When a government official is assassinated an expert from within another unit is drafted in to investigate. With evidence pointing to a killer known only as 'The Shot', she investigates the background of this legend and finds an assassin killing by methods and means that border on the impossible and unimaginable. As she digs deeper she starts to believe that there is much more here than just an assassin doing a job.
Another Tony Upko film where I have to give him credit for yet again refusing to be limited by his resources; I don't always like what he does with his ambition, but for sure he is someone who wants to create films and is going to do it whether it is easy or not. In this case the short film alludes to the world of conspiracy, shadowy killers and danger, even though it appears to have been mostly filmed in a couple of rooms and over the internet. The decision to have everyone doing American accents was a smart one because it immediately adds more weight to the film – it shouldn't do, but we are raised to have all our tough thrillers and characters speak thus, and the dialogue just sound better in that accent that, for example, Brummie.
The short film builds well despite being mostly dialogue driven. Once or twice the lines are clunky but mostly they are delivered with pace and the way the edit moves around and has a constant sound track underneath does mean it is pretty engaging. Ultimately it doesn't have too far to go but it still does well with what it has. Technically it looked pretty good and, pleasantly surprisingly, the sound quality is really good – not something one gets to say too often with the shorts that Ukpo makes really quickly. The cast are good; I liked Bruegger in the lead a lot, with Francis and McEvoy providing tough support – all three of them do pretty well and only occasionally the dialogue seems more than they can make work. Getting Platt involved is a nice move in terms of getting some cool points – and I liked her delivery over the computer.
Ukpo's writing and direction makes good use of the techniques oft used in thrillers although it never feels like one big copy; by the end I would happily have seen it branch out into something bigger but, with limited time and other resources, I was glad it didn't within the frame of this short. It is a competition entry and it is style rather than a full, satisfying story, but it is well made with a good eye for what makes the American thrillers work.
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