(This is Sacrifice short film review, which is a short film sets in a jungle where a war breaks out)
War has always involved blood and deaths, especially those of your comrades. Sacrifice takes that same old premise and adapts it into its own story regarding death of your mate in battle.
It is directed by William Leonardi-Bee and features Max Easton and Matt Blakey as the casts. And it’s all shot within one day too, so let’s take a look at how it fares in the Sacrifice short film review below!
Premise
When a fight broke out in a jungle, two soldiers have to fight and repel the enemies. But what will it cost them?
Sacrifice Short Film Review
Premise
To be fair, the premise is nothing original, and can be a bit predictable. This is partly due to the war setting where we kind of expect some death or emotional moments to happen at some points in the film. And this short film does not deviate much from the traditional formula.
this short film does not deviate much from the traditional formula
I would say that it tries to be different a bit, but there is nothing much new can be added or changed to make this more interesting unless you add in some psychological or philosophical stuff inside. And the short film does not deliver much in either of those sadly.
Pacing/Visual
Pacing is just decent, though the middle portion can be a tad slow or draggy. Visual-wise, it’s inconsistent. There are some inconsistencies with the colour grading as well as the lighting. Granted, it’s all shot in a single day outdoor, but there are some scenes with really contrasting lighting that it seems to have been shot in a different day.
One particular complaint I have is directed at the skintone, it seems some scenes have oversaturated skins while the other seems very cold. It is normally alright if the such scenes happen in different places or time, but this happens across scenes that happen consecutively. And some of the exposure is a bit too strong that the highlight just shows white on the skin.
I must say the props and films sets are pretty good
Though, I must say the props and films sets are pretty good, as they really look the part of being in the middle of a war in a jungle.
Characters
The characters themselves are quite cliché too. I mean, there is not much way to make a typical soldier stand out due to their same uniform etc, but I’m talking about their personality do not stand out as much here. One of the characters, the one who died, is more expressive, which kind of give a contrast to the other guy.
Sadly, due to the characters not having enough dialogues with each other, or with some backstories, I do not feel much for the characters. And when the character dies, he already hands his mate his dogtag, so that is a bit surprising and also make it a tad less dramatic but weird death.
the usage of gunshots and also some radio conversations make the scenes more authentic
Soundtrack
Soudntrack does not stand out much, whether this is intentional or unintentional I’m not very sure. But the usage of gunshots and also some radio conversations make the scenes more authentic, so kudos for this! Otherwise, nothing much can be said here.
