Rian Johnson
VOLITION REVIEWED AS “LOOPER” MEETS “INCEPTION”
Wolf of Geek Street.com has reviewed the Phoenix Film Festival‘s screening of VOLITION, and the praise is high! Reviewer Zach Pope likened the film to a Robert Rodriguez-style mix of Christopher Nolan’s INCEPTION with Rian Johnson’s LOOPER. For the full review, see below!
WOLF OF GEEK STREET — “VOLITION”: The Next Generation Filmmaker
Picture Robert Rodriguez creating his own version of Inception mixed with Looper. You get the low budget feel without it feeling in the way of the storytelling and entertainment level. Plus you get the Sci-Fi doozie that brings you on a journey, unlike many other stories. Volition an independent Sci-Fi film does just that.
Volition is from director Tony Dean Smith and written by him and his brother Ryan W. Smith. The story is about a man who is afflicted with clairvoyance and tries to change fate when a series of events leads to a vision of his own murder. This trippy story starts out with this fun premise and takes it to you on a ride. While not having the high octane action that many Sci-Fi films have today, the vision of this movie trades in the action for more of a character piece and dealing with what is truly going on and trust me there is more than truly meets the eye. I had this weird feeling like watching this movie that I could see where it was truly going to go. Until an hour in a certain twist unlike a lot of other films in this genre takes and really turns the audience for a spin. Which at this point is where the film truly had me in its grips.
This twist of the plot makes for you to have more fun and think about every course of action earlier in the story that seemed off or weird. It even opens up certain story plots that you were curious about. It was a smart way to play with this genre in a way that I hadn’t seen in a while. Volition is the creative film of the Phoenix Film Festival, it truly is something that you have not seen before. For an independent film like this, it truly surprised me. Where it starts as another Sci-Fi film with a cool concept but feeling like I had seen this before turns out to be something super smart and on the level of the previous two films I had mentioned up above. Looper and Inception. While I could easily go into some nitpicks for the movie where some of the visual effects weren’t up to par with other films or even some of the dialogue between the characters did at times feel a little off. It’s hard to deny how much passion went into the elements of this film that turned it into a super creative fun film that has grit, passion, and even uniqueness all throughout it. Volition is the creative odyssey that you expect and I cannot wait to see where this pair of brilliant individuals take their ideas next.
Review site: wolfofgeekstreet.com
VOLITION
