Firebase (2017) Reviews

• Firebase: Another great but incomplete Oats Studios short

  Platypuschow2017-08-29

  This is now the third Oats Studios short I've watched and I'm suitably impressed. Well made, great production values, well cast and they look fantastic. Here we have a third seemingly Omnipotent force appearing during the Vietnam War and the story is told perfectly. Well, that is until it suddenly ends incomplete on a cliff hanger! That's the trouble with these shorts, they are like a single scene ripped from a grand scale epic movie. The scene is great, but it's just a scene all the same. Firebase certainly has oceans of entertainment value but is yet another Oats Studios story that will never be fully told. The Good: Looks great Awesome story/Entity Documentary footage fits nicely The Bad: Incomplete with huge cliff hanger ending

  More

• Stylish and interesting, but without enough flesh on its bones (pardon the pun)

  bob the moo2017-07-15

  As a fan of short films, and someone who wishes that more people would realize that Vimeo, YouTube, and sites like Short of the Week, all combine to provide lots of entertaining and creative things to watch, it was good to see Neill Blomkamp's new endeavor striking out into this media. Also to see them trying something new by making the film's assets available to those that buy the films. With this being the goal, it is essentially a form of proof-of-concept, which means that (like many of these) the films are not fully-contained pieces that deliver everything you may want. Firebase is of this ilk. At its heart it has a terrific creature in the River God. The root of the creature suggests something more than a Predator style foe, but at the same time the power and destruction is on an impressive scale. Visually and design-wise, there was a lot to like in this element of the film. Around it though, it struggles to put a lot of exposition – which asks more than the actors can deliver in terms of keeping it natural and engaging. Additionally the rest of the film is a tad too generic, and does feel like a cut- scene from Call of Duty Black Ops (again something that the cast can't help with as they deliver rather generic characters). It still is well worth seeing however, with plenty of action and style in the delivery; but it never stops being generic, and the potential in the main character/monster remains just that throughout.

  More

• Solidly crafted Vietnam war horror short

  Condemned-Soul2017-07-22

  Neill Blomkamp departs slightly from his trademark gritty visual style and socioeconomic premises with 'Firebase', a solidly crafted short within the Vietnam war genre that effectively breeds with straight out horror, injecting an unconquerable foe into the nightmarish fold. But it still retains the director's penchant for weaving CGI effects realistically into the setting. What it lacks in characterisation and closure it more than makes up for in disturbing imagery and creatively building up its main threat. Something evil has risen in the jungles and the grimness of war horror is not forgotten either. For a short film, the budget is quite remarkable. It's pretty much movie quality, and Neill Blomkamp does a fantastic job of stretching that budget across its 25 minute runtime. From the hauntingly realistic raw footage-like montage at the start to the tempo-driven climax, 'Firebase' has a lot to like, and its a shame there's not more to it, just when it breaks stride with some awesome moments in its final scenes. Lets hope Neill Blomkamp continues to impress with his short films from Oats Studios until his next major movie (maybe expanding on one his recent shorts). 8/10

  More

• A bit generic from Blomkamp this time

  Horst_In_Translation2017-07-03

  "Firebase" is a Canadian English-language short film from 2017, so really fresh and new and it managed to rack up a great quantity of views on Youtube already since late June when it was released. Then film's popularity can easily be explained as these 27 minutes got written and directed by South African Oscar nominee Neill Blomkamp and this film is one of his new project, namely his new production company Oats Studios that produces a bunch of new short films and for Blomkamp it is a bit of back to the roots. But as for once the focus here is not on his home country, it also is not working out that well. The connection between Vietnam War and some supernatural monster there killing soldiers from both sides apparently is never really working out. I also believe that the monster itself is not as interesting now as usual for Blomkamp when it comes to the creatures in his films. To me, it was almost entirely a military movie and the filmmaker usually manages to get in a component that elevates his films beyond that. This one here not so much, it is really only worth seeing for those who love the likes of Black Hawk Down or also the recent Brad Pitt war films for example. From a Blomkamp fan perspective, it was a bit of a letdown and I don't recommend checking it out. Rakka was better and I hope Zygote will be once again too.

  More