Slamdance ’19: The Drone

This nightmare could have come straight from Amazon. The smart house is definitely a complicating factor, but the drone is the real villain. Somehow, a serial killer has transferred his consciousness into the pesky flying device and he is up to his old nasty habits in Jordan Rubin’s The Drone (trailer here), which premiered during the 2019 Slamdance Film Festival.

Just when the cops have the predator known as “The Violator” cornered, a bolt of lightning and some mumbled binary code zaps him into his peeper drone. Next time we see it, Chris the idiot photographer finds it while he and his wife Rachel are moving into their new suburban smart home. It is like the drone was just waiting for them. Rachel has a bad feeling about it, right from the start, but Chris is like a kid with a new toy.

Of course, the Violator drone quickly learns all their pins and codes and also starts gaslighting the family dog. Rachel immediately suspects it is doing mischievous things on its own, but Chris pooh-poohs her concerns, until the drone frames him for the murder of their cougar neighbor, Corrine.

Frankly, The Drone is even more ridiculous than it sounds, even though Rubin and the cast play it scrupulously straight (in contrast to his absolutely brilliant Zombeavers). Cult genre star Alex Essoe maintains her dignity as Rachel, but John Brotherton’s portrayal of Chris will give viewers a headache from all the forehead slapping and face-palming he causes. However, Anita Briem is an absolute riot as the slightly forward Corrine and Rex Linn (from CSI Miami and dozens of other films and series) adds plenty of sly, down-home color as Baker, the private investigator.

There is a fair amount of humor in The Drone, but nothing like the delightfully over-the-top Zombeavers. It is entirely possible that Rubin and his co-screenwriters, Al & Jon Kaplan might consider this film to be a commentary on the dehumanizing implications of technology, on some deeper level, but it is really just a logic-challenged genre flick.

Rubin keeps the film moving along and the drone’s hacking and slashing should be credible enough for midnight movie fans. However, the third act twists are utterly laughable and Chris’s insensitivity and general dorkiness will alienate just about every woman in the audience and a good portion of the guys. However, if you loved Wes Craven’s Shocker (by far his silliest film) than this should be your cinematic catnip. Recommended for meathead horror fans, The Drone had its world premiere last night at Slamdance.

Hover: Keep Watching the Skies

Drones—they’re not just for delivering Amazon packages anymore. They can also kill people Scanners-style. That is what you call a practical application. Unfortunately, a slow, lingering death seems to be a common side effect among farmers who adopted drone technology. When she isn’t killing people, a euthanasia specialist will try to get to the bottom of the mystery in Matt Osterman’s Hover (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Claudia and her partner John are busier than ever dispatching clients in their district. Their latest case work was especially difficult, because she just discovered the boss made her pregnant and he is dealing with the very early stages of a fatal illness. Of course, that gives the conspirators a perfect cover story when they fake his suicide to prevent him blowing the whistle on their arrangement.

Somehow the nonprofit and euphemistically named Transitions is in league with the drone company. Claudia will start to put the pieces together herself with the help of some rural conspiracy cranks and a dissident maintenance worker at the drone company.

Yes, that’s right, Hover combines two super-fun topics: euthanasia and agriculture. Hello! Is anyone still reading this? Arguably, Hover essentially reworks the premise of Michael Crichton’s Runaway, but what was cautionary speculation in 1984 is basically old news in 2018.

Still, Osterman invests the film with a moody vibe that mostly works for it, but screenwriter Cleopatra Coleman struggles to carry the film as its weak lead. On the other hand, Craig muMs Grant is worth remembering for future casting thanks to the smart and intense presence he shows as John. Not surprisingly, Beth Grant is convincingly nutty as the tinfoil hat wearing Joanna, while Dré Starks is a real standout as Victor Smith, the paranoid and anti-social son of a Transitions client. Plus, it is fun to see horror movie regular Fabianne Therese appear as Claudia’s duplicitous assistant, Tania.

You have to give Osterman and Coleman credit for their thoughtful and complex treatment of euthanasia. This is not an advocacy film by any stretch. It might even damper some viewers’ enthusiasm for the practice. It also avoids most of the dystopian clichés, setting the film in a world nearly indistinguishable from our own. Still, a little bit a future world building would have made the visuals more interesting. The resulting film is well-meaning, but probably already too late. Not very compelling, unless you are a diehard drone-phobe, Hover opens this Friday (6/29) in New York, at the Cinema Village.

Eye in the Sky: 21st Century Brinksmanship

You would think so-called “peace activists” would embrace the use of military drones. It removes military personnel from harm’s way and shifts tactical decisions higher up the chain of command to senior officers and civilian officials who are more sensitive to political and media pressure. The resulting dithering is vividly dramatized in Gavin Hood’s Eye in the Sky (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

“Refer up” is a bit of military shorthand that will become like fingernails on a blackboard to viewers during the course of Eye. It means passing the buck to next level of authority. Frankly, British Col. Katherine Powell is in no mood to refer up. Earlier in the morning, she learned a highly placed source had been beheaded by African Islamist terrorists. After briefly gaining assurances from her superior, Lt. Gen. Frank Benson, the man’s family will be taken care of, Powell preps for her mission.

From a British military base, Powell will coordinate an effort to capture Susan Danford, a radicalized British convert, who is now number two on the African most wanted list. It was planned as a capture mission to be executed on the ground by the Kenyan Special Forces, with surveillance support provided by an American drone piloted by a crew in Las Vegas. However, the Kenyans are put on hold when Danford rendezvouses with two prospective suicide bombers in a Jihadi-controlled “no-go” neighborhood in Nairobi.

With the suicide bombers suiting up, Powell requests permission to take out the safe house. To her, it seems like a no-brainer, even though a young girl is inconveniently selling bread on the street corner within the probable blast radius. When the vested-up terrorists leave in separate directions, the drone will only be able to follow one of them. Unfortunately, because of the girl and her bread, the civilian observers insist Benson begins the agonizing process of “referring up.” British ministers and American cabinet secretaries must be located around the globe, as the aspiring suicide bombers record their statements and say their prayers.

It is hard to believe this film was directed by Gavin “Redacted” Hood, because it is surprisingly, shockingly balanced. In fact, he might just overcompensate in favor of drone strikes against known terrorist targets, at least in the early going. Powell’s logic is at least as compelling as the little girl’s claim on everyone’s emotions—more will die if they do not act. Yet, it is the craven referring-up that will have the audience beating their heads against the seat-back in front of them. Somewhat problematically, the film’s climax and denouement are shamelessly manipulative (perhaps another overcompensation), but the steely Lt. Gen. gets the last word and it’s a doozy.

Sadly, Eye represents one of two posthumous releases from the late, great Alan Rickman (how was he never nominated for an Oscar?), but he clearly left us at the peak of his craft. He flat-out steals the picture in the closing minutes. As one would expect, Dame Helen Mirren is rock solid anchoring the film as the cool, calm, and collected Col. Powell, who struggles to remain that way, despite the bureaucratic indecision jeopardizing her mission. Barkhad Abdi is also quietly intense as Jama Farah, a Somali-Kenyan undercover operative, proving he wasn’t just a one-hit-wonder in Captain Phillips. Unfortunately, the usually reliable Jeremy Northam is rather facelessly punctilious as Powell’s Defense Ministry observer.

Regardless, screenwriter Guy Hibbert (who also penned the terrific Five Minutes of Heaven and One Child) defies and exceeds all expectations for providing so much grist for both sides to debate. Unlike the loaded Good Kill, Eye readily acknowledges there are pros and cons to either position. It is never lecturey, but it definitely has bite. Hood also deserves credit for the film’s tight, tense execution. No matter how viewers feel about military drones, it is worth seeing simply as a ticking clock thriller. Recommended with unexpected enthusiasm, Eye in the Sky opens this Friday (3/11) in New York, at AMC Lowes Lincoln Square and Regal Union Square theaters.

Rotor DR1: The Drones Will Endure

It is the post-apocalyptic story of a boy and his drone. A few years ago, drones were a cause for concern among civil liberties activists, but they have apparently moved to more media-friendly causes. As a result, the field has been cleared for drone enthusiasts to rehabilitate the image of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Thanks to the active collaboration of the drone community, UAVs will have their post-apocalyptic day in Rotor DR1 (trailer here), which releases today on DVD from Cinema Libre.

In the future, apes will evolve from men, but before that, a catastrophic virus will wipe out most of the human population. It is a bleak world, where drones have more to fear from humans than vice versa. That is because the rag tag survivors covet the drones’ power source. Those uber-batteries are the only real currency left. Kitch (once known as Mitchell Scott, Jr.) survives by harvesting power cores and selling them to Hashtag, a dodgy intermediary working for 4C, who runs the only remotely organized outfit in the area.

One fateful day, Kitch captures a drone unlike any he has seen before. That would be DR1, a next generation prototype. Out of curiosity, Kitch starts to patch it up, leading to the stunning discover that it just might hold clues to the whereabouts of Kitch’s missing and presumed dead father, Dr. Mitchell Scott. The senior Kitch was the CEO of Medix, a company that specialized in medical delivery drones and infectious disease drones. Rightly or wrongly, many survivors blame Dr. Scott for the lousy state of the world. However, Kitch is determined to track down his old man, with the help of DR1 and 4C’s rebellious niece, Maya.

Although originally produced as a web-series, DR1 hangs together quite cogently as a feature. Apparently, the collective judgement of the drone community is usually pretty sound. There are a few plot holes big enough to drive a tractor-trailer through, but the aerial shots of the drones flying are impressive (frankly, the drone race is way cooler than Phantom Menace’s pod race) and the post-industrial, post-apocalyptic locales (Northeastern Ohio) truly look like a scarred wasteland. However, it seems the drone community likes its portentous narration, because there sure is a lot of it.

Even though he was stuck with excessive voiceover work, Christian Kapper’s turn as Kitch is impressively complex and understated. Tom E. Nicholson also makes a strong impression as 4C—sort of like a mature, less shticky Kevin Smith, while David Windestål scores points with his “guest appearance” as the drone scientist turned drone hunter. However, it should be noted the quartet of credited screenwriters never try to invest DR1 with a personality (a la Number 5 in Short Circuit). The implications of that are admirably realistic, but not particularly cinematic.

Regardless, it is nice to see a pro-science science fiction movie, especially one that falls within the post-apocalyptic subgenre. This might be the first film of the decade that does not demonize pharmaceutical companies, which certainly distinguishes it from the field. In many ways, it is an intriguing speculation on the future of UAV and AI technology. Recommended for fans of apocalyptic science fiction and the drone pilot reading over your shoulder, Rotor DR1 is now available on DVD and BluRay, from Cinema Libre.