Bonding

BONDING, a short dramatic thriller written, starring and directed by Luke Rex is a tense thirteen minutes that feels like the prologue to the next JOHN WICK movie.

The movie begins with a man on the phone in a bar, speaking with his (presumably) girlfriend or wife, it then shifts to some back and forth between the mystery man and the bartender, and soon after a mysterious man and woman enter the bar, and they’ve got a proposition for the man that he can’t resist. It’s a simple yet effective setup for almost any action feature, and it works every time. While the dialogue didn’t always click with me, I really enjoyed the cinematography by Laura Jansen. The movie has a slick and cinematic feel to it that goes far beyond what the budget probably was. I should also point out that the music and composition also helped greatly to sell the intensity of each scene. One misstep there and it would have gone from a Bond movie to those “stay thirsty my friends” Most Interesting Man in the World commercials. The development of the lead character could have used a little more exposition, as he denitely is coded as a Bond-esque spy, and the fact that he’s a CIA clinical and forensic psychologist is something that gets a little lost. All of the acting throughout the movie is great, and Jannica Olin plays a fantastic character perfectly. Ryan Stroud has eyes that look right through you, and you wonder if he’s going to pull a gun or start a ght at any moment. The bartender character adds just enough depth to carry the plot forward, but his dialogue could have been better.

Overall, a solid short film. A good length for most film festivals and something that audiences of all sorts would enjoy. I’d love to see the director explore more of this character and the story he is trying to tell here