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Review of Risen

Risen (2021)
8/10
Underrated: Great script but mediocre in places
2 January 2022
This was a surprisingly good movie. I loved it. The terrible reviews and low rating forced this on the back burner for a while.

First off: The script was great! Slow, dramatic and powerful (if you give it a chance). Sometimes people get put off by other elements of a low-budget film and they write off entire production as a result. I get it.

But... If you're a sci-fi fan and tell me that this is a bad script - I can only think that you gave up early on this (or that it moved too slowly for you).

Sometimes you have to forgive low-quality results in other areas of the production when viewing a low-budget film. I've always been a script-first person (followed by acting). If this is where you place a great deal of value, this is a recommend for you.

If it's choreography, scenic shots and music that are important to you in a movie... well then. I have no comments.

Acting was pretty decent in some areas and mediocre/poor in others. Generally, it was very passable for this kind of film. Unfortunately (and this is huge) the lead character offered the worst performance, I thought. This effected the whole film. You have to see the entire film to understand what she was trying to do - but I just don't think she pulled it off (wooden and off-putting).

Audio had a b-movie finish to it in many parts. Sometimes it did not. You know the sound of it when it has that mono feel to it. But if you're really trying to enjoy the film (instead of looking for defects), this kind of audio tends to normalize.

Occasionally (especially in the final minutes), the background sound/music would drown out the voices. This was an easy fix post-production but they failed to address it.

Special effects were poor. I had no problems with this. It got the job done.

I don't even want to hint at the plot. I'm afraid I'll ruin the experience if you know too much. I went in knowing very little about the film. I was guessing what might happen and it made for a great film experience. It does move slowly as it builds to a reveal but this slowness reflects real-life which is why I embraced it.

Be patient with this low-budget effort and you'll be rewarded. It gets a very subjective "how it made me feel" (for a low-budget effort) rating of 8.
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