A Sacrifice 2025 is a bit amateurish
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https://blenderdumbass.org/reviews/a_sacrifice_2025_is_a_bit_amateurish : 👁 1
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by Blender Dumbass
Aka: J.Y. Amihud. A Jewish by blood, multifaceted artist with experience in film-making, visual effects, programming, game development, music and more. A philosopher at heart. An activist for freedom and privacy. Anti-Paternalist. A user of Libre Software. Speaking at least 3 human languages. The writer and director of the 2023 film "Moria's Race" and the lead developer of it's game sequel "Dani's Race".
Ridley Scott has a full family of filmmakers. His brother Tony Scott is a legend. But Ridley also has kids. His son Jake Scott is a bad ass music video director that started already branching out into feature films. Luke Scott directed a cool little 2016 sci-fi horror film Morgan. And was a second unit director on a lot of recent Ridley Scott films. And then there is Jordan Scott, Ridley's daughter that wrote and directed the 2025 thriller A Sacrifice. ↩ Reply
Being from a family of film-director's Jordan's use of camera in this film is not bad. She isn't doing anything too exciting, like her uncle Tony. The image is mostly very clean. And we have mostly tripod shots. Either completely static, or with a very basic pan. There are a few moments when the camera becomes a little more free, as in they are using a steady-cam or a gimble to do cool little floating camera shots. The film has a mandatory drug sequence, which is always a bit of a flex for a good director and Jordan makes a very effective, yet kind of minimalist take on the feeling of being high. The only slightly weirdly directed moment was the mandatory night-club scene, where the flashing lights are only white. There is no color. It is kind of strange, in a way. But the scene has an ominous rhythm to it that is quite cool. Also Jordan uses quite a bit of reversed footage for a great effect. ↩ Reply
While the direction of the film is above average ( again she isn't doing anything too exciting like her uncle Tony ), the writing sucks. The premise is not too bad. It is about a psychologist guy who investigates cults. And he is so far up his ass with work that he neglects his teenage daughter. So ironically, she ends up in a cult. This is some cool as basis. But Jordan's script isn't doing much with it. ↩ Reply
To be frank, the movie is trying to be an adaptation of a book called Tokyo by Nicholas Hogg. So it could be that Hogg's writing is what's bad. In any case, the writing is bad. ↩ Reply
With this "she ends up in a cult" thing you could do a cool little thriller. But the movie is a slow burn and not in a good way. The suspense in the film is so non-existent that you kind of feel like you are watching one of those Russian TV melodramas. It goes as slowly as a Nicolas Winding Refn film, but without it being as cool as a Nicolas Winding Refn film. Or at the very least without it looking exciting and colorful, like a Nicolas Winding Refn film. c:0 ↩ Reply
So for example, the film builds towards what could be a little exiting encounter in the end. We have the father ( Eric Banana , who worked with Ridley on Black Hawk Down ) who is this cult investigator psychologist guy. And we have his daughter ( Sadie Sink ) who is secretly meeting this guy played by Jonas Dassler. Now this guy is a part of the cult, where they do Sacrifices. And so the film is building toward this girl being murdered, basically. And the father needs to figure it out and save her in time. ↩ Reply
What happens in the movie though? We get Dassler's character driving her toward the lake, where he gonna drown her as a part of the sacrifice. And in the meantime we have Eric Bana's character driving towards the cult's building itself with his new girlfriend, a policemen, who investigates cult murders. She is played by Sylvia Hoeks who you may remember from Blade Runner 2049 as this cool ass bad replicant lady Luv. Which is by the way a good casting decision for this movie. Because, spoiler alert, the twist is, she is a part of the cult. ↩ Reply
Does the movie reveal it, so it can play with the irony? No. It reveals it, to then use it awkwardly to reveal to the Bana character that they are indeed a cult. And to speed up his reaction, to go save his daughter. So, does he at least saves his daughter from the Dassler character? No. The Dassler character realizes that he loves her, or something, and decided not to kill her. So he just leaves her there on the lake alone. And that is when Jordan, or Hogg or whoever decided that it was a good idea, realized that they have nothing of substance for the father to do here. The girl is safe. All he needs to do is to go and pick her up. So the film invents a problem at the last minute. She starts to see visions in the lake of the previous girl who was sacrificed there. And she starts swimming into the lake, for some reason. I guess to meet that ghost. IDK... Anyway... by the time the father arrives, his daughter is drowning. OMG. Here is something to do. So he dives in and saves her. What a hero, lol. c:0 ↩ Reply
If I would have written it, I would have revealed that Sylvia Hoeks character is a part of the cult, and then not make this information known to the father until the very end. This would create a lot of cool irony. And automatically will make everything a bit tenser. And then not make Dassler character leave her there alone. But instead maybe just make him hesitate longer, to win some time for the plot to get to the point, where the father has to confront him. And at this very point, we already know that his "friend" Sylvia Hoeks character ( who is a cop, and therefore has a gun ) is on the side of the bad guys. Which creates a hell of a tense little situation. c:0 ↩ Reply
But I suppose we got what we got. ↩ Reply
Happy Hacking!!! ↩ Reply
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Troler
c:0 The suspense in the film is so non-existent that you kind of feel like you are watching one of those Russian TV melodramas.
⤴ ViewHAHAHAHAE. I have a hunch what you are talking about.
father Eric Banana
I see what you did there!
The Dassler character realizes that he loves her, or something, and decided not to kill her. So he just leaves her there on the lake alone.
⤴ ViewThat's it? My Michael Bay mind is mushrooming with possibilities of what cool action scenes can be done. Or at least some suspenseful drama.
If I would have written it, I would have revealed that Sylvia Hoeks character is a part of the cult, and then not make this information known to the father until the very end. This would create a lot of cool irony. And automatically will make everything a bit tenser. And then not make Dassler character leave her there alone. But instead maybe just make him hesitate longer, to win some time for the plot to get to the point, where the father has to confront him. And at this very point, we already know that his "friend" Sylvia Hoeks character ( who is a cop, and therefore has a gun ) is on the side of the bad guys. Which creates a hell of a tense little situation.
⤴ ViewThat does sound more interesting. As Robert Mckee observed, a good plot is everything. Or so I recall.
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