The Surreal Desert: Desert Eagle

Desert Eagle
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By Kyle Magocs

A concept piece by Kyle Magocs, Desert Eagle is a surreal fantasy adventure that focuses on imagery to pull the viewer in. It works, for the most part, but starts off a bit vague, leaving the viewer to wonder what exactly is happening.

Story
As far as story goes, the concept is simple, the character is shipwrecked on an island that comes alive at night. Well, the dead come alive, and other mysterious events happen. The problem is, the introduction to the night sequence isn’t all that clear, which puts the movie off on a shaky foot. The viewer is playing catch up most of the time if they don’t already know the plot before the movie. Thankfully, however, Kyle included a little blurb about what exactly happens in the movie during the credits. I found this to be very useful, since I went almost the entire movie wondering what the heck was happening.

Presentation
The presentation is clean and fitting for this sort of film. Magocs’ camera moves almost every scene, giving it a more music video-like feel to it, rather than a cinematic feel. Some camera moves are a bit fast to see what’s going on, but given the nature of the film, it seems to fit better than it might have been intended to. The camera can feel a bit wild, which is a bit distracting at times. Most of the time, it’s on track, but there are times when the camera would have been better served as a static scene.

Visuals
Visually, the movie is solid, with the fantasy imagery being the main draw of the visuals. Magocs was aiming for a stylistic rather than realistic look, and that he achieves. There was a problem with wondering what certain things were, such as things that come from the ground and whatnot, but part of the movie’s… thing… is that it takes some interpretation to know what everything is supposed to represent. A second viewing does help, and since the movie is about 3 minutes long, it is easy to go back in for another take on the film. Several effects, such as fire daemons, attacking trees and water effects are quite well done. There are some visual flaws, such as nasty crosshatching on a long establishing shot, but the overall strength outweighs the problems.

Sound
Sound is a mixed bag. On one hand, it is a music video-type film, which dictates the sound should be just music, but at times the lack of dramatic sound effects did bring the experience down. No footsteps, crashes, or explosions to emphasize the action fit the style of the film, but I felt it could have done well if Magocs had included some bit of sound along with the soundtrack. It generally detracts from the intimacy of the movie. It’s harder to get into it when you feel like you’re detached and watching what’s happening.

The Final Word
Although practically lacking storytelling elements, the conceptual feel of this film is fresh and new. If you’re looking for a narrative and engrossing story, this isn’t the film to watch. For a neat concept with well enough execution, Magocs has brought together this pleasant little film. I have mixed feelings about it, which is when a personal score would come in handy, but I haven’t added something like that in, I might.

******1/2 (6.5/10) A worthy effort