007: Unleash the Dragon

Unleash the Dragon
Directed by Frogman

When contemplating the blessing/curse combination of the effect of hype in the 3DMM community, one need look no further than Frogman's phantom epic Unleash the Dragon. While several project names certainly contend for that coveted "Best Movie that Never Came Out" distinction, nothing quite inspired the same notoriety as UTD, partially due to Frogman's sly winks and veiled allusions to the film's revolutionary brilliance every step of the way. And as long as the community still survives, there will never be a tagline with the same doomed connotation as "IT is coming...." Well, after one year of insistence on its progress and another of aimless indecision about the project's future, IT finally came....but it arrived not with a bang, but a quiet whimper. In the scheme of what UTD means to the community, the scattered bits of unfinished footage released in February of 2004 is less of a culmination or even a testament to the downward spiral the project took, but an afterthought, a small footnote in a long essay. I don't mean this in a disrespectful way to the work Frogman put in on the project, but as an observation. The release thread has, to date, 80 replies in it, and the general pattern of replies indicates that it was great, but there wasn't much to it. People have already forgotten it exists.

Is it really fair? Who can say? God knows the footage itself works hard enough -- there's not a moment here that isn't crafted with the competence of a live-action Bond director, expertly constructed, coolly professional, smooth as glass. We're given four clips from different stages of the movie: one major action sequence, one stealth sequence, one that combines elements of both, and one brief but well-executed skirmish. In a way, the unfinished UTD plays like the highlights of any Bond concept, skipping the exposition scenes that bridge the plot together and jumping between the elaborately coreographed action sequences directly. You've got the intro on an enemy tanker, a small melee in a parking garage, a race across a grassy mountain terrain on ATVs, complete with helicopter and train complications, and an infiltration in a snowy setting that ends abruptly as the film runs out of footage. It's a small notch or two above a demo reel for a Bond movie concept, and Frogman directs it so brilliantly that despite its rather short runtime you can see that quite a bit of effort went into it. But for all its top-notch quality and professionalism, it's strangely forgettable, something even those who gave it its highest praise can guiltily admit.

Perhaps the most depressing thing about UTD reflects every director's jealousy when they see an effect used that they had thought up long before but hadn't completed the movie that utilized it yet. Everyone who made movies back in the day had to have experienced this at least once -- doing something really cool that no one had done quite as well, only to see someone else surpass them before they get to show off. With UTD at last revealed, I winced in sympathy at all of the things it did really, really well, even for current day standards. You watch and you are impressed in spite of yourself, but the real surprise comes when you think of when these things were first made. Very little work on the movie progressed throughout 2003, so Frogman pioneered and cultivated many techniques two to three years ago, and sat by on the sidelines watching his own work gradually become obsolete. If you think this was painful, consider the alternative: Stepping up and admitting that the biggest hype campaign in the history of the 3DMM community was all a load of crap. Tweaking what he had for a full year and toying with the idea of an unfinished release, he finally gave in in Februrary, after a hotshot director with newly regained enthusiasm, fresh off his own major release, spent a few days trying to talk him into it.

But look beyond all the "what ifs" and "too bads", disregard the implications of UTD's bout with enormous hype and subsequent death, nevermind who's fault it was that work and inspiration dropped off, and look at what's there: Frogman has made, in effect, the best 3DMM Bond movie ever from a cinematography standpoint. Despite the lack of a coherent plot, each segment makes a sort of narrative sense in what's shown and what happens. From direction alone, Frogman tells a rudimentary story that feels like watching someone play the mission-based Goldeneye on N64, with brand-new and better looking missions. And if Bond's suavity is sacrificed along with spoken dialogue and non-action scenes, that exquisite satisfaction you can only get from the payoff of a Bond movie action sequence sure isn't -- Frogman has done the impossible and matched the slick professionalism of the closing shots from any memorable Bond stunt. And without even plot context (or more accurately to Bond movie techniques, a good 40 minutes of buildup), the ATV sequence even inspires the same sort of edge-of-your-seat tension. This is one of the few unfinished movies where you'll stop thinking about what it could have been and simply enjoy what it is.

The one major failing of the package is definitely its production value. It's clear that Frogman wanted it out the door as fast as possible, but all we get in terms of credits, transitions between segments, or anything that isn't movie footage consists of a few default 2D text descriptions and a Dragon logo that marks the beginning of each new sequence. The final credit listing is basically a "Thanks for watching, sorry I let everyone down." It doesn't seem like that big of a deal considering it's an unfinished movie, but it further solidifies the downtrodden, almost depressing nature that rears its ugly head throughout the experience....it fuels the frustration and makes the movie's embarrassing history far more evident than it needs to be. Frogman salvages quite a bit of dignity through the power of the footage alone, but despite being the most worthwhile unfinished watch of all time, UTD also serves as the ultimate "Imagine what could have been."

To end this on a bit of a happier note, I've heard rumors that our boy is picking up the program again with the advent of v3dmm and what it might offer for action and scenery effects. When it comes to UTD's impact on the community and its relevance to Frogman's career, I believe it will instantly be cast in a new light the moment he begins work on another project. I await his return to form with an eagerness reserved only for the best directors this community has seen drift away. Brilliant as it is, I belive the unfinished UTD is only the beginning.

Personal Score: 85/100.

[Aaron Haynes]

Old review from 2004. Note how I subtly take credit for convincing Frogman to release it.

[Gorosaurus]

I predict that Frogman will pop in sometime this year. Feel free to bump this thread when I am right, so I can subtly take credit for that

[Frogman]

Wow, thanks for the review Aaron! a really great read!

And Goro....your prediction was about 5 years behind and you can now take credit for it!

[Gorosaurus]

Huzzah! 5 times the points

[Frogman]

Indeed!