Review of Dark By Noon (2013) by James S — 06 Aug 2015

I heard about this film at the London International Sci fi Festival in 2013. It grabbed my interest because I heard the backstory. Plus who doesn't like a good time travel plot. To be fair they sold it as a time travel heist movie. Ever since the Almanac in Back to the Future who hasn't thought of getting a few bets down with a little time travel. These guys are 'playing the markets' as they put it. Eight hours forward and hey presto you gonna score quicker than Hug Hefner at his own birthday party. Patrick Buchanan plays REZ, an apparent ex government servant (never really defined what - but it involved shady superiors) who has a perfect memory. Handy when you cant bring any mechanical devices with you to get the information. Haycock (Anthony Murphy) and Pix (Michael O'Flaherty) are the villains leading this so called project. One thing is all the leads are a bit samey at times. All very intense and broody. But it does seem to be a very dystopian world they occupy. Surprised to find it actually was shot in Dublin. Their tourist board wont appreciate the look but hints of Blade Runner look wonderful in the design.

The heist is working and Rez, to be fair, is looking for his cu.t But when he finds himself arriving in the middle of what looks like a terrorist bombing of epic proportions his only concern s to save his daughter and avert the bombing. With time jumps, deceit and more double crosses than a FIFA enquiry it moves along pretty rapidly.

Its more than just an interesting film because of its background. The plot and premise are good. The overlapping is what you would expect with a nice twist or two along the way. It is very serious. Actually all the characters are very po faced. A bit of humour wouldn't have gone amiss. Its shot well and rarely loses pace. In fact I would say the budget was miniscule because even though I enjoyed it for the 90 minutes or so there were parts that didn't ring true for me. Its not the worse way to spend 90 minutes but its crying put for a nice remake with maybe a little rewrite. Give it a name (for the sake of my sanity NOT Nicholas Cage) and with its nice edgy title this could be something.