At time of writing there are two user comments on this film's IMDb page, and it is interesting to contrast them since one votes the film 10 out of 10, while the other gives it 1. Reading what they thought of the film, it is clear that the short had the same effect on both of these viewers – which I guess is a credit to the film that it is consistent in its delivery, and all that differs is the viewer reaction to this. I agree with both comments made, because they both talk about the impact of the film and the disorientating effect it has – although for the 1 out of 10 review, this was too much and seen as a weakness.
For me it had the opposite effect, because I saw it as the thing that the film does very well. Set in an urban environment somewhere in the Middle East, a young Marine finds himself isolated and under attack in a dust storm. This is delivered in rapidly moving animation which does a very good job of putting the viewer into the middle of the scene with limited narrative or visual information. With this we have very good sound design, which plays with the horrific and the disorientating to draw a reaction from the viewer; for me wearing headphones and watching in a darkened room, it worked very well and there is a tangible feeling of being at risk, frightened and not sure what is going on.
As a story, it is perhaps limited, and the writing perhaps relies a bit too much on situations which will be familiar from other "war is hell" stories, however to be fair to the short, it is not really about delivering a narrative but rather doing the opposite, and making the viewer feel that lack of context but yet presence of urgency. This it does very well thanks to the animation but also the sound work.
3 out of 3 found this helpful