FILMandMOVIEmaking.com

1 star*

This movie is not the worst film of all time, but it tries so hard to be the worst one you could ever conceive, and it fails; there are worse ones. It’s not supposed to be a comedy at all, but any regular film watcher will be in fits at the alarming rate of impending mistakes. It is excellent film school fodder to see what you can and shouldn’t do with a movie in terms of casting, script, music, direction, camera work and editing.

Where to start? The screenplay has so many clichés and expected lines you can almost play guess the next line and be correct several times. You don’t need to know the film to be able to exactly map out the plot sequence. You just know what’s going to happen next and how it will all end. The final twist is so obvious you can’t believe they actually used it. Didn’t they ask for opinions first?

Clue; next time go to this website: http://filmandmoviemaking.com/screenplay-analysis/

If the screenwriters had spent some money getting a professional to look over their script and give a coverage report before they went into production, many of the problems may have been ironed out earlier.

The dialogue was quite awful at times; many, many times.

Here’s the blurb so you know what it’s all about:

A one-time victim who had previously suffered at the hands of her violent husband joins the police force in hopes of helping others in her situation, only to find her painful past emerging from a prison cell in director Stephen Lieb’s tense revenge thriller. Bonnie Blackwell was left for dead after being beaten to within an inch of her life by her sadistic ex-husband. Bonnie is a fighter, though, and after recovering from her injuries she quickly determines to join the Los Angeles Police Department and devote her life to the prevention of domestic violence. Her husband has recently been released from prison, however, and now in order to move on with her life this former victim must make one final stand against the man who nearly took it all.

While the film stock used is excellent (well perfect for television and download because it won’t be on at a cinema near you) some of the camera work leaves a lot to be desired. There’s a classic shot of the police lady being angry with a crook. The angle of the camera ensures that we can’t see any of the anger in the actresses’ eyes as the peak cap completely covers the top half of her face.

Music should bring the whole movie together. It shouldn’t take over. The one Roland keyboard they ordered for this job is often played at volumes so loud you can’t tell what else if happening or it varies so much when people stop talking, rather than blending in.

The foley work needs improvement. The husband was slapping the wife around the face, but the slaps looked so soft they might not even have hurt. I’m not saying it wouldn’t have hurt in real life where it’s an abysmal action by any weak person, but in a movie it’s got to look like it hurts. The foley artist that put the slaps on later must have collected his noises from someone wanting to speed up their horse just before the race finish line. Even then the number of slaps didn’t agree with the number of blows from the male actor.

Regrettably the music doesn’t match what’s going on far too often. We have scenes of a woman being beaten up by her husband but the music tells us that we’re either at a fairground or a vampire movie.

The stunt work should be good. The writer, star, producer Mimi Lesseos is a great star in the world of stunt work. She can be seen in Million Dollar Baby, The Scorpion King and Gangs of New York showing off her stunt skills. Unfortunately on two occasions where she’s helping her husband out of the building (once through a door and once through a window, it’s so easy to see the stunt man jump and make the most of his quick directional movement. It looks like he’s being thrown by cannon he moves so fast in comparison to the effort (lack of or small amount) prearranged in the throwing.

Editing could have improved the movie. I get the feeling that it was the editor’s first time with the knife and he missed by inches a few times. Scenes need to flow generally speaking, but sometimes you want a complete stop and then start again. This movie shows you how to get those two the wrong way around.

Former pro-wrestler, Mimi Lesseos wrote the story and the screenplay (with Thomas Quinn). She was also the producer and the star of the movie so we can guess it must have been medium to low budget, but low budget doesn’t always have to mean that a movie looks cheap. It can be well made while costing very little.

Direction, although the actors obviously ignored such treats, was by Stephen Leib. At times it feels like a school play being filmed where the actors don’t know when to start their lines or in fact, what their lines are. They appear to be looking for their blocking (starting positions) while wondering when to start speaking.

Mimi’s new film is called ‘Double Duty.’ I sure hope she’s learnt a lot from her involvement in ‘Personal Vendetta.’

At the end of the day, Mimi has now made a few movies and whether they’re low budget or not, good or not, she can be proud to have put so many movies together. I hope they sell for more than the one dollar I paid for my DVD. She’s been there and cut her movie. Many people may moan about the qualities of movies like this one, but they have procrastinated so much they haven’t even got past the starting blocks.