Or at least I was not engaged. A 13-year-old boy, at which this is aimed, might be more engaged.
You know you're in trouble when a film starts with four paragraphs of text on the screen, being read aloud in VO to you by an actor (just in case you're having a bit of trouble in the reading department yourself, young viewer). The first ten minutes need to be cut; it establishes almost nothing about character of relevance and is missing any sort of likability hook for the hero. ("Not quite as douchy as buddies but lots whinier" really doesn't cut it.) When the action starts, with the most awful brand of fistfights, you're not surprised at the overly loud meat-hammer Foley treatment. When you think it can't get any worse, the dialog references Star Wars. Rule of B film-making: never remind viewers there are better movies than the one they are currently watching!
The idea isn't half-bad. There is more than one dimension, and the Reluctant Hero must join the more experienced fighters, an old guy and a hot chick (dressed for inter-dimensional fighting from a Yonge Street hooker's wardrobe, for some reason. I myself, whenever I want to be prepared for action or am headed to the boxing gym, always put on boots, a micro mini, a tube top, and a leather jacket over all, for that final je ne sais quoi.) There's a scepter (aka didgeridoo) and a necklace involved in opening the gateway between dimensions. All of this might have worked with a competent screenwriter.
But the dialog is awful. The rules of inter-dimensional travel keep changing in ways that undercut tension. The actors do their best, truly they do, but it's all nonsense and I think I saw them each wince at least once.
Still, mostly it was lit, and I could hear the dialog (a mixed blessing, I suppose), and the score was appropriate (though one always had the sense of it trying to uplift the unliftupable) so not one star. But not any good, either.
You know you're in trouble when a film starts with four paragraphs of text on the screen, being read aloud in VO to you by an actor (just in case you're having a bit of trouble in the reading department yourself, young viewer). The first ten minutes need to be cut; it establishes almost nothing about character of relevance and is missing any sort of likability hook for the hero. ("Not quite as douchy as buddies but lots whinier" really doesn't cut it.) When the action starts, with the most awful brand of fistfights, you're not surprised at the overly loud meat-hammer Foley treatment. When you think it can't get any worse, the dialog references Star Wars. Rule of B film-making: never remind viewers there are better movies than the one they are currently watching!
The idea isn't half-bad. There is more than one dimension, and the Reluctant Hero must join the more experienced fighters, an old guy and a hot chick (dressed for inter-dimensional fighting from a Yonge Street hooker's wardrobe, for some reason. I myself, whenever I want to be prepared for action or am headed to the boxing gym, always put on boots, a micro mini, a tube top, and a leather jacket over all, for that final je ne sais quoi.) There's a scepter (aka didgeridoo) and a necklace involved in opening the gateway between dimensions. All of this might have worked with a competent screenwriter.
But the dialog is awful. The rules of inter-dimensional travel keep changing in ways that undercut tension. The actors do their best, truly they do, but it's all nonsense and I think I saw them each wince at least once.
Still, mostly it was lit, and I could hear the dialog (a mixed blessing, I suppose), and the score was appropriate (though one always had the sense of it trying to uplift the unliftupable) so not one star. But not any good, either.