I waited over a year for the opportunity to watch "The Machine". It was one of the few films where the trailer had excited me enough to keep me anticipating it's release. The last time this happened was with "Black Swan", a loathsome film, which I absolutely hated, so as you can imagine, there was a lot of fear that The Machine might turn out the same way.
It's a low budget film, and you'd notice it, but it has enough style and enthusiasm to carry it. The visuals are only trumped by the soundtrack, which is really what caught my attention when first viewing the trailer. The storyline suffers the same unrealistic plot device most sci-fi films come up with: "a sole, single, scientist working on device that half the world is relying on", but because it's such a common device, one really can't complain.
The film has a great atmosphere. It looks great, making use of a wide gamut of colour. Unlike most of the big budget Hollywood features these days, this film isn't afraid of colour, red in particular. It reminded me of Beyond The Rising Moon (1987), a sci-fi film from the 80s that didn't let a micro budget ruin it's ambition to convey a story. The story lines aren't a million miles apart either.
The actors were all unknown to me, even the lead, Caity Lotz, who has apparently gotten more public attention since making the film. I was impressed by her fighting scenes, which appeared suddenly. It probably shouldn't have been a surprise, given her athletic build [N.B. great shoulders].
All in all, The Machine was probably as good as I could have hoped it to be. Flawed, but certainly not disappointing.
More images: http://oioiiooixiii.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-machine-2013.html
