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Satan really needs a better door
Review: The Other Side
By Charles Judson
Staff Reviewer
 | | The Reapers are coming to kick some ass. |
Plot: Samuel North (Nathan Mobley) has returned home early from college to celebrate with his fiancée Hanna (Jaimie Alexander). While waiting for her at their favorite spot under a waterfall a mysterious van knocks Sam and his car into a ditch killing him instantly. Finding himself in hell, Sam isn't there for long before he escapes with veterans Oz (Poncho Hodges) and Mally (Cory Rouse) along with several others.
Once back amongst the living, Sam discovers that he's being hunted by the police for Hanna's disappearance. His situation goes from bad to worse when he soon learns from Oz and Mally that they are also being hunted by Reapers. Supernatural bounty hunters with varying powers and abilities, the Reapers mission is to find any escapee and send them back to hell. While the escapees, who can be tracked by the Reapers, want to run, all Sam wants to do is find who killed him and why.
Oz—who has escaped from hell more times than anyone before—and Mally figure that if they help Sam find his murder and Hanna they can earn redemption and avoid a return trip to Hell.
Review: Okay I'm holding half a star as hostage. Here are my demands:
First off, I want more Oz and Mally. You heard me! At a towering 6'8" Hodges' Oz is an update of old-school 80's kick ass. Remember, not every hero in the 80's spouted witty one-liners and the occasional non sequitur. Nah, that's because they were too busy putting a steel-toe boot up someone's left nostril to worry about sounding like Oscar Wilde hopped up on steroids. So give me more Oz stomping some supernatural ass.
But, also give more of Oz because he's largely an enigma and I'd really love to see more of his backstory. According to director/writer Gregg Bishop, The Other Side is only the first of a trilogy, but don't pull a Lucas on me, Gregg. You don't have to give me a full jolt, but definitely give me more than a taste.
Mally, Mally, Mally. What can I say? What should I say? Definitely would like to see more of Rouse's Mally. Although he's the comic relief, he and Oz are definitely a huge part of the heart and soul of The Other Side. I've already mentioned Oz's reveal, but I have a sneaking suspicion that there's more to Mally's story than what's on screen.
Secondly, I want to see more of Samuel's backstory. Mobley turns in a great performance as Samuel North but we're left to wonder more about what happened before all this sh*t went down.
Lastly, please, please cut down the ending. Am I anti-romance? Well, considering I cried when Jake Gyllenhaal says he wishes he knew how to quit Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain, I think that would be a no. Some sentiments are best left unsaid.
I'm a sucker for stories that extend beyond their borders. Stories in which what we read on the page, or see on the screen is only a portion of the world that exists.
What keeps movies and shows like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Star Trek alive in the public consciousness is that when the screen goes dark and the lights come on we know that's not the end. Kirk will continue to usurp both the odds and death with brash bravado. Although Sauron has been defeated, newly crowned Aragorn will face new challenges and new threats. And Luke, well, from the now hundreds of books written in just the '90s alone, we know that Luke's journey has never stopped.
The Other Side already has the necessary ingredients: a sympathetic main character, a great cast of secondary characters, a kick ass set of villains, and a mythology that's basic and interesting enough that you can spin new stories in a thousand different directions. As much praise I can heap on the underlying story, The Other Side's most potent weapon lies in Gregg's direction.
Remember how you felt the first time the T-800 cocked his shotgun with one hand while riding a bike in T2? Or, how giddy you felt watching Keith David and Roddy Piper pummel the crap out of each other in They Live?
Teaming up with the Black Knights Stunt Team, Gregg has created some of his own fluid balls-to-the-walls action sequences filled with more than a few "did I just see that" moments. There's a stunt evolving a moving truck and a third floor balcony that has to be seen to be believed. It had the entire Slamdance audience whooping and hollering out of sheer excitement.
So Gregg, either give me what I want, or give me a kick ass sequel and the half star won't be hurt. I promise.
Charles Judson is a local screen & comic book writer and a regular contributor and film critic for CinemATL.
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(2½ out of 4) + 