BOY KILLS WORLD builds quite the interesting and colourful world, showing some competent work and true dedication. It features good actors, some great camera work and some great over-the-top gore.
And yet, it doesn't really work. Why?
In my view, it all starts with the writing, yet again. The kind of alright story is ruined by the protagonist's atrocious and mostly completely pointless monologue. Compared to the technical execution of BOY KILLS WORLD, this is truly astonishing. Add in some naive dialogue, on-the-nose "controlling ideas"/"themes" and a pretty dumb "emotional" twist, and you've got BOY KILLS WORLD. Amateur screenwriting at its most obvious.
You see, in my view, the problem with "tongue-in-cheek" writing is that in order to be funny and meta, you need to master serious writing first, or else your irony becomes baseless, has no measure and no tact. We as an experienced audience can smell this kind of incompetence instinctively, and probably will harshly categorize this as "wanna-be".
Another inconsistent factor is the direction. While the action is mostly well-done with a few very spectacular shots, the rest is quite lackluster and of stunningly inferior quality. Questionable shots that jump axis at times, weird and staged blocking, perfermances that feel strange, especially knowing the usual acting abilities of the actors. It's pretty messy.
This whole film feels like a few movie fans had an idea and got some professionals to help them get it done. Like fan fiction with a Hollywood budget.
But you know what? I'm still glad it got made, because it shows that some people with wild ideas and drive can still make something more entertaining than most of the soulless corporate content. I'm just disappointed that it wasn't very good.
And yet, it doesn't really work. Why?
In my view, it all starts with the writing, yet again. The kind of alright story is ruined by the protagonist's atrocious and mostly completely pointless monologue. Compared to the technical execution of BOY KILLS WORLD, this is truly astonishing. Add in some naive dialogue, on-the-nose "controlling ideas"/"themes" and a pretty dumb "emotional" twist, and you've got BOY KILLS WORLD. Amateur screenwriting at its most obvious.
You see, in my view, the problem with "tongue-in-cheek" writing is that in order to be funny and meta, you need to master serious writing first, or else your irony becomes baseless, has no measure and no tact. We as an experienced audience can smell this kind of incompetence instinctively, and probably will harshly categorize this as "wanna-be".
Another inconsistent factor is the direction. While the action is mostly well-done with a few very spectacular shots, the rest is quite lackluster and of stunningly inferior quality. Questionable shots that jump axis at times, weird and staged blocking, perfermances that feel strange, especially knowing the usual acting abilities of the actors. It's pretty messy.
This whole film feels like a few movie fans had an idea and got some professionals to help them get it done. Like fan fiction with a Hollywood budget.
But you know what? I'm still glad it got made, because it shows that some people with wild ideas and drive can still make something more entertaining than most of the soulless corporate content. I'm just disappointed that it wasn't very good.
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