Everyone tries to over achieve, but in the end, it doesn't really matter how much blood, sweat, and heart attacks you waste...There will always be a point where you'll give one last gurgle and black out. Director Neil Oseman is the guy who'll use you as a step ladder. His sophomore effort in feature length filmmaking: Soul Searcher (Following ?The Beacon?), is a slam bang mixed story with some driven action. The stuff on display is the sweetest cinematic candy around. It even has the added bonus of having characters you can care about. No cavities here Mom!Joe Fallow's life sucks. He works nights as a street-sweeper, hangs out in a café with his one and only friend, and is helplessly in love with the waitress Heather. Then one night he accidentally runs into Death. Literally. It seems that the 'Grim Reaper' is in need of an apprentice. Joe backs down at first: The job isn't a part time thing. He'd have to leave his mortal life behind. But seeing as he doesn't have much of one, he decides to take the job anyway. One short montage later and Joe is trained and ready. His job is composed of cutting the ?umbilical cords? off wandering spirits. By doing
so he lets them leave Earth and reach the afterlife. It's fluff work until one faithful night. Someone's trying to open the bridge to hell. If that person succeeds, the world will be plunged into another age of darkness. Can Joe bring his act together, get the girl, save the world, and have one last cappuccino?
Let's get the faults out of the way first. The film has a shaky start. The introductions to the main characters are a bit awkward and underdeveloped. Joe's decision to become a reaper is made much too quickly. The viewer never gets a chance to get connected with him before he leaves everything behind. It's only when the villain enters the piece that things start to heat up. The plot suddenly kicks into overdrive. Twists and revelations are thrown at the viewer left and right. A new character is introduced halfway that ups the action styling into a totally different area. Things start to pull into
focus and as quickly as you can say "Wow! That was cool." the film is already rocketing off to the next set piece. Even with all this, the dialogue stays fresh (If disappearing slightly in the last third). We believe that these characters could actually be having these problems. There's never a moment where you hopelessly cringe and go "Ow. That line hurt."
The actors all give admirable performances. Ray Bullock Jnr as Joe is a perfect everyman hero. His love interest Katrina Cooke overturns the usual stereotypes. She could easily have been a paper thin. Instead, she creates an intelligent woman who has difficulty making certain decisions. The role of the villain (A.J Nicol) and sidekick (Chris Hatherall) are average at best. They suffer from little screen time in the film's brisk 90 minutes.
Hollywood influence emanates from every frame. The camera has a life of its own. It moves restlessly without detracting what's happening on-screen. Neil uses only the best conventions and leaves the awful ones behind. The curse of shaky quick cut action scenes never rears its head. Every bout of martial arts is shot with wide angles and logical editing. It helps that the actors and choreographers know what they're doing. The only problem is the 'waiting to block a punch' syndrome that pops up occasionally. It happens so rarely that it becomes a meager nitpick at its worst. I'd also like to single out the ending that *spoiler* takes place on a moving train. It is pulled off brilliantly. The mix of miniatures, CGI and live action footage are blended together perfectly. The majors should start jotting down notes. Soul Searcher is a great movie. There's no denying it. It's a picture that has overcome its budget and delivered. The difference between this and say...El Mariachi is the fact that anyone can enjoy it. You don't have to hold the budget in consideration. All you have to do is sit back and bask in the fun. Hats off to Neil and his team!
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