"Put on the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil."

short of the day 007 & video of the day 030

Oats Studios

F I R E B A S E

duration: 26 min 52 sec, released: June 28th, 2017

Short Effectiveness = 100% in its execution of a sci-fi concept.

Feature Viability = 100% in its execution of a sci-fi concept.

a case for the part Predator part Apocalypse Now war horror thriller:

+ Positives +

Effective setting of the Vietnam war with the harrowing atmosphere and jaded soldiers as the time period feels genuine in each scene.

~

Wonderfully gory and realistic practical visual effects, props and makeups, complement effectively the excellent Computer Generated special effects that rival and even surpass big studio level, making me question which one is made up and which one is real.

~

Grittiness of the action from close combat to good old fashioned gun violence and even the signature flame thrower, balanced with the extraordinary special effects from the floating corpses and blood to the incredibly gruesome yet mesmerizing meat monster. Wow!

? Main contention ?

It is one of a kind business model that Oats Studios led by Neill is going for, releasing proof of concepts shorts on Youtube for free and selling extra materials on Steam, using the good and positive feedback and publicity to attract investors and movie studios to him. I believe this is a viable model although if he got lucky and try to adapt one of these shorts for a full feature, he needs a great writer to support his excellent world-building because aside from District 9, his previous two films certainly suffer greatly in that department.

- Negatives -

The build up of the main antagonist is great with the surrounding threats around it considering the limited run time but the eventual reveal of its origin was somewhat disappointing and underwhelming comparatively.

- Synopsis -

Set during the Vietnam war, Firebase follows American soldier Hines through an ever-deepening web of science fiction madness
—
the fabric of space-time literally beginning to bend around him.

(Director Neill Blomkamp [Chappie, District 9, Elysium]. Genre - Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Jungle Warfare)

- IMDb [7.2] - wiki [Studio] -

Lesson Learned:

Embrace how the darkness have made you and confront your fears head on.