Salvation
(2007)
Director: J. A.
Steel
Cast: J. A. Steel, Ben Bayless, Glen Jensen
Although it's been years since I started this website,
and the memories of many movies that I've reviewed have faded to
nothing, I still remember my experiences with The Third Society very well to this
day. I remember being thrilled when I was first contacted by
writer/director/star J. A. Steel with the offer to review her movie; I
was flattered that someone would think highly of me to offer their
movie to be reviewed, and also relieved that I would be saved from
having to pay a rental fee for a movie that week. I remember being
intrigued that I would be watching an action movie created by a woman,
something that hasn't happened many times; perhaps a female perspective
could bring a new and refreshing twist to the genre. I remember getting
the screener in the mail and popping it into my VCR, ready for some
action. And I remember watching the movie... unfortunately. If you read
my review of The Third Society, you will see that I did
not find it a good movie at all. Though there were a small handful of
competent touches, overall I thought it to be a very incompetently made
movie, and (its biggest sin) sorely lacking in action. Filled with
pain, I wrote a pretty damning review of the movie, but my pain didn't
end with watching the movie and writing a review. You see, after I
wrote the review, the review was accidentally erased just prior to it
being put online, and I had the painful task of writing the review (and
reliving the pain of watching the movie) again in just a short period
of time.
I don't like having to write bad reviews of movies. I
would rather be given the chance to tell readers of a great experience
I had with watching a movie, and hoping they will be intrigued enough
to seek out the movie for themselves and watch it. I felt especially
bad with The Third Society because J. A. Steel had put a
lot of work into the movie and I had the unpleasant task of telling her
that she had almost completely failed in her quest. Also, I was afraid
that Steel might take offense at my damning of her movie, and she might
seek me out and use her real-life martial art skills on me for revenge.
Fortunately, after reading my review, I got an e-mail from Steel that
indicated that she took my review with good humor, and that she seemed
to realize the shortcomings of her movie. That was the last I heard
from Steel for a long time. During that time, even though I watching
hundreds of movies since, for some reason I kept remembering her and
her movie. As I indicated in my review of The Third Society,
this was one determined woman, and that we probably haven't heard the
last of her. I remember going to the Internet Movie Database one day to
look her up and I found out she had directed a short (Dive The
Deep Blue), though there were no details. Then one day
recently, out of the blue I got an e-mail from Steel. She had made
another movie - Salvation - and she wondered if I would
like a screener so I could review it. I was curious to see how she had
progressed as a filmmaker, so I said yes, send it along.
I knew nothing about the movie or what Steel had done
for it before getting the movie and the press materials in the mail.
Getting the press materials in hand, I discovered that Steel was still
a woman determined to get her movies made and publicized. The press
materials indicated that within 48 hours of being released at Amazon, the movie was sold out
(though the press materials didn't indicate just how many copies of the
movie were sold.) The press materials also indicated that Salvation
had played in several film festivals in the United States, and even
played in one film festival in Croatia. (Though the name of the film
festival in Croatia - "Trash Film Festival" - didn't exactly fill me
with hope.) The synopsis of the movie contained in the press materials
indicated that Steel was aiming for a more ambitious movie than with The
Third Society, which was more or less a simple cop-versus-drug
dealers movie. Instead, the movie has a supernatural twist. Here's the
synopsis: "On October 13, 1307 the protectors of the Christian Pilgrims
on their way to the Holy Land, the Knights Templar, were sentenced to
death by the Catholic Church for heresy. The souls of two of the
Knights burned at the stake, Malchezidek (Ben Bayless) and Gabriel (J.
A. Steel) were condemned to continue the heavenly battle between good
and evil, fighting for the souls of men. Seeking to end her existence
in Purgatory and find Redemption, Gabriel saves murdered 8 year old
Michaela (Alyssa Wilson) and hides her away in a small Midwest town run
by Sheriff Dade (Glen Jensen). Several years pass when Michaela
(Heather Surdukan) finally confronts the Biker Gang that killed her led
by Billy Bedlam (Devon Brewster). Sheriff Dade suddenly has a string of
unexplained murders that all lead to Michaela as the killer. Michaela
must choose sides in the heavenly battle between Malchezidek and
Gabriel and her own existence in Purgatory forever."
That premise is certainly more ambitious than in Steel's
last movie. Maybe it isn't totally original, but at least the more
familiar elements haven't been done to death by previous movies. But
what about the execution of this premise? Did Steel somehow manage to
improve her filmmaking techniques since The Third Society?
I'm happy to report that Salvation is indeed an
improvement over that movie. For one thing, it looks like a lot more
time and money were poured into the making of this movie. For example,
in the opening scenes set in the past, we actually get to see some
chainmail knight costumes that look passable, and we actually get to
see a castle. (Though from the angle taken of the shot of the castle,
it looks like it might actually be one of those restaurants that cater
to customers with a medieval fetish.) In the modern day portion of the
movie, we are taken to a lot more locations than in The Third
Society, from bars and motels to countryside and graveyards.
The events that take place in these locations - past and present - are
staged with a bit more style than in Steel's previous movie. The style
is somewhat derivative at times (night in an alley is punctured by
headlights and fog), but at least there is some style at times.
The musical score is also an improvement. While The Third Society
was content in playing the same song over and over on its soundtrack, Salvation
has a number of songs on its soundtrack, from church organ chants to
electric guitars and soft rock.
The acting here is also a notch better than in The
Third Society. There is no actor here who is as good as Sonya
Eddy was in that movie (though Heather Surdukan makes a valiant effort
at times as the adult Michaela), and the villains here are lacking
definite menace, but no one here is aggressively bad. All
these things I've described illustrate that Steel has made some
definite leaps and bounds in her filmmaking work. But is all of this
enough to make Salvation a good movie?
Unfortunately, that is not the case, and there are a number of reasons
why. In fairness to Steel, there a number of problems she probably
couldn't have helped because even though the budget was probably higher
this time, this is still a very low budget enterprise. Take the
special effects, for one thing. While there are more special effects
than in The Third Society, they are pretty cheesy. The
computer graphics (multiple arrows flying in the air, people appearing
and disappearing into thin air, etc.) look like they were done for a
computer game ten or more years ago. When someone is stabbed with a
sword, it's shot at an angle where it is obvious that the sword is
brushing past the person's side not facing the camera; you don't
actually get to see the sword wound. The low budget also obviously
limited Steel's vision in other ways as well. For example, the prologue
- telling viewers what happened to the now supernatural character in
1307 - is (apart from a few quick shots) accomplished by a title crawl
and a narrator instead of showing us. The present day events are also
hampered by the lack of funds as well; for one thing, the biker gang
consists of just four members.
While some of the problems of Salvation
may not have been Steel's fault, there are others that indicate she
still has a lot to learn about the craft of filmmaking. Although the
movie is not as incompetently made as The Third Society,
there are a number of flaws that will have viewers laughing out loud,
groaning out loud, or simply shaking their head. The movie throughout
has a washed-out look, with visible grain appearing in some scenes,
sometimes severely. (Some might say this is not Steel's fault, given
the low budget, but I have seen a number of micro-budgeted movies that
looked better that this.) Sometimes the background noise in a scene
makes it hard to make out the characters' dialogue. A number of the
flaws in the movie are simply laughable. There's a scene in a bar where
the TV in the background has been obviously obscured with an electronic
blur (why didn't Steel just angle the shot without the TV, or simply
turn it off?) A vehicle in the movie apparently stays in the same spot
for fifteen years, and is still in good condition. A man is knocked to
the ground by the bikers, and in the next shot his face and torso are
suddenly covered with blood. (And when the bikers start kicking him,
the kicks are obviously not connecting.) And in this unidentified city,
which has a freeway and an airport, a sheriff is told on the radio to
go to "the coffee shop", despite there obviously being more than one
coffee shop in this city.
While some moments like these are hilarious to view,
there are not enough such moments to recommend this movie as a
so-bad-it's-good viewing experience. The film is mostly a dull affair,
even with all its incompetence. While the premise of the movie may have
made you believe you would be getting a lot of action, the movie seems
almost determined to be as unexciting as possible. There's not much
more action here than what was in The Third Society.
There are a couple of swordfights, though both of them are
choreographed to progress very slowly onscreen, as if the actors are
just rehearsing the fights. As for the bikers being killed off, not
only are there only just four bikers to be killed off, viewers will
have to wait almost an hour before the first one is killed off. Still,
as dull as Salvation is at times, watching it is a less
painful experience than with The Third Society. I hope
this improvement starts to be a pattern with Steel, and that her next
movie will be even better, hopefully enough of an improvement so that I
can recommend it. Though while this movie is less painful to watch, I
did suffer some additional pain that I didn't count on. You see, Steel
sent me a DVD screener of the movie, and when I tried to play it, it
didn't work on my machine. But I promised to review the movie, so I had
to plunk down some money to buy an official factory copy; the
additional pain came in my wallet.
Check
for availability on Amazon (DVD)
See also: Angel Of Fury, The Stranger, The Third
Society
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