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Released by MVD Visual
Released on: May 19, 2015
Directed by: Steve Rudzinski
Cast: Steve Rudzinski, Zoltan Zilai, Madison Siple
Year: 2014
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The Movie:
When an 18th century satanic, doomsday cult intends to unleash the Leviathan from its underwater slumber to destroy the world, only the landlocked pirate Captain Z (Zoltan Zilai) can save the day. The good Captain defeats the cult by locking them, and himself, in a magic amulet only to be released 300 years later in present day Riverwood, Ohio. Now, Captain Z must form an unlikely team with occult historian Glen (Steve Rudzinski) and ditzy Heather (Madison Siple) to stop the cult and prevent the rebirth of the world conquering Leviathan!
Captain Z and the Terror of Leviathan works best as a cautionary tale. Just because you have the materials to make a film does not mean you should go out and make a film. Movies like Captain Z are evidence that not everyone should be making film, precisely because not everyone understands film. To be honest, I have a hard time calling director/co-writer/star Steve Rudzinski's finished work a film. It is more a series of loosely connected unfunny jokes. Actually, what Captain Z is, is a bunch of references parading around as jokes. The film contains “jokes†about the Evil Dead, A Nightmare on Elm Street series, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the Final Fantasy video game line, just to name a few. The problem is, making a call back to an older, better film is not a joke.
Aside from bad “jokes†the film also fails on other levels. The cinematography and editing by Scott Lewis is horrible. Lewis seems to have a hard time with framing. There are multiple shots in which the top third of a character's head is lopped off by the frame. He also has problems with eyeline matches. Characters are supposed to be in a conversation and yet they never seem to be looking at each other. His editing does not fare any better. It feels as if Lewis cut every shot as short as he could, making all action sequences confusing. You can tell things are happening because a lot of stuff is moving, but you can never quite tell what exactly is going on. The rough editing, along with the rushed reading of the dialogue, gives the film an uneasy rushed pace. The movie looks like it is going a mile a minute and yet feels slow. I think I can chalk this unusual rushed/slow pacing up to Rudzinski stretching out 25 minutes of ideas into a 79 minute film.
Needless to say the acting was all around bad. Rudzinski and co-writer/star Zilai are terrible heroes. Rudzinski's line readings are so obnoxious you want to punch him in the face. He also acts with his hands and is incredibly jittery. It seems like he drank a gallon of coffee before each scene. Zilai is no better. He does what is quite possibly the worst pirate I have ever seen or heard. The supporting cast is also pretty poor. Siple is so over the top and cartoonish as the bubbleheaded Heather that I want to blame it on Rudzinski. Her performance choices had to be his direction. She is so bad that any worthwhile director would have given her pointers on how to be better.
Honestly, I sort of feel bad being so negative on a film obviously made by amateurs. However, when I think back to the film and remember Rudzinski's character. He is the smartest, bravest, and heroic character. The director made a love letter to himself. Just thinking about this and the ego of the primary filmmaker I no longer feel bad about my negativity. If there were any positives it would be the better than expected make-up effects. They were pretty good, which is surprising considering how shoddy everything else was in the film.
Video/Audio/Extras:
MVD Visual's DVD release of Captain Z and the Terror of Leviathan is better than this film deserves. The 1.85:1 image is cheap looking but clear and artifact free. The film is full of poor lighting and sifting skin tones, but that is the fault of the filmmakers, not the DVD. The sound, 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo, is good. The music never over powers the dialogue and all the actors can be heard. This is surprising as a good chunk of the scenes were not miced. The DVD does not include subtitles.
The disc has a surprising amount of special features. Included are a bad, tedious 10-minute blooper reel, a short teaser trailer, and two commentary tracks, creators (Rudzinski, Zilai, and Lewis) and cast (Rudzinski, Zilai, Lewis, Siple, et al). Both tracks cover about the same stories and topics. The creator commentary has some information about no-budget filmmaking in the 21st century that is somewhat interesting. The disc did not have chapter stops and the main feature plays in a continuous loop.
The Final Word:
I'm not sure who the intended audience is for Captain Z and the Terror of Leviathan outside of the filmmaker's friends. The movie is unfunny and very amateur. By the way, we never see a Leviathan.
