Sirona 2023 (Cine-Clark Studios) Review
This is a film that was produced and filmed in Colorado with a crew based out there so I had to check it out. (Colorado is my home state and a cool place with mountains). Wesley Clark's first outing at a feature film is a functional one, but it's definitely missing something. On a technical level, the camera and sound work are pretty good for a indie film. The wardrobe and props are pretty great looking to with the swat looking gear and guns. The movie tends to depend a bit to much on stock footage for its flash back scenes, which feels weird when we see shots of a lab with no people or the films characters in them. But the shots of the Rocky Mountains and forests look pretty cool and make for a great dropback.
Indie Super hero films are a challenge.
Where the movie falls short however, is in the story and acting. I feel like the movie would have worked better without the opening scene and if we were kept in the dark about Sirona's power. We see that Sirona and her brother have special powers at the opening. So when the swat team gets a mission to find a nuclear bio weapon stolen by a girl, it's painfully clear that is no actual nuclear weapon. I feel like if the film had opened up different, this plot point could have work and added a bit more tension and mystery. But any twists the movie tries to throw our way, you can most likely guess them before they come.
The story also feels pretty generic and does not really take any bold risks or interesting ideas with the tropes it uses. As another reviewer mentioned, this is pretty much like X-men meets the The Expendables, but without any interesting spin. Another weird part is the last 10 minutes of the film goes hard on sequel set up. I think it's usually a bitter idea for indie filmmakers to try new ideas instead of making sequels, but maybe he has grand plans and improvements he can adjust in a future film.
Sirona realizing that things are about to get tough for sure.
About half of the cast are solid, with Ashlynn Hideman doing a good job playing Sirona and Mary Beth Eversole playing a cool villain (despite her short screen time). However, the other half of the cast delivers a performance that falls more towards the flat side, and boy does it suck any life out of the scene happening on screen. Ben Johnson and Rafael Velasquez's performances can off as muted and derail any immersion the film tries to build.
The scene where Sirona and Calvin Michaels meet is so bizarre and funny because of this. Rafael Velasquez acts so nonchalant and emotionless when a strange lady he does not know just enters his home and turns out to have healing powers.
Overall, this is a decent film and outing for Wesley Clark''s debut. You can tell he has all the ingredients to make a watchable film. But he needs to refine his craft and add a bit more personality/uniqueness to make it pop. Seeing as Sirona: Valkyrie's Shadow is in pre-production, it will be interesting to see where the story goes and what Wesley Clark has in store our super powered girl.
