You can always appreciate a moviemaker's ability to craft a film/story their passionate about from a low end budget as it can't be easy to suppress all your ideas to the financial constraint you're under. Director Drew Hall has so far throughout his short career crafted 3 feature length movies under budgets that for a Hollywood tentpole would be barely enough to cover catering and Sons of Liberty (the 3rd entry into a series of films) showcases a director that deserves to be given more play money to craft something matching his undeniable vision.
To say that Sons of Liberty is a good film would be a lie, but to say it lacks creativity and moments of genuine movie-making skill would be a disservice to a film that at times shuns it's low end budget and becomes a solidly entertaining action/thriller that a singular acting spark would of ignited into being a real 90 minute blast. Hall is at his best when the action takes hold yet the film is let down by some truly mediocre acting turns from the leads and whenever the films dialogue takes on full effect you can feel the glaze covering your eyes as a lot of scientific talk and unneeded backstories take a hold on proceedings.
Sons of Liberty features some beyond bland lead turns from main players Adam Cardon and Catalina Soto-Aguilar and when the talking starts there so far too many charisma free conversations that test the patience of the viewer. With actors on board with even half the charisma of these two leads the film would of benefited greatly and the confusion about why people are doing what they're doing would've been lessoned for throughout the film the viewer will find themselves lost in a tale that perhaps was throwing in to many things at once (murders, stolen weapon parts) rather than focusing on a more streamlined plot.
After watching Sons of Liberty I do certainly look forward to what director Drew Hall comes up with next (his new thriller Convergence looks a lively type) and his ability behind the camera seems assured even is his material and actors are not quite there yet. Sons of Liberty may feel like TV movie making personified but there are certainly a lot more terrible movies out there at the moment, and most of them with quadruple the budget. Promising stuff, but still a way to go.
2 sore knees out of 5
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