Gone Dark

Director - Pascal Cooper (Death Smokes)
Starring - Pascal Cooper (Kickstand), Leif Gantvoort (Patient Z), and Mary Elizabeth Pohl (Fright Night)
Release Date - 2013
Genre - Action
Tagline(s) - "I want my Jackie Jack back Jack" and "All the violence...twice the hotties!"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

      Everyone knows how passionate I am about horror and indie flicks.  I will go out of the way to help any indie production I can but not all films can be made on a micro-budget.  Straight forward horror flicks, simple comedies, and dramas are the few genres that can be pulled off with no budget.  Any other genre or sub-genre requires a little funding to pull off the much needed effects.  That brings me to the Quentin Tarantino inspired action flick Gone Dark directed by Pascal Cooper.  I knew nothing of the film before viewing the screener that was sent to me by Midnight Releasing but the poster made me think I would be in for a good time.  I was dead wrong. 

     The film follows Jack (Cooper).  Jack was once a con-man that has faked his own death to get out of the game.  He now has a life with a beautiful woman outside of crime but his past is starting to catch up with him.  The crew he used to run with is now going on a bloody rampage to find him leaving a trail of bodies.  Also on the hunt is Jack's little sister who is brutally murdering his former partners because she suspects they are responsible for his death.  Eventually they all cross paths resulting in one bloody reunion.
     I love the films of Quentin Tarantino.  I love how his films can be dialogue rich without being boring. I also love how his films can be entertaining without really showing a lot of action scenes. I can see why this style of film making can be so appealing to indie directors.  Hell, most of Tarantino's earlier films were made independently.  However, what really set his early films apart from modern action films was ironically the action scenes.  Tarantino's films approach action with a minimalists mindset.   Sadly, that is something that Cooper did not pick up on.  I'm not saying that action is not a bad thing because it is not.  However, it is a bad thing when you are working with a micro-budget and you do not have the money to pull off the gags. That is my biggest problem with Gone Dark.  The film did not have the budget to pull off the effects needed to make a good action film.  The visual effects for the gun fire is atrocious and the cast do not hold their guns in a way that makes it even slightly realistic.  It just seems like they did not care about having the gun fights look realistic which is one of the key focal points of the film.  The acting in this film is hit or miss.  Bill Oberst Jr's small cameo appearance was spectacular and extremely entertaining, however, the rest of the cast really did not give it their all.  That really brought the film down when added with the horrible gun play.  Finally, the film's story is lacking originality and entertaining qualities.  The film tries to focus on individual stories similar to Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs but that defeats the purpose of having a linear storyline which is what this film has.  The multiple character story lines takes the viewer's focus away from the main storyline resulting in confusion and an awkward storyline.  Overall, Gone Dark is an indie action flick that tries to pay tribute to the films that inspired it but falls short on entertainment.  I do not recommend this one.