29 Mar 2012

The Raid ★★★☆☆



Review of 'The Raid' which can be found here on Vimeo.

Length: 07:04
Written & directed by Richard Leverton
Genre: Drama
Date: 2007
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Logline: A member of the police force debates his reasons for shooting a suspect in session with his back to work counsellor.

This looks good on full screen mode. There are nice camera quality changes between external and internal shots which is also used as a device to show different time periods. I enjoyed the irony of the two cops complaining about smoking in front of large industrial chimneys. It forms a good opening image. There are however, a good few elements that don't work too well and lessens the potential this film had to deliver something decent.

It's probably due to budgets constraints that we get a two man police raid on a property where a restrained suspect is left unattended next to an open front door. The soundtrack tries to cover this up but they perhaps needed to use tighter camera shots to minimise lack of bodies as well. These minor details aside, I enjoyed the raid scenes the most. They were dramatic, had exciting action, showed realism in parts and held my attention. This is in stark contrast to some of the counselling scenes, which at times are laboured, drawn out and dull.

I think the script could have benefited from some pre-writting research. Shooting someone in the back without due warning who didn't "open fire" and getting away with it seems extreme. What's more unlikely is that this warms the character to the audience. The protagonist, played by Greg Chisholm, is hard to fully empathise with. Especially during the counselling session. Here, scenes are too dialogue heavy and both pace and story is slowed by the defending police actions speech/argument. Yes, the points are important, but they are presented in such an uninspiring or emotionally engaging manner that they are rendered slightly ineffectual. It's not a good sign when you start to browse the books on the shelves behind a characters head rather than pay attention to what they're saying. The psychiatrist was kind of judgemental and I felt that a couple of the main characters were miscast and were too young for the roles they were playing.
Ultimately, bad structure and probably bad script have been the downfall of this short. I saw a lot of potential in there which is not to be scoffed at but was unfortunately left unemotionally engaged and frequently looking at my watch.

Best Bit: The raid scenes are good.

Worst Bit: The boring banter between cop and way too young counsellor.

Final thought: Focus on bettering screenwriting technique.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

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