John Wick (2014)

With the current state of the world being as rough as it is, we all sometimes need lighthearted fun to remind ourselves that there’s still greatness in the world. Wakaliwood — a Ugandan production studio consisting entirely of native citizens — provides such fare and a great laugh. It came as a major, delightful surprise to me that the newest Wakaliwood film, Crazy World, was selected to be a part of YouTube’s We Are One digital film festival after it initially debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival. I’ve been craving some cheeky fun by the dedicated artists from Kampala, Uganda, and Crazy World did not disappoint in the slightest. This also helps us remember that their are real people in Uganda suffering from a regime hell bent on harming LGBTQIA+ people at the expense of actually helping their citizens.

For anyone who’s watched anything from Wakaliwood, you know what you’re getting yourself into when turning on Crazy World, but for the uninitiated, you’re about to have your eyes opened to a whole new world of filmmaking.

When it comes to film budgets, you have your big-budget films like The Avengers (appx. $220 mil), mid-budget films like Knives Out (appx. $40 mil), and low-budget films like One Cut of the Dead (appx. $25,000), but rarely do any of us watch micro-budget movies. Wakaliwood presents possibly the lowest budgets any feature films have seen, with their breakout film, Who Killed Captain Alex? made on a mere $200 budget. When you hear famous directors and other people say that there’s no excuse for you to not make films if you have the passion for it, Wakaliwood is the prime example of that philosophy. Like Who Killed Captain Alex?, Crazy World retains that charming D.I.Y filmmaking style by having the filmmakers utilizing whatever assets they had on hand to craft their art, and that dedication to making the best possible movie they could make with such little resources is what drives the main appeal for these movies. Seeing the creativity that spawns from people who have next to nothing to make a movie shows how much they care about crafting entertainment that represents their culture.

Budgetary discussions aside, Crazy World gives fans of Wakaliwood movies what they want by playing up the comedy and action just like their movies before. An amazing running theme among Wakaliwood movies is the sheer amount of on-screen talent their movies boast. Dedicated performances come from each of their actors, who sink into their roles better than many American films. The entirely Ugandan cast boasts solid line delivery, staging, and emotional weight that’s beyond admirable, but one thing truly shines above the rest, and that’s the action. I kid you not when I say the dedication put into the action scenes rivals and even beats out many American action films in sheer entertainment value and care for the craft. Watching self-taught actors swing their fists, perform jumping kicks, and perform other insane stunts is truly a marvel to witness! Although the violence is always on the cornier side of entertainment, unlike the brooding seriousness of a John Wick, a lot of the action within Crazy World connects and had me wonder how these actors were able to pull some of this stuff off; as an example, there are a few moments where bricks come into the action and are either thrown or smashed against people. I have no idea if the bricks featured in the movie are real, but it was convincing enough to make me feel the brutal impact of hard objects smashing against people’s heads.

Tom Clancy's Without Remorse has everything a movie director from the 80’s could wish: a ripped Hollywood superstar, a conflicted argument which includes international tension between USA and Russia, and lots of explosions. What might be wrong? It only depends on your expectations.

Based on Tom Clancy’s novel of the same name, written in 1993, the film produced by Amazon and directed by Stefano Sollima tells the story of an elite Navy SEAL, John Kelly (Michael B. Jordan) who discovers an international conspiracy while he seeks revenge for the murder of his pregnant wife. The Italian director deviates from what we are used to see in his previous productions. The high quality but simultaneously independent nature of his TV shows have nothing to do with this archetypical blockbuster. I can only suggest to you how powerful the series Gomorrah (2014) is, where he makes a brilliant approach to the Camorra, based on Roberto Saviano’s novel.

Regarding Amazon’s production, the plot is not creative at all, everything is foolishly justified, and character development is nonexistent. It seems like they wanted to take an already made “superhero” and put him in the big screen blowing things up. This kind of tormented character is the same as any other bad-ass guy who tries to take the law into his own hands. It comes to my mind the recent example of John Wick (2014), but at least in David Leitch’s oeuvre the story is more original: Keanu Reeves goes on a killing spree to avenge his dog’s death.