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Well Deserved Praise

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Not everything that comes out of NZ will send you to sleep either.This is a very well produced project that was fun to watch while having a story line that you had to think about as you watched it. At some points of the film I admit I was a bit lost, but at the end of it all when I thought back on it, everything fell into place. With ANY time travel movie you can pick holes in it and say "That was just wrong", but Event16 is one of the best thought out time travel stories I have seen in a long time. The plot twists worked well and while some of the scenes were a bit cheesie (ie. the foot chase) it only added to the overall charm of the film.IMO - Hollywood could learn a lot from this movie as although it has a lot of special effects, they are there to support a good story as apposed to being there because the director wanted to see an explosion that would match his/her ego.I would love to see this film transfered onto film and hopefully bypass the audio problems inherent with LCD projection.Whatever way it goes, I think this film could well end up as a NZ classic along the lines of "Goodbye Pork Pie" and "Bad Taste".

I didn't want to go to Event 16. My partner dragged me along. I've had my fill of no budget garbage that you need to make allowances for because some sad fan boys made it for nothing. Oh boy was I wrong. Event 16 is incredible. The plot turns and twists and surprises right at the end but latter thinking about it, it didn't ever cheat, all the clues are there as to why things happened. I liked the awkwardness between the lead actors, my partner thought they were a bit wooden but I thought they got it just right. That pre-breakup she's over him but he's not over her felt real. The FX are mostly very good. Every now and then something jars but on the whole I was able to keep suspending my belief. What really sets Event 16 apart from the normal no budget stuff it the flawless camera-work. It rocks. It rolls. It glides. It chases… it looks like it was shot by the entire King Kong first unit with cranes, jibs, dollies and steadicam. How did they do it with no money? I had to go back and watch again and if anything I'm even more blown away by the camera-work. Event 16 sets a new high for no budget films and I can't wait for the DVD with some EPK extras to tell us how they did some of the stuff they did.

As a person who likes a linear narrative, with clear signals as to who the characters are, I struggled to follow this film. We jump back and forth in time (that was fairly clear, though not enough was done with makeup to age the characters who went in the usual direction at the usual speed), and most of the characters take over each other's bodies at some point or another.At the second Wellington screening (which I saw yesterday) the director said it was aimed at the Playstation generation, who are used to characters with multiple incarnations. I hope someone who is good at that will explain the narrative to me.I found the characters fairly engaging, though the two (three?) who seemed to be officials in charge of preventing temporal paradoxes or some such were never quite explained, and even a psychopathic killer needs *some* motivation. The central relationship (geek and girlfriend) was entertainingly unstable.This movie will look OK on TV. On the big screen you could sometimes see the pixels. The sound was adequate, except that sometimes the synching was enough off that I wondered if it was deliberate, to create a "not really him speaking" effect.As a Wellingtonian, I enjoyed the images of Wellington in 1893, the present, and the 2020s, and the surreal treatment of most cityscapes.I'd call this a "Bad Taste" for the 200Xs. It's got the same clunky New Zealand makeshiftness (number 8 wire, we call it), the same homespun characters moving in a world beyond their control.I predict people will rent this movie more than once or buy it (on DVD in October) to try to figure it out, and go on to watch it cultishly, like "Bad Taste".Pearson said this movie was effects-driven (as was BT) and his next movie will be more character- and story-driven. I look forward to that, and then to someone giving him some money to make his LOTR, King Kong, etc.

I saw the "World Premiere" of 'Event 16' at the Wellington Film Festival yesterday. I was excited to see a film made by Kiwis in NZ, and the story sounded good, time traveling to 19th Century and bringing back a serial killer.That is where the good ended. This movie was a total waste of time. The story was confusing(granted doing any time traveling movie, something is going to get screwed up) the acting was appalling, the sound was terrible, and this was supposed to be an effects heavy film, which it was, but the effects were dismal, I could have done the effects! I have to let some of this go, because it was so bad. They said we have recreated Wellington 1893 WOW! Yeah all Wellington 1893 was is a 2D picture background and filming in front of it! You didn't recreate anything! And you use rain effects, you should try to make it look the environment is effected by the rain, not a single drop gets on anything but the guy shows up at the door soaking wet! The "time traveling portal": every time when used and someone comes out the other side, the effect makes part of the actors heads disappear. I felt really bad for the director who was in attendance, seeing that on screen. And I know that Mitsubishi sponsored this movie, but do you have to use every chance you had to promote them. ZOOM in on cool "moped" of the future "Hmmmm, I wonder who makes that? Oh its Mitsubishi!" Have some dignity.I cant think of any redeeming qualities for this film. Let me just say not everything that comes out of NZ is made by Peter Jackson.