Reviews of The Final Showdown 47

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  Well-Made
  A review of The Final Showdown
  by michaelmulcahy on 06/23/2010
  For not having a lot of resources, you did a pretty job with this. It looked good enough, the sound was decent, and overall it was put together nicely. The story was decent, although I'm not sure of its believability, just because you have a guy who has apparently killed all these people and the only guys on his tail are two random detectives. Seems like there would be a more... For not having a lot of resources, you did a pretty job with this. It looked good enough, the sound was decent, and overall it was put together nicely. The story was decent, although I'm not sure of its believability, just because you have a guy who has apparently killed all these people and the only guys on his tail are two random detectives. Seems like there would be a more coordinated search out for this guy. It's well-paced, and I like the action. The fight scene is choreographed nicely, and with a couple enhanced sound effects, could be might professional.
  
  It's an entertaining piece, and I enjoyed the watch. Thanks! read
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  He's a Mean Mother Trucker.
  A review of The Final Showdown
  by silverberetta17 on 03/10/2008
  You got a kick ass visual style with the action scenes. I really enjoyed the last six minutes of the film. I'm confused by the opening montage(s), and I don't see our hero (Black cop) in any of the first scenes, unless I missed him. We need to see more of him so we understand this is about him and his personal vendetta right now. His partner getting killed only adds fuel... You got a kick ass visual style with the action scenes. I really enjoyed the last six minutes of the film.
  I'm confused by the opening montage(s), and I don't see our hero (Black cop) in any of the first scenes, unless I missed him.
  We need to see more of him so we understand this is about him and his personal vendetta right now. His partner getting killed only adds fuel to the fire, and we need to probably see how he knows where to follow the Killer into the mountain area.
  I'm also a little fuzzy on the whole quick scenes of our hero turning in his badge to his officer, and then throwing it back at the Killer towards the end. Don't get those few parts.
  Otherwise, great job! read
• 
  showdown
  A review of The Final Showdown
  by patrick thompson on 10/09/2006
  very long for what you were trying to accomplish - you may want to cut down on the car chases that go npwhere. some really good fight scenes - a few sound effects and this could be a rippen fight. loved the first half until the "two cops" showed up. liked all the ways you used your camcorder to your advantage and made it look like a security cam / atm ca/ police cam - etc... very long for what you were trying to accomplish - you may want to cut down on the car chases that go npwhere. some really good fight scenes - a few sound effects and this could be a rippen fight. loved the first half until the "two cops" showed up. liked all the ways you used your camcorder to your advantage and made it look like a security cam / atm ca/ police cam - etc. even liked the adr diologue. but when the cops showed up the piece slowed way down. but good special effects and good acting kept me watching. not bad - just a little long. good luck with future projects. read
• 
  Had good potential
  A review of The Final Showdown
  by HomerS3 on 09/02/2006
  I really liked mosty of the buildup that took place in the opening moments of the film. Though the acting was alittle weak throughout, I thought it built up the antagonist pretty well. However on the other hand I thought this character didn't live up to the reputation that preceded him. When cornered, he was fairly easily flustered and matched by our unknown cop. I had expected... I really liked mosty of the buildup that took place in the opening moments of the film. Though the acting was alittle weak throughout, I thought it built up the antagonist pretty well. However on the other hand I thought this character didn't live up to the reputation that preceded him. When cornered, he was fairly easily flustered and matched by our unknown cop. I had expected this bad guy to literally rip out the man's throat and feed it to him. I mean, he's killed ALOT of people, right? Rather he had trouble aiming his weapon at a close target.
  I thought most of the production was fairly well done, but the climax fell a little flat for me... Good work, keep at it! read
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  Dirty Harry In the Desert
  A review of The Final Showdown
  by cphillips103 on 05/29/2006
  This was an interesting piece. The image was a little rough. There was a lot here so I'll go over some of the basics. The background of the crazed killer allowed for a lot of action scenes. The problem is that the amount of action in the piece made it feel like it was a segment of a much larger work. Because we jump right into it there's no real setup with the cops. We get... This was an interesting piece. The image was a little rough. There was a lot here so I'll go over some of the basics.
  
  The background of the crazed killer allowed for a lot of action scenes. The problem is that the amount of action in the piece made it feel like it was a segment of a much larger work. Because we jump right into it there's no real setup with the cops. We get the bit of the crazed killer, but there's no time in the begining to understand why he's a crazed killer.
  
  There's also not enough time with the cops. It's just action setup after action setup with no exposition. An example. When the two cops leave their vehicles to approach the building we could have had some dialogue either in the car or on the walk to the building. There was some good visual exposition, but the pacing didn't always allow the viewer to grasp onto the information.
  
  The camera work was good at times, but many of the shots were too tight.
  
  Ambitious. Good. read
• 
  Pretty Good
  A review of The Final Showdown
  by Matt Murphy on 03/29/2006
  Surprisingly high quality for a no-budget film. The 2 leads do really good stunt work, particularly considering the limited resources. A few nice, memorable shots, and good logical flow of events indicate a director who knows what he is doing. There are a lot of big-budget movies coming out of Hollywood that don't handle their action this well. A few small points: the... Surprisingly high quality for a no-budget film. The 2 leads do really good stunt work, particularly considering the limited resources. A few nice, memorable shots, and good logical flow of events indicate a director who knows what he is doing. There are a lot of big-budget movies coming out of Hollywood that don't handle their action this well.
  
  A few small points: the villian wasn't quite as menacing as I would have liked. Maybe a pair of Ray-Bans or some more imaginative framing could have given him a harder edge. Also, the transition from shooting to hand-to-hand was a little stagy.
  
  All in all, an impressive effort. read
• 
  The Final Showdown
  A review of The Final Showdown
  by Hyperjive on 02/02/2006
  This has been one of the better choreographed and planned shorts I've seen. And by that I don't really mean the whole fight scene. I'm referring to the entire short itself. And although the film was slightly cliched, i could find no fault in any of it. The acting was pretty good, the action was interesting, and the editing was top-notch. I would have liked to have seen more... This has been one of the better choreographed and planned shorts I've seen. And by that I don't really mean the whole fight scene. I'm referring to the entire short itself. And although the film was slightly cliched, i could find no fault in any of it. The acting was pretty good, the action was interesting, and the editing was top-notch. I would have liked to have seen more dialogue and more buid-up instead of just action-action-action, but like i said, there's nothing wrong with this. "The Final Showdown" is a perfect example of what an amateur filmmaker can do when he has a goal and sets out to achieve it. Not wholly original, but a good short nonetheless. read
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  Second film
  A review of The Final Showdown
  by gapoz on 12/11/2005
  I have seen another of your works, the DAD one. I found it awful damn good. I liked this one as well (an older film I suspect), especially once you got them out in the desert and it stayed in one place. I was a bit confused in some of the earlier places. You have an imaginative eye for shots and angles and some of them were very good indeed. Keep up the good work. Thanks for... I have seen another of your works, the DAD one. I found it awful damn good. I liked this one as well (an older film I suspect), especially once you got them out in the desert and it stayed in one place. I was a bit confused in some of the earlier places. You have an imaginative eye for shots and angles and some of them were very good indeed. Keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing your film, and thanks for serving your country as well. read
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  Woo too much
  A review of The Final Showdown
  by benjunior on 12/05/2005
  A very successful short but too influenced by other directors to be considered original. shooting the raid sequence in black and whit was a bold choice which i feel didnt work- at first then i was totally caught up in it as soon as the door is kicked down. The shadow casting over the gun hole was excellent along with smoke and other effects made it very believeable, the only... A very successful short but too influenced by other directors to be considered original.
  shooting the raid sequence in black and whit was a bold choice which i feel didnt work- at first then i was totally caught up in it as soon as the door is kicked down. The shadow casting over the gun hole was excellent along with smoke and other effects made it very believeable, the only slight criticiam here is that the timing is slightly off as after his partner is shot there seems to be too much time passed before he reacts (leading to a matrix reference/homage). In the middle the story drags slightly but is brought back up by the finale, of chase sequence, gun shooting and hand to hand combat (ala John Woo) i was half expecting a white dove to fly by at one point.
  overall a well executed film which i feel could have contained its homages with more character from the filmmaker. read
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  Too Long...
  A review of The Final Showdown
  by johnmcc26 on 11/06/2005
  About 5 minutes too long, and some pretty poor acting... But there is potential. Some of the shots were extremely well done and there was a hint of a decent story, but it needs some work. Firstly, it needs to be realistic. If you are going to have shots that look like they come from surveliance cameras, then they need to be steady and not move around, especially the one... About 5 minutes too long, and some pretty poor acting... But there is potential. Some of the shots were extremely well done and there was a hint of a decent story, but it needs some work. Firstly, it needs to be realistic. If you are going to have shots that look like they come from surveliance cameras, then they need to be steady and not move around, especially the one from inside the cop car. The realism needs to be in the acting too. When you get thrown up against a car, it's gotta look real and it didn't in your shot. The whole fight was very, very fake. And who would not check to see if their partner was ok after being shot? Our guy just looks at him and runs off. And it looked like our cop quits his job and then he has his badge out in the desert. Very confusing. As I say though, there is potential. There was a lot of good film making in this movie, it was just let down by all the problems. Try it again and spend some time on realism and don't make it ten minutes just because you have ten minutes. Let the story make it's own time... read