All Reviews

The female protagonist is certainly no Helen Mirren. The dialogue offers no sizzle and brings down what are some good plot twists. The theme of "alchemy" is very cheesy when one thinks how mysticism could be enlivened by the plot/action. The The ascot-ed German was way overplayed and he was a walking/talking stereotype. All this aside, given the proper cinematography (and much better actors), this could be a better than average example of the action/adventure genre. Has the author ever thought of introducing some humor into the mix? It might be a good counterpoint to what I had alluded to, the heightening of the mystical thread that is only done in a superficial, banal sort of way.

I'm no critic so I must apologize for what seems like a characteristic bitchiness. The pacing was good, but the scenes, if done with the full treatment, would be way too short, which made for characters that seemed like slaves to the plot and wretched dialogue. They needed some elongation; I couldn't quite imagine them as three dimensional.

So, all this pettiness aside. I offer some pretty damning views. I do think this project has some potential worth pursuing; the author knows how to write a tight, fast-moving plot and the people who've worked on this probably labored many hours. I hope it pays off...

Very nicely crafted thriller in the classic mould, with strong leads, strong villains, everything to play for and a very satisfying ending. In brief, I felt I should be off doing other things but had to find out what happened.
Technically: Great use of stock photos and footage. Original music? This is a well-crafted no-budget movie in its own right. Can't wait to see the full treatment.
On the downside: Mumbled dialogue confused some scenes and occasionally pictures did not match the action, but these are small potatoes compared to what has been achieved.
Excellent work.

Many of the scenes and much of the dialogue are unbelievable. Also, the premise of the movie is not clearly made. Who did what and when? Action drags. I was not tied to any character and really didn't care what happened to them.

Very interesting premise. I would like to see more accurate visuals. You could place the actors in a boiler room, or server room for a nice backdrop.

The Dialogue, and what the characters do / how they behave seems un-realistic to me. The quality of the test movie is quite well thought out though. Got a really good picture of the script.

I enjoyed the story, and felt your portrayal was really good for a table read. That told me that it was a strong,imaginative story that allowed me to fill in the gaps that your table read couldn't fill in. I believe that, with a full budget, this will be a action-packed thriller! Great job!

I enjoyed the premise of this treatment --- I'm an archaeology buff with special interest in marine archaeology, and a history buff, etc., etc.. The dialogue is cheesy at times, but nothing too damaging or outrageous...

There were also a couple of small things, like the opening-scene divers surfacing with seeming rapidity from a site so deep only a handful of divers could hope to make the dive (as the site is described later), yet there is no pause or slowing mentioned in their ascent to account for pressure changes. The poor fellow with his hand cut off would likely have fallen unconscious/gone into shock from blood loss alone long before he surfaced, if it was a truly deep dive, and the fellow carrying him might suffer from decompression sickness, but it is described as if they surfaced instantly, and apparently only the handless fellow needs any medical attention. I'm certain any such details can be tightened up with the help of technical consultants who are experts in the particular fields referenced (if the movie went to production).

One aside, and this is a personal pet peeve of my own which may or may not bother others, I hate the fact that every action/adventure flick nowadays has to add some random love interest, often to the point of sidelining the actual action plot. Just something of which to be aware... (I realize that this is not a finished product and that the relationship between the two leads may be somewhat in flux, so this might not be an issue that detracts from a finished film.)

Overall, it's an interesting idea which handled well should make for a smashing action/adventure flick.

NOTE (on the video download itself): The playback volume isn't normalized and thus the soundtrack bounced from very loud music and narration to an at times indistinct voice track.