Rating: C+
Dir: Michael Matteo Rossi
Star: Daniel O’Reilly, Bart Voitila, Chris Moss, Marnette Patterson
This takes place in the near future – 2030, to be precise – after the Addis pharmaceutical company creates a pill which will “block any receptors in the brain prone to any type of urge to violence.” However, Big Pharma gonna Big Pharma, and under its head, Addis Marshall (Moss), shady shenanigans ensue, with the company manipulating the product to ensure their profit stream will remain uninterrupted. Additionally, they are working on generating real-life supersoldiers. Standing against them is a rag-tag resistance, headed by Soul (O’Reilly), whom Addis is very keen to capture. To that end, the CEO uses drugs to make resistance members defect and provide information, then sends sadistic lieutenant Canvas Jones (Voitila) after the rebel leader.
It is important to realize this is a smaller-scale production. That means you’ll be spending most of your time with the foot-soldiers on the ground, and there are extended periods where this means three people, sitting around a table and talking. Fortunately, the characters are decent enough that this is generally more entertaining than it might sound. In particular, Soul and Canvas, make for a memorable protagonist and antagonist, although I must admit, I did wonder how much of the resistance’s budget went on Soul’s hair-care products. Canvas is especially fun to watch, Voitila clearly relishing the change to sink his teeth into some juicy dialogue. There’s also good work from genre veteran Vernon Wells, and the imposing figure of four-time Mr. Universe Michael O’Hearn, as one of Addis’s creations, Jarek.
Possibly related: did you know, if you squeeze someone’s head hard enough – and, I mean, really hard (top) – it implodes with a sound like a balloon popping? I quite enjoyed that bit. Anyway, there are other points at which the limited resources do become obvious. For example the headquarters of Addis doesn’t exactly suggest “global pharmaceutical behemoth”, and it only seems to have about ten employees. I’d also suggest revamping their security protocols, because at the end, when Soul and team stage their assault on Addis HQ, it’s not exactly difficult for the intruders to reach the CEO. Canvas and Jarek are about the defense, though the resulting action is well-staged and fun to watch.
While hardly a deal-breaker, I might have enjoyed a little more insight into the world at large. The idea of a pill that represses violent thought reminds me of Equilibrium, and I found myself wondering what impact such medicine would have. It doesn’t necessarily seem a bad thing, and it’s unclear if the rebels are opposed to the idea on principle, or because Addis are being shady and going beyond the intended goals. However, to be fair, the script here isn’t interested so much in the philosophy of revolution, as the execution of it. Which does come back around at the end, when Soul is left to ponder: what happens when you are the dog who has finally caught the car they’ve been chasing?
The film will be released across various streaming platforms in March.