DVD Review: DEAD SPACE: Downfall
I rented this with high hopes as I had heard a lot of good things about it. An animation mix of 3D and Drawn, with the drawn animation at or near the quality of Cartoon Network shows like "Justice League" or "Teen Titans'.
The story makes no sense and the dialogue is ridiculous. No character or setting is introduced, making one feel like it's the second episode of an ongoing TV series. Also, no single character appears to be the star of the show -- adding to the confusion.
Characters I don't know, a setting I don't know, using equipment/tools that are undocumented in terms of power, use and ability. As the viewer there's no entry point in the narrative. Think of Ripley in "Alien" or Luke in "Star Wars"; each is a star character that the brings the viewer into the story.
There is one sequence where 2 characters engage in saying "shit"; trying to say it last, but then the other guy says it one more time. I allow for the possibility that it may have been comedic on paper, but when acted out by voice-actors, it comes off as dumb. Same goes for a scene later on, when 2 characters try to out dialogue "fuck" over the other character. Maybe they had a quota that any swear-word used had to be repeated X many times over...?
When I watched the credits I was surprised to see that the DVD was written by comic book inker / writer Jimmy Palmiotti and his writing partner, Justin Gray. Given these guys read & write comics, I was amazed at their poor practice of basic storytelling skills.
Curt Geda was also involved and IIRC he worked on the various Batman Animated shows for WB TVAnimation. So it goes to say, the drawn animation moves pretty good. Another cool thing I noticed in the credits was that Dan Norton, artist of Image Comic's "Grifter" and "Black Ops" series worked on the show as a prop designer and storyboard revision artist.
I always like to know comics artists are out there working, even if its not in comics anymore.
The story makes no sense and the dialogue is ridiculous. No character or setting is introduced, making one feel like it's the second episode of an ongoing TV series. Also, no single character appears to be the star of the show -- adding to the confusion.
Characters I don't know, a setting I don't know, using equipment/tools that are undocumented in terms of power, use and ability. As the viewer there's no entry point in the narrative. Think of Ripley in "Alien" or Luke in "Star Wars"; each is a star character that the brings the viewer into the story.
There is one sequence where 2 characters engage in saying "shit"; trying to say it last, but then the other guy says it one more time. I allow for the possibility that it may have been comedic on paper, but when acted out by voice-actors, it comes off as dumb. Same goes for a scene later on, when 2 characters try to out dialogue "fuck" over the other character. Maybe they had a quota that any swear-word used had to be repeated X many times over...?
When I watched the credits I was surprised to see that the DVD was written by comic book inker / writer Jimmy Palmiotti and his writing partner, Justin Gray. Given these guys read & write comics, I was amazed at their poor practice of basic storytelling skills.
Curt Geda was also involved and IIRC he worked on the various Batman Animated shows for WB TVAnimation. So it goes to say, the drawn animation moves pretty good. Another cool thing I noticed in the credits was that Dan Norton, artist of Image Comic's "Grifter" and "Black Ops" series worked on the show as a prop designer and storyboard revision artist.
I always like to know comics artists are out there working, even if its not in comics anymore.
Final Rating: 1/2 Star out of a possible 4 Stars.
posted by Skull_Leader at 9:14 AM
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