Saints and Soldiers: The Void Review

Jon Pardew Movie Review: 7/10

Rated: PG-13
Sexual Content: 0/10
Violence: 5/10
Profanity: 2/10
Drugs/Alcohol: 3/10

Saints and Soldiers takes place toward the end of World War II.  Two tank destroyers are ambushed by the Nazis.  Sgt. Jesse Owens, an African American soldier, gets mixed up with the unfortunate events and is not treated too kindly by some of his comrades because of the color of his skin.  His comrades later come to realize that they are wrong for judging Owens based on his skin color.

Story: 7/10

It seems that there are an unlimited amount of stories that you can pull from World War II.  I appreciate that Saints and Soldiers is a story about letting down your guard and accepting others as people.  I was not aware that African American soldiers were treated unfairly in WWII.  It isn't something that is often brought up.  It seems that racism is a constant battle and it is great to see movies that work to establish the equality of mankind.  

Acting: 7/10

For a locally made movie, the actors they got did a great job.  It might not have had big names in it but some of the actors really made the story believable.  K. Danor Gerald (Sgt. Jesse Owens) could really get into character.  His monologue he performs about his father and his race blew me away.  He may be going places in his acting career.

Cinema Photography: 5/10

Most of the movie was filmed in Utah.  It was somewhat of a distraction to see Utah in the background because I wanted to believe that it was Germany that I was seeing.  People who are not familiar with the Utah landscape will have a better time and not be distracted by this.  There are some great shots taken, and it is fun to see real tanks in action.

Visual FX: 4/10

You have to know that there are not a lot of VFX in Saints and Soldiers: The Void.  The few that they had looked good enough.  This wasn't a big budget film and it is grittier because of that.  The VFX may not have been spectacular, but they didn't distract you from the story.  

Written by: Jon Pardew

Into the Storm Review

Jon Pardew Movie Review: 5/10

Rotten Tomatoes: Nothing Yet

Rated: PG-13
Sexual Content: 2/10
Violence: 7/10
Profanity: 5/10
Drugs/Alcohol: 3/10

Into the Storm is about the devastation of major tornadoes.  Storms start hitting in a small town and you follow a father and two sons, a storm chasing crew, and two outlandish back-country red-necks.  You see how each person deals with the storm as lives are threatened and the super storm lays waste to everything in its path.

Story: 2/10

You would not want to go to this movie if you are expecting to see a great story.  It has its moments where characters demonstrate bravery eluding to some character development but that is overshadowed by the giant tornadoes and VFX.   Also, the eye of the tornado is not the only hole in this story.  There are more than a few things that didn't connect and it will take you right out of the movie if you are paying attention.

Acting: 3/10

Into the Storm's actors consist of people you may not heard of besides Richard Armitage (aka Thorin Oakenshield) who plays the father.  Perhaps because most of the actors are relatively new to Hollywood, their performances seemed rather amateur.  Most of the time I didn't feel like any of them were in any real danger even when giant tornadoes were sucking people into them.  I did enjoy the red-necks performances.  They brought the element of humor to the movie in a good way.

Cinema Photography: 4/10

The movie starts by being filmed by home video cameras, sort of in the style of Cloverfield or Earth to Echo as if it is going to be a 'found footage' type movie.  The problem with Into the Storm is that it was not consistent.  Most of the time you are seeing what the characters are filming and it brings more intense emotions because it seems more real.  Then there is a sequence of footage that blatantly is not filmed by any of the characters and it immediately reduces the intensity and made it feel messy. 

Visual FX: 8/10

The VFX are the best part of Into the Storm. Although not groundbreaking, the tornadoes did look spectacular and scary.  One tornado catches on fire which is something I have never seen before and so it was new and looked impressive.  The destruction and debris flying around looked intense, probably the closest it looks to experiencing a real tornado.   

Written by: Jon Pardew