Spoiler Alert
“Spoiler Alert”, directed by David Rakowiecki, is a movie made for web film critics. It combines the harsh realities of a life lived on the internet with the brief taste of celebrity we sometimes come into contact within the line of duty. This movie poses an interesting question though: What would happen if someone knew where we lived, and was mad enough at us for trashing their movie to do something about it?
The film dances around the questions of morality and bias when it comes to being a film critic. If you hate a movie, do you let it become your personal vendetta and make sure that everyone else hates that movie as well? Would you ever accept a bribe to shift your opinion of a movie one way or another? How strong is friendship in the face of possible stardom, or death? The main characters Brad Zuhl (Daniel Bartkewicz) and Walt Grambling (Jarred Kjack) have all of those questions thrown in their face one night when an angry, washed up film director Harrison Kane (Lars Stevens in a role that I’m sure a lot of aging directors can relate to) knocks on their door and holds them at gunpoint, demanding answers from Brad about why he continues to trash his work. Brad answers his questions simply and logically (with the logic of an internet film geek anyway) and just tells him to stop making crap movies. As the plot progresses, we see that there are other motivations to Brad’s lambasting of Harrison Kane’s latest movie, and how it affects Brad and Walt’s own burgeoning film careers.
The movie itself is one of those “people stuck in a room” pieces that are relatively popular today. But the director seems to make the movie flow well with great camera angles, the occasional cutaway sequences, wonderfully written dialogue, and just well thought out subject matter. The movie feels like a complete picture of the majority of today’s internet critics and fans. From living/working out of his parent’s basement to living off of soda and take-out food, to the small taste of power that comes from having thousands of fans hanging on your word. The director of this film knows exactly who his subjects are and is able to portray them realistically. Even when the guns start blazing and the scheming starts, the director shows just what the majority of people would do in the same situation to get out of that room alive.
The movie loses its way a little in the end with the inclusion of a fourth character (Tony Mui as The Delivery Guy), but by the time that happens I’m already invested in the movie, so I just went along for the ride to see where it went. The sanguine-ish finish reminded me of the endings of old “Tales from the Crypt” episodes and it certainly isn’t what you would expect, which was refreshing.
In the end I really enjoyed this movie, and I’ll probably watch it again soon. It definitely spoke to me as a film critic, and I’m sure it would have some good market value to those internet people who watch just as much, or more film than I do. I don’t think I’d be wrong in considering this film a possible candidate for “cult classic” in the future. See this movie!
