Rough Elements Review

I’m not exactly used writing movie reviews or any sort of review, really. I’m more about lore guy because of my world building background. I had a whole post about Gamora on Medium once because I realized how much Infinity War screwed up Guardians 3.

Anyway, I’m kinda going for the low-hanging fruit here with Critical Drinker’s Rough Elements. I’ve seen plenty of people riff and review on this film but I wanted to take a whack at it for myself. What better way to brush up on my reviewing and storytelling skills than to take a shot at someone who claims better than the professionals.

Although labeled as a “TV Series Proof Of Concept” (has this guy ever heard of a Pilot?), it was originally pitched as a feature film to rival Hollywood. Rouge Elements only got rebranded to that convoluted name following the backlash of his failure to produce something better than what he criticized.

The Movie

Right out the gate this movie jumps you in with a Star Wars-like that introduces us to “Shepherds” before following up with a torture sequence of Anya between the opening titles. Before the bag was removed from her head, I was imagining Die Another Day where we find out that actually it’s Ryan Drake, the hero, trapped in a less than ideal situation. The way the scene transitions makes you think you’re experiencing a flashback and that this is her movie. I mean, it kinda is…

Then we see her attempt to shoot some guy with a sniper rifle in a garage. After that, we cut to yet another torture scene where we finally learn about Ryan Drake. I’m barely 10 minutes into a 40 minute film (30 minutes, if you discount the credits) and I’ve witnessed two torture scenes. Also, why wasn’t this part the prologue?

Then we cut to the infamous laptop scene where everyone really seems to dislike each other. We see them looking at an extended version of the torture scene we just witnessed! This is what sets Ryan Drake on hid grand adventure to a warehouse!

Apparently they’re rescuing someone named Sentry? He’s the same guy captured during the failed assassination attempt. They rescue the guy but that sets off an alarm (or “Rough Elements”) and it’s time for plan B! Just when all hope is lost Anya returns Deus ex Machina-style to save Drake, kills the bad guy too, and we learned that she is Drake’s love interest.

There’s is funny when leading up to Anya’s return where the hostage begs Drake to think about his family. He opens up a laptop to see what turns out to be surveillance photos Anya and has a flashback or something where all the world’s nukes is going off? And you just hear “family” in the background as if it’s Fast & Furious meme.

I failed to mention Frost. She’s the dark haired intelligence women that hacks into everything. Unironically my favourite character.

For some reason Frost has a gun for two seconds and fights with a knife the rest of the way during the boss battle. Why? Although she is technically evenly matched with someone else has a knife now, that guy is physically stronger that Frost needed her teammate with sniper to save her. Like, WTF!?

My Thoughts

Overall, I have no idea what was going on in this film. I get the hostage premise. It’s just the pacing, editing and story was all over the place. The movie is very much in service to Drake. Anya saves him while Frost almost dies. Drake almost killed the bad guy with a hammer.

Then there is the fact that is supposed to be a political thriller. As one reviewer described it, the setting literally feels like backdrop and the whole thing about Russia kind of takes a backseat. Rough Elements is so focused on pushing this idea this Only One Man Can Save The Day™ (even though it was technically Anya) that it kinda forgot what genre it’s supposed to be in. Pretty sure this movie is why the Drinker’s reputation has hit rock bottom.

I wish I had more screenshots for this post but not much really happens.