Review of Kill Command (2016) by Chris O — 10 Dec 2016

A solid, small indie sci-fi with an interesting story and solid visuals.

Set in the very near future, an elite squad of highly trained marines, led by commanding officer Captain Bukes are sent on a routine training exercise to a remote island - the precise location of which no one knows and from which all communications are cut off dead. Accompanying them on the mission is 'tech head' Specialist Mills, a mysterious coder whose brain is interfaced with a computer.

After watching the trailers, I was actually pretty excited to watch this film. It looked interesting and dark, and it honestly looked like it'd be a lot of fun. It's one of those small budget, secluded location films that makes this premise exciting.

The story in this movie was interesting enough and it had plenty of potential, even if the notion of rogue robots wasn't too original. Although I enjoyed the story enough, it was very vague in setting up the world around everyone. There wasn't much explained and although it's not hard to understand the basic premise, I was more interested in learning about the world they were living in and why things were how they were. The story overall lacks depth and layers.

The characters are fine. They're nothing special and they're all fairly one dimensional for the most part. These are the kind of combat trained personnel that you'll see in just about any sci-fi or war film, so why root for them? They serve their purpose and you do side with them, but they're not that memorable. The performances were also very split down the middle. Some were fine, some were lackluster, and some just made me laugh.

The visuals and effects in this movie were solid for a small sci-fi indie flick. Obviously they weren't perfect, and it seems like visuals that are more meant for YouTube, but they work. They work decently and they're used to the best of their ability. The director put some really cool shots in the movie and did the best with what he had. Don't come into here expecting Class A visuals, but they are pretty solid overall.

The action was pretty thrilling too. The action was directed and choreographed well, and I was actually hooked when the guns started firing. It was a thrilling and a fun ride to be a part of, and it actually makes this movie worth a viewing.

In the end, "Kill Command" is a solid sci-fi flick and serves as a decent, low budget project. It's nothing really memorable and I'll never watch it again, but it still has some great moments and is well directed.