Zone 414 (2021)

I mean after you get past the Blade Runner thing , which is a nice homage, this is totally different! But very classy and the writing was waht I loved the most, everything was seminal, everything was coming and going through the characters, everything was hanging on the balance of a seminal idea, and the end was marvelous, very very very good and above all excellent writing! Would love to see more from this dude!

Fmovies: Private investigator David Carmichael is hired to track down a missing person and teams up with an advanced humanoid A. I. to guide him through Zone 414, a dangerous city of robots.

With echos of Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 in terms of themes, director Andrew Baird and writer Bryan Edward Hill offering hits a sci-fi nerve. With heavy sound design, accompanied by Raffertie's edgy music, Baird delivers an atmospheric moody piece with some great locations, sets and effects.

Thanks to James Mathe cinematography (even if a little clinical at times) it has interesting visuals. It tries to find it's own identity, but by default finds itself emulating some classics. Which isn't a bad thing, when it's upfront and paying homage. Beneath some of the light theatrics of Zone 414, it borrows from the aforementioned films and some elements are reminiscent of; or in the vein of: Vice, Split Second, Cherry 2000, Westworld, Nirvana and The Machine to name a few.

The cast are solid enough, Jonathan Aris is on form and Olwen Fouéré leaves an impression, but like actors Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson and Colin Salmon they are sorely underused. Travis Fimmel is almost unrecognisable under make-up and has fun hamming it up as the filthy rich eccentric Marlon Veid. Antonia Campbell-Hughes who plays multiple versions of the same A. I. deserves a mention. Even though void of big action setups lead Guy Pearce offers plenty of weight and credence to the production and stops Zone 414 becoming a trope filled old hat. There's also a good performance from Matilda Lutz as emotional A. I. Jane.

Sadly, leaving some interesting character beats until late in the game takes the edge off the twists and turns which hampers the pay offs. Editor Tony Cranstoun's pacing is in keeping with the somber tone, but the handful of inserts of David Carmichael's interview is debatably unnecessary, and may have sat better chronologically.

Overall, it's a grower, it tries to give superior sci-fi thrillers a run for their money and certainly surpasses the numerous low budget CGI driven science fictions that find there way to VOD streaming platforms.

Zone 414 had an awesome plot that for whatever reason it could not fully live up to.

The story falls short. It feels like it's trying to be like Blade Runner without ripping it off and it that confusion it lost its way (and still looks like its ripping off Blade Runner) I don't want to crap on the fact that this movie looks cheap but it does. Very little cyberpunk in the visuals even though the story is engulf in it.

Not really bad but just not worth the time.

Zone 414 fmovies. This film had some amazing eye candy filler - especially for having a low 5m budget, but the story needed more substance and better pacing.

This is director Andrew Baird first full length feature film, and he did great. For an international (Irish) low budget indie film, it was better than some recent big budget Hollywood blockbusters I've seen lately. The cinematography by James Mather was outstanding, and even made basic inexpensive sets feel like that post-apocalyptic grungy future one would expect.

The 98 min runtime felt a little long with the slow pacing and progression of the story. The writing by Bryan Edward Hill had some plot and technical issues with some convoluted dialogue, and the screenplay could've used some tweaking by a seasoned writer. Had the film been cut down to about 85 mins with faster pacing, and/or had more grit and suspense with a little more character development, this could've been a cult classic.

The score I found to be excellent, especially for a B grade film. It was fitting, and certainly set the look and feel of the film appropriately. The performances were great by all, especially Fimmel, but I felt Pearce's character could've used more expression and energy.

Overall I did enjoy this better than I expected. I just wish that the story had some tweaking that could've made this great. It's a well deserved 7/10 from me.

In a parallel universe someone took this same story and these same actors and made a good movie. But not this universe. Pearce at 53 is a still a reliable lead. And Fimmel, if you want him to, can chew up the scenery with the best of them. Avoid this at all costs, especially the soundtrack.

"Zone 414" has an interesting story. I think there's good character development, and they make us feel for them. If it can have a tighter pace, it would have been even better.