Machinima
Why Watch? If you were wondering what Pacific Rim would be like if we didn’t have any real technology to fight the Kaiju, the new web series Enormous promises to have an answer for you. The concept behind the series – and its first installment – is that society has been hobbled by gigantic terrors, and a debilitating virus has rocked the humans who remain. A one-two punch of bad luck.
As a first chapter, it’s a snippet of things to come, but it also serves as a quick and dirty one-off. It’s a rugged introduction, although nothing so far is off the well-beaten path beyond the blending of two genres into one. There’s the group of heroes who believe that children (somehow) are the future, there’s the group of selfish banditos trying to steal from those with a higher purpose, and there’s the giant eyeball staring into the 30th floor window.
Directed by BenDavid Grabinski (who did the excellent Cost of Living short), and with a script from Trollhunter’s Andre Ovredal, the language of Enormous is pulpy and terse even in its exposition. It looks great, particularly the juxtaposition of a sunshine-lit working over and a dank high rise that offers a new hope. Unfortunately, the CGI-crafted monster is on par with what we’ve come to expect from a YouTube-dwelling budget. It’s like a cartoon beast shows up in the real world, and while it doesn’t sink the whole enterprise, the weak effects hopefully won’t show up all that often. Or, if Kaiju are going to be a big (sorry) part of what happens, that they invest far more in them for later installments.
Overall it’s fun, quick and aggressive enough to earn some anticipation for episode two. For full disclosure, Grabinski is an acquaintance, but the work here certainly speaks for itself.
What Will It Cost? About 10 minutes.
Related Topics: Short Films
