MIDDLE GROUND
Web site

review written 11/29/2003

Middle Ground caught me at a time in my reviewing career when I wasn’t sure if I was enjoying this task or doing a good job of it. I was actually excited to see a new film, though, one I hadn’t heard of before.

I really liked the opening narration over the greenery, though I wish the narrator had sounded a little deeper, more adult. But it was an engaging way to begin.

The viewscreen and inside-spaceship effects looked very good, at least as much as I got to see on the copy I reviewed, a Windows Media file, not my format of choice.

“After all, I’m only a junior member” sounded a bit expository to me, and unfortunately I get the sense that this scene takes place in a high school conference room or at the Holiday Inn. But at least they found a real meeting room and not someone’s house to shoot in. The music helps the scene, though often it overpowers the dialogue.

Okay, you can’t have someone discuss his training in the dark side in a young, friendly voice. It just isn’t working for me. And herein lies one of the basic problems of fan filmmaking. The age group most likely to go for it is too young to play the movers and shakers of the Old Republic.

And really, something should have been done about the character wearing eyeglasses. Oh, this is getting out of hand. Now there are two of them. LensCrafters in a galaxy far away. Or maybe the glasses-wearing folk have a rule of one similar to the Sith rule of two. There can be only one. And the bespectacled Jedi does fall victim to a very cool effect. Simple and effective, just the way to go.

Other things happen. The next truly notable thing is a nifty hologram effect.

The bad guys decide to wreak havoc, and that’s where this film gets very strange. First of all, it randomly becomes autumn. Then we get a very cool effect as the evildoers sort of skate along the ground.

And then music kicks in, and things go downhill immediately. I can’t quite describe how for fear of spoiling the film.

Oddly enough, this is going to sound very hypocritical, but I like the music choice for the end credits.

This is a very ambitious project—over twenty minutes even without credits—by a bunch of high school kids. The production values are low and the visuals are nothing spectacular, but the story is decent and they got the darn thing made. To complete a film this size as an adult is an accomplishment. To do it as a high school student is an achievement. And, really, that’s what my aforementioned reviewing career is about—to judge works against their own potential. So I'm willing to forgive white t-shirts. But not eyeglasses.