I first saw this film at midnight at the Magnolia theater in Dallas. My girlfriend and I sneaked in after seeing another movie. At first I felt bad and then found it was free, so I really didn't sneak in, I walked in quietly. When they announced that it was a low budget indy film that was produced locally I was quite upset and almost ran for the bar, but when the lights went down and the film started up I was totally impressed. I usually joke that I judge a good romantic film by how sweaty my hand gets from holding hands with my girlfriend and how intense a film is by all the bruises she puts on my arm. From the start of the first gun battle on she had a pit-bull like grip on my arm and never let go. I was all bruises. I tend to hate low budget action/thriller films after the mad rush of low budget crud that you see populating pay cable channels when the sun goes down. I think this Ken Dundon guy put together one heck of a team. (I might be prejudiced by his name) Seeing that he was in a wheelchair and had two hot women with him, I can only imagine that he is either very rich or very charming. Maybe both. He does, however, seem to have struck gold with this film.
I really didn't see any fatal flaws in the film except for the fact that when I left the theater it was nearly 3 am which makes The Prodigy a long film. I had planned on spending 90 minutes in the theater and jetting. Is it just me or aren't most of these hyper-intense, hyper-low budget films short by nature? As far as acting goes, I thought that Matt Beckham who played the leads sidekick was totally awesome. When I found out how long ago they shot this thing I was totally floored by the fact that I have never seen him before. He was at the sneak preview and I must admit, it was the first time I ever wanted an autograph. I think the lead took the idea of deep and understated intensity to a whole new low. He seemed to be striving to create a character that had that vapid statuesque nature that Robert Mitchum brought to a role. I always wondered why no one had ever copied Mitchum and now I know why.
I was also impressed at the number of women in the film that had full fledged, 3 dimensional speaking parts in the film. You don't often find real parts for women in films that contain so many guns.
The bad guy in the film is also one of the best works of menace I think I have seen in a long while. The director, Bill Kaufman, does one heck of a job making him seem omnipotent and ever present. This character stuck with me. My girlfriend and I didn't make it home until 5:30 and a few moments after we crawled into bed, with the room pitch black, my alarm went off. It scared me to no end and my girlfriend put a whole new bruise on my other arm. For the next few days any time someone touched my arms I got a slight tinge of pain and a flashback to what was a great movie going experience. I cannot wait to see what these guys do next and I if there is any justice in the world these guys will be rich and on many magazine covers.
I really didn't see any fatal flaws in the film except for the fact that when I left the theater it was nearly 3 am which makes The Prodigy a long film. I had planned on spending 90 minutes in the theater and jetting. Is it just me or aren't most of these hyper-intense, hyper-low budget films short by nature? As far as acting goes, I thought that Matt Beckham who played the leads sidekick was totally awesome. When I found out how long ago they shot this thing I was totally floored by the fact that I have never seen him before. He was at the sneak preview and I must admit, it was the first time I ever wanted an autograph. I think the lead took the idea of deep and understated intensity to a whole new low. He seemed to be striving to create a character that had that vapid statuesque nature that Robert Mitchum brought to a role. I always wondered why no one had ever copied Mitchum and now I know why.
I was also impressed at the number of women in the film that had full fledged, 3 dimensional speaking parts in the film. You don't often find real parts for women in films that contain so many guns.
The bad guy in the film is also one of the best works of menace I think I have seen in a long while. The director, Bill Kaufman, does one heck of a job making him seem omnipotent and ever present. This character stuck with me. My girlfriend and I didn't make it home until 5:30 and a few moments after we crawled into bed, with the room pitch black, my alarm went off. It scared me to no end and my girlfriend put a whole new bruise on my other arm. For the next few days any time someone touched my arms I got a slight tinge of pain and a flashback to what was a great movie going experience. I cannot wait to see what these guys do next and I if there is any justice in the world these guys will be rich and on many magazine covers.