Feature Film Review
Film Info:
The world is cloaked in winter. Christian Adkins is a Renegade soldier longing for peace and the son of the famed Liberator. Jen is an orphaned nurse desperately trying to save children. When the two soul mates are trapped together at the end of a war, their lives are forever entwined. Written By: Brent Hoover Directed By: Brent Hoover Genre: Action / Adventure 99 Minutes IndyRed.com |
THE ODYSSEY OF DESTINY ( 2014 )
As far as self produced Indie productions go The Odyssey Of Destiny is a very ambitious one. The sheer scope of the story and locations would normally be enough to send most Indie Filmmakers running for the hills. Writer/Director Brent Hoover is not such a man, tackling this big project with arms wide open. The payoff? A solid Indie feature that although not perfect, packs enough punch to satisfy most every viewer.
For those genre buffs out there, the description of Odyssey can be a little misleading. Yes, it's an Action/Adventure at heart. It also happens to have elements of a love story and maybe, just maybe a little bit of campy humor- although that may not have been intentional. Odyssey does feature some major stereotypical characters such as the cigar smoking Admiral, and in cases such as his, it does come across as funny... but in a good way. I mean... could you picture an Admiral NOT smoking a massive cigar? I know I can't! The point is that at first glance, a few of the stereotypical characters come across as campy until you realize you couldn't picture them any other way. The probably unintentional humor of some of the characters actually help progress the story in a nice, even fashion. Done on purpose or not it works... and works well. Speaking of pacing, Odyssey Of Destiny is paced reasonably well with only a few instances where you're left wondering what's just happened. These cases are very rare considering the complexity of the production. The rareness of the pacing blunders speak volumes of goodness to both the writer and editor of the film. For the most part, we're left with a nicely edited film that smoothly glides before our eyes. Another interesting thing about Odyssey is the acting... Rather the amount of actors. Numerous supporting and backround characters can really hinder an Indie flick. Most self produced productions try and cut back on the amount of talent needed. Not here. The world we are presented with is very populated, and for the vast majority everyone plays their parts well. I'd be lying if I said everything was perfect... but for the majority everyone becomes their character, and the "Cheese" factor is very low. With cast numbers this high I commend both the cast and Director Brent Hoover himself. Great job! Where Odyssey both gains and looses points is in the Cinematography department. At times it's all over the place! We have brilliantly composed and lit shots followed directly by an out of focus or color saturated image. Thankfully this doesn't happen all that often... but it does happen! I personally feel that if a little more work was put into the post process, and some of the images were color graded a little better, Odyssey would have scored a little higher. No big deal though. As I said, these instances are the minority... not the majority. In the end, Odyssey Of Destiny is a great Indie flick that is both ambitious and entertaining. A rare gem in a sea of run of the mill Indie flicks. If you're looking for something to do for a few hours... you've found it. -JT Other Reviews That May Interest You
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