing the original had. Some scenes go on for far too long, and for the most part give out information that is not really necessary, the most obvious being the sequence in the car after they pick up the young woman from the religious fanatic. The scene felt like an eternity and could have used some trims. Also, what’s the logic in dropping a nuke in PR and the bomb not taking over neighboring island, Vieques? I mean, I know it’s a comedy and it’s not supposed to be realistic, but the characters look as if they don’t even feel the shockwave when they get to our little neighboring island. I dunno why but that really bothered me.
To finish it off though, this is a great comedy. It made me laugh a lot and even my sister, who hates DIY cinema, loved it. Those are my two cents, Franco, now do your part and review El Viaje! You owe it!

1 comentario:

  1. Thanks for the review man, its even longer then your regular reviews!

    Like you mention, the technical flaws are obvious, but thats mostly cause of the fact that the whole film was shot on a little digital camcorder, but you know, we are always aiming to make our next film better, thats still our goal, so expect our next film to take things up a notch technically speaking.

    I fully agree with you on the whole thing with the atomic explosions, Vieques is not that far away from Puerto Rico and they were supposed to at least have seen the nuclear mushrooom cloud...AT the very least, but as it is, they just keep going on about their business.

    We had to do some last minutes adjustments on the script so maybe thats why that happened, but I accept I should have known better. I guess its one of those little things...a glitch in the Matrix as I like to call them. But Ill keep a tighter eye on continuity on future projects, apreciate the input man.

    Also, I loved how you compared the Hijos de Puta with those cheesy post apocalyptic Italian movies, thats exactly the vibe we were going for, shooting in abandoned places to make it look like the end of the world. It worked like a charm.

    Thanks for the review man, gotta link this review to the movies page! Ill do that as soon as possible.

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