Gear (2017) - No shot at glory - 3/10 (02/11/18)

When I heard that this independnet Canadian thriller was shown in a small independent movie theater in my region, I decided to give it a shot. When I arrived on a cold Tuesday night, I was told that there were only fifteen seats left and my ticket could only be purchased with the help of the manager's password. I was surprised and excited to hear that this movie could attract such a big crowd on such an unusual day. When I actually entered the cinema, it turned out that only three other people were in the audience with me: a corpulent middle-aged man who nearly fell asleep during the film, a lonely old man and a middle-aged Asian woman. Why am I telling you this anecdote? It's because the movie was a similar letdown as the disappointing audience.

There are only a few positive points to mention about the film. The main idea of the story is intriguing as we follow a driver who is forced to bring his late wife's sister to her execution after he lost a shipment. The movie shows beautiful locations and was mostly shot in Quebec City, Montreal and Toronto. Finally, the camera work was mostly calm and precise.

Everything else was a complete mess. The acting performances were robotic and stiff. All characters were antipathic and one could't empathize with any of them. The movie plodded on with endless driving sequences and vapid dialogues. The story never truly unfolded and even seemed ridiculous at times, especially towards the end. There were no memorable scenes whatsoever. The few action sequences seemed lackluster. The soundtrack reminded me of an untalented teenager creating songs on an old computer in his parents' basement.

When you are an unknown filmmaker with a limited budget, you might only have one shot at glory. You need to produce a film that is convincing, gripping and unique. This movie is worse than most high school film projects I have watched. It's lacking creativity, drive and passion. I have only spent four dollars on watching this flick but even those weren't worth it. You will forget that bland film as soon as it concluded, so there is no need to watch it in the first place.