Four men are in the back of a van with bags over their heads. They are released in a field by two armed men. Two of the men run off in separate directions only for a device on their ankle to arm then trigger, blowing their leg in half and leaving them at the mercy of the two armed men to finish off. Seeing this, one of the two remaining men (Jake) tries to ensure that the same does not happen to him.
Proximity has what most short films needs, which is a great central idea which hooks you in very quickly. In this case it is the threat of death and the urgency of Jake that does it and although we do not understand the whys, the action still has good pace and keeps you involved. The cinematography is shaky but clear – it is a well used device to add urgency and excitement into the image but it is still an effective one and it mostly works here. In some ways the short and folded-in scenario helps the film be this way but on the other hand it would have been better with a bit more detail and finesse in the idea.
So, for example, with four men, this "game" will almost always end with people with no legs within 100m of the truck – it is just by chance that in Jake's case his partner isn't one of the ones that run off, and I guess this is the minority of cases. The same lack of finesse is at the end of the film too because, without any context, it really doesn't mean anything other than that the writers couldn't come up with something that worked better. It still is worth a look because it is pretty tight and engaging in the way it feels urgent and tightly paced, but it really did need a bit more detail and fine-tuning around the edges to make it work better.
