Review of Killer Robot

Introduction

It`s not often that I completely reconsider a movie that`s been submitted, but then again it`s not very often that I come across an exercise in independent filmmaking that`s worth supporting - if only to show the Studios that their stranglehold on world cinema might not be as tight as they might like.

Killer Robot is the first feature-length animation released on DVD of a genre known as Machinima. It`s a genre and a process that may open up a whole world of creativity that doesn`t rely on Hollywood to get made.

Machinima is the name given to a technique of animation that hacks into the graphical engine of an established computer game to render movie sequences, at a far smaller cost than buying one of the professional rendering packages. The results can be a little quick and nasty-looking, but the important thing is getting the idea on screen. The end results depend on the skill of the animator in manipulating the 3D games engines, and while the results may not be in the league of Pixar, the potential is there for great things.

Peter Rasmussen, director of Killer Robot has made what he describes as "a Hollywood-style, feature-length buddy movie" about NASA-style Mars Rover robots, done in the style of NASA computer graphics work. The characters are endowed with voices provided by speech synthesis software rather than recording voice artistes - so that the whole enterprise sounds like Stephen Hawking`s Chair on varying degrees of Helium. This is all part of the lone-artist Machinima style.

I take back every word about the presentation of the disc. We live in a world where presentation is everything, and competing with the product of major studios is an extra layer of complications for the independent filmmaker. Without the backing of a huge advertising campaign, and your box-cover being your only forum of self-publicity, you have to sell yourself.

Considering that this is an independently-produced, feature-length animated film - made by a single dedicated artist, it is quite an achievement for it to be out on DVD at all.

Video

Presented in 4:3, the image is as good as you can expect from the process involved. The image is blemishless and colourful, although lacking in any great detail (a problem of the film-making process).

Audio

LPCM Stereo, so nothing special there.

Features

This Region-free PAL disc comes with a trailer, screenshots, production images and a support movie Red Igloo which was the inspiration for the main movie. There are no subtitles.

Conclusion

I apologise to Peter Rasmussen and the whole Machinima movement for selling this movie short in my original write-up for the movie. Had I realised at the time the potential for filmmakers that this film represents, I would have given it a much smoother ride. Machinima is a fascinating genre, that opens up the whole CGI world to us ordinary folks who haven`t got Disney, Dreamworks or Pixar behind us. Wander over to www.machinima.com and catch the bug.