Shot takes a look at the lives of three different people as it explores the consequences of an accidental firing of a gun. Noah Wyle, plays Mark Newman, the man who is accidentally shot. Sharon Leal, plays Phoebe, Mark's soon-to-be ex-wife. Jorge Lendeborg Jr, plays Miguel, the teenaged boy who accidentally fires the gun.
I knew fairly on what it was that I was getting myself into with this movie. The already noticeable and horrible editing within the first 5 minutes told me that this movie would provide nothing short of an interesting movie-watching experience to say the least. What I didn't know was just how interesting said experience would be.
This movie was horrible. This movie was boring. This movie was a sad excuse for what a not good, or even great, but semi-decent movie is, and I had to sit and watch the WHOLE thing. My experience for his movie from beginning to end went as follows:
"Wow, this is bad."
*nervously chuckles* "Ok... This is really bad"
"Ok. This is worse than 'really bad'"
"Who actually signed off on this?"
From the constant checking of the time to see how much more of the torture that I was going to have to endure, to the laughing at moments in this movie that I am almost sure were not meant to be comedic, and to the oscillating feelings of anger, confusion, and at times sadness, I really could not wrap my mind around the fact that someone saw the "finished" product and thought, "this needs to be seen by the public.:"
As already stated, the editing was the first thing that I noticed about this movie. I wish that I could say that my initial feelings surrounding it had gotten better or, at the very least, stayed the same, but that was not the case. Because the movie is supposed to revolve around the story of 3 individuals, something like transitions are essential to not only the continuation of the story, but to also lessen any confusion that the viewer may have in regards to exactly which story it is that they are viewing. However, from the get-go, they came off as being a sloppy, lazily put together, afterthought, and there were times where I was genuinely confused as to the weird and abrupt ending of one scene to the weird and abrupt beginning of another.
There was also this editing of side-by-side shots of two different scenes that were scattered throughout the movie that were poorly done, weirdly placed, and truly unnecessary. There was one moment in the movie that showed two scenes side-by-sidewhere we see, on the left side of the screen, one scene of Mark lying on the gurney, being treated for his injury, and on the right, Miguel looking confused under an underpass. What was the point of the side-by-side? Why do need to see two scenes at once? How does this serve the overall narrative? I gave up about half way through in trying to answer those questions because it happened too often throughout the movie.
Was it really necessary that we see Mark having to wait for the drugs to kick in? Was it really necessary to see Miguel randomly preparing dinner? Was it really necessary to see Miguel constantly running around the neighborhood with no ending destination, when seeing one, maybe 2 scenes of that would have sufficed and driven the point home faster? No, not really, and it really is a shame that this movie relied so heavily on this kind of editing, one in which at times tremendously works against moments where a simple back and forth between scenes would have given off the tension that the filmmakers were trying to go for.
The acting was another extremely sour point for this movie. When Mark initially gets shot and we see him lying in the ground, it didn't come off as someone in terrible agony after a bullet entered his body as much as it did someone that because of their having to wait in a line for the bathroom is in uncomfortable pain due to a full bladder. Sharon Leal, as Phoebe, Mark's soon-to-be ex-wife, gave what could possible be considered to be at the last a decent acting job if the overall movie was considered to be at least decent, but it's not. Her acting more so comes off as being at times over the top and often times incredibly misplaced. Miguel, both the character and actor who played him were just bad. I mean, in all honesty we really don't get much from him besides a lot of running and walking around his neighborhood, but when we do get a little taste of what it is he has to offer, it's nothing to write home to your grandmother about.
The writing and overall direction for this movie I would have to say it it's biggest flaw. I thought going into this movie that it would be a commentary about gun violence in America, but, alas, like pretty much everything else with this movie I was sadly mistaken. Besides maybe a line or two that really came off as another afterthought, and the ending message about gun violence violence statistics, which really solidified the idea to me that this movie was more of a propaganda piece for some anti-gun violence organization than a simple movie with a message, the movie, unfortunately, completely misses that ball.
There was also this random line that speaks to race relations and the criminal justice system that seemed more comedic to me and as if it were trivializing a very important issue today more than anything. It was as if the writers thought, "Ok, this is a really hot button issue today, so let's try to figure out a way to fit into the story," and then said, "Ok, yeah, let's just slide it in here when the boy wants to turn himself in for a crime that he actually committed and is instead discouraged by his aunt because he's 'brown'. Yeah, that works" *pulls out hair*
Sitting and have to watch this movie was one of the more tortuous events that I've had to experience within recent times. I hated every minute of it, so, definitely be sure to check it out when it gets released. *Enter Cady Heron* No, I'm totally kidding. Avoid this movie at all costs.
Rating: 0 out of 5
