Crimson

Released by: Bloody Earth Films
Released on: March 12, 2012.
Director: Ken Cosentino
Cast: Mike Leszczynski, Adah Hagen, Lizzy BrunoPatrick Posey, Michael Shimmel, James Ventry
Year: 2011

The Movie:

Walter Levitte (Mike Leszczynski) has seen better days. A struggling comic book artist, Walt is hoping that his latest creation, a superhero named Crimson who feels no pain after experiencing a freak accident at a crayon factory, will revive his career. He sets up a meeting to pitch the idea to his cigar chomping publisher. No dice - the publisher thinks it's dumb and fires Walter on the spot. When he calls his beautiful girlfriend Brooke (Adah Hagen) to complain she adds insult to injury and dumps him over the phone. Devastated, Walter heads to his local dive bar to crawl inside a bottle but gets kicked out and beaten up. When he wakes up in the hospital the next morning, he has no memory of who he was or what happened to him and he now believes himself to be the Crimson character he created. A special agent named Dominguez (John Lynch), who thinks he may have been attacked by a gang he's been investigating, hopes for answers from Walter but gets none.

Meanwhile, Walter's pretty young sister, Amanda (Lizzy Bruno), is dealing with some problems of her own. It seems that the old house she lives in, the same house where she and Walter grew up, is located smack dab in the middle of an area that a local real estate developer named Boyd Emerson (Patrick Posey) wants to build a casino on top of. He tries to buy her out but she's not having any of it. He sends his youngest son, Caleb (Michael Shimmel), to take care of Amanda but things don't go as planned. When Walt, recently released from the hospital, shows up at Amanda's place he winds up killing him. This understandably upsets Caleb's ex-con brother, Tommy (James Ventry), and so the unhinged former jailbird swears revenge. Walter more or less goes underground at this point, with Tommy now on the hunt for vengeance and Amanda's life hanging in the balance.

While Crimson's low budget roots are obvious from the start, this turns out to be a surprisingly well written and well thought out story. The acting is less than perfect but leading man Leszczynski does quite well with the material here, bringing the right sense of pathos and unpredictability to his role. Some will take issue with him deciding to ape Christian Bale's low and grumbly 'Batman Voice' once the amnesia kicks in and he thinks he's Crimson - it feels a bit forced. Otherwise, he handles himself well in both the more dramatic aspects of the movie and the action scenes as well. Ventry tends to chew through the scenery and go completely over the top but it doesn't feel out of place for his character, even if the decision to have him impersonate DeNiro's 'Are you talking to me?' speech from Taxi Driver seems corny and unnecessary. Lizzy Bruno is equal parts sympathetic and strong as the female lead while supporting efforts from an appreciably subdued Michael Shimmel and a just as over the top Patrick Posey round out that case well.

At almost a hundred minutes in length the movie could probably have been trimmed down by ten or fifteen minutes to tighten the pacing. The first half hour drags a little bit, but the pay off here is that the slower opening scenes do effectively set up what happens later in the film. Walter and Amanda are developed enough as characters that we want things to work out for them - if the bad guys are completely one dimensional and at times almost cartoonish, it works in the context of the latter half. It's here that Walter's abilities as the superhero he believes himself to be are put to the test.

Made entirely on location in Niagara Falls, New York with a cast of locals, Crimson is quite well shot and very well edited even if it's a bit heavy on shaky cam tactics in a few scenes. The elements of humor that are worked into the script work better in some spots than in others but Michael Shimmel's script is solid. Also impressive is some of the stunt work. There's no CGI here, all of the effects are done in camera. The film builds to an appropriately violent conclusion and even features some welcome boob-tastic topless nudity but is clever enough to put the story first. At a time when a lot of movies are taking inspiration from comic books, Crimson manages to overcome its low budget and prove that creativity and ambition are far more important. All in all, a clever and impressive feature that carefully balances action and drama.

Note: This review is based on a very early pre-release screener so we'll skip the usual video and audio evaluations until the real thing is released.

For more on Crimson, check out the movie's official website by clicking here!