For the most part, I really enjoyed The Tank. The brooding build-up, the sense that something is wrong, we're really well done.
Aside from a few forgivable and forgettable missteps in the first two-thirds of the film, this was a thoroughly enjoyable caper. The acting, though not Oscar-worthy, was strong, the direction and cinematography was tight, and events bubbled along at a satisfyingly mysterious and suspenseful way.
As I said, there were a few missteps. The nature of the creature and the methods the characters will use to defeat it are both over-obviously signposted very early on, but these are minor criticisms.
When the creature is finally revealed, I was pleased to see that is was, as far as I could tell, CGI-free. Yes, it seems to be a person in a costume, but it's a convincing costume! Far preferable to lacklustre CGI.
However, shortly after this, the film enters it's final act, and everything goes out of the window. The characters begin making really stupid, illogical decisions that clearly won't end well and, while I get that these are people facing something unimaginable, their choices just don't add up.
We're being hunted by bloodthirsty monsters and I hear something banging at the door? I'll open it to see what it is.
I'm setting a make shift bomb out of highly unstable chemicals and my flashlight has gone out? I'll just use a lighter (despite the fact that there's clearly enough light to see by anyway and - what's this? My torch starts working again as soon as I've finished!) The dialogue also takes a sharp downturn towards the end, peppered with clichéd phrases and unbelievable melodramatic sentiments.
In the final scenes, all reason is lost. That creature on the car roof is suddenly, somehow inside, despite all of the doors and windows being closed and unbroken. I'm not kidding, the scene seamlessly goes from the monster looking through an unbroken windscreen to apparently crawling through a frame with no glass.
It really feels like the first two thirds of the film were made by a director and team with passion, but they just handed everything over to someone else to finish towards the end.
It's a shame because, as I said to start with, this movie really started strongly and only lost its way in the final portion. I've rated it a five because there are the makings of a decent film here and I refuse to base my whole review on the final act.
Such a missed opportunity. I think the filmmakers have talent and I hope they continue, I just hope they can see the flaws in this film and improve on them in future.
Aside from a few forgivable and forgettable missteps in the first two-thirds of the film, this was a thoroughly enjoyable caper. The acting, though not Oscar-worthy, was strong, the direction and cinematography was tight, and events bubbled along at a satisfyingly mysterious and suspenseful way.
As I said, there were a few missteps. The nature of the creature and the methods the characters will use to defeat it are both over-obviously signposted very early on, but these are minor criticisms.
When the creature is finally revealed, I was pleased to see that is was, as far as I could tell, CGI-free. Yes, it seems to be a person in a costume, but it's a convincing costume! Far preferable to lacklustre CGI.
However, shortly after this, the film enters it's final act, and everything goes out of the window. The characters begin making really stupid, illogical decisions that clearly won't end well and, while I get that these are people facing something unimaginable, their choices just don't add up.
We're being hunted by bloodthirsty monsters and I hear something banging at the door? I'll open it to see what it is.
I'm setting a make shift bomb out of highly unstable chemicals and my flashlight has gone out? I'll just use a lighter (despite the fact that there's clearly enough light to see by anyway and - what's this? My torch starts working again as soon as I've finished!) The dialogue also takes a sharp downturn towards the end, peppered with clichéd phrases and unbelievable melodramatic sentiments.
In the final scenes, all reason is lost. That creature on the car roof is suddenly, somehow inside, despite all of the doors and windows being closed and unbroken. I'm not kidding, the scene seamlessly goes from the monster looking through an unbroken windscreen to apparently crawling through a frame with no glass.
It really feels like the first two thirds of the film were made by a director and team with passion, but they just handed everything over to someone else to finish towards the end.
It's a shame because, as I said to start with, this movie really started strongly and only lost its way in the final portion. I've rated it a five because there are the makings of a decent film here and I refuse to base my whole review on the final act.
Such a missed opportunity. I think the filmmakers have talent and I hope they continue, I just hope they can see the flaws in this film and improve on them in future.