10DeadMen

10 Dead Men (2007)

Ryan used to be a hit man for a vicious British gang. But one night he decided to disappear and start a new life with a beautiful young girl. This worked well for him, until one of his old mates showed up to ask him a favor. This drags him back to the gang, who decided to punish him by killing his girl and then killing him. But Ryan didn’t die and climbed out of the river to get his revenge. 10 men were responsible for her death and he is going to make sure all 10 pay with their lives. One by one the members of the gang are killed, as well as anyone hired to protect them. Until he is down to the last one, which is the most surprising and best scene in the movie.

There are two things that I hate to see in movies, much less low budget movies. The first is an annoying voice over and the second is a narrative that tries to be creative and tell the story out of order. The voice over is normally a tool for a lazy writer who can’t figure how to get some bit of back-story on screen any other way. And a cohesive narrative is normally difficult enough for most filmmakers without trying to get too creative. 10 Dead Men boasts both a voice over (by Pinhead himself Doug Bradley) and a story that unfolds in spurts and jumps around in time, revealing just enough of the story to explain the next scene. I loved it! Finally an independent filmmaker that understands you really need a tight script and an idea what you want to do with the story before setting up the camera. This story is well thought out, has a sense of purpose, and knows right where it is going without pulling any punches. It even manages to throw some twists at the audience that I know I didn’t see coming. I also get the feeling that much of the narrator contributions are used to help cover up some of the acting deficiencies that might have existed in some of the cast (including the lead). Unlike most narrations Bradley’s contribution is cleverly woven into the movie and doesn’t stick out like an albatross.

I can’t lie and say that this is perfect movie. There are times where it suffers from a seriously low budget and far too many aspirations. The action scene near the end where the Ryan character takes on a whole gang of assassins is the best example of this. The fight choreography is awkward, there are far too many CGI muzzle flashes and blood sprays, and the whole thing just feels cheesy. But to the movie’s credit this is far different from the rest of it. Small action scenes that are excellently choreographed and executed by the cast drive the movie. It doesn’t hurt that the star who appears in most all the action is also a very good stuntman and that his scenes are so well done that they give the movie much of the grit and realism that drives it. The movie is shot on digital and looks all right, but given the subject matter and settings I wished it were shot differently. The digital camera work is almost too well light and clean, to the point of being distracting and it just doesn’t fit with the feel of the story.

I get accused sometimes of being too hard on independent movies. The truth is all I ever expect from one of these is to be entertained. If all the movies that I sit down to watch were this well written I’d never have any complaints. So in spite of some technical stuff that I found annoying I’m recommending that everyone at least give this one a rental, if not a purchase. MTI is putting this out on the 27th of January, check out the website here http://www.mtivideo.com/ for more information about the release.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer