The Sniper @ 3DMM BB

(Note: This was written as a list of impressions and quickly got more detailed as I wrote it, so I'm calling it a review and posting it. The first paragraph, the spoilered part, and a few comments are new.)

After a long release gap (for him, the rest of the community is slow as shit by comparison), Dominator Dan brings us his comeback movie, and it's an edgy, rough, noisy fun. Despite him finally breaking out the v3dmm expansions for the first time, The Sniper @ 3DMM BB plays like an old-school sniper epic, where directors would meander for the first half, showing off things about the community they don't like, and eventually snap and start THE ACTION SEQUENCE. Dan doesn't disappoint for the most part here, but the best part is the way the movie plays like a rant in 3DMM form. He puts together a long list of things about the board and finds a way to fit them all in, constructing something anyone from any era of 3DMM can enjoy. The topics and targets range from The Testing Forum and MSN annoyances to Space Goat and Ben Rice, so it's all over the map. I've never thought of Dan as a spokesman for 3dmm.com, but he certainly plays that role well here.

There's not a whole hell of a lot to complain about, because it was good from an enjoyability standpoint. It's endearing in that trademark Daniel Martin way, rough in some spots, weirdly quiet in others, but punctuated with awesome and surprising bursts of animation. It wasn't out-and-out hilarious in the way the Game Show was, I laughed once or twice early on, but was mostly smiling through it. The community jokes worked for the most part (the Testing Forum has, as everyone said, the best portrayal in the film), and the cameos were made up of a pretty wide range. I liked Jim McGraff's extended cameo, which plays even better after the release of Episode 1 in 2007. The 3dmm.com cameos were hard to pick out unless you knew the 3DMM actors each community member has chosen for himself, but there's a helpful list at the end, and the movie is good enough to warrant a second watch. As for the sniper himself: SAW IT COMING. Haha, no seriously, I was honored to be the sniper, and I had a feeling that might happen when I didn't see myself up to that point. I agreed with Jim McGraff during our exchange though, my character clearly doesn't understand the rules of a Dominator Dan movie and deserved the kick.

Two things were fucking kick-ass about this movie: The first is Dan's use of v3dmm. While the new models and the implementation of several expansions are noticably sloppier than most movies v3dmm-usage thus far, they capture that rough but insanely imaginative quality that Dan's pre-v3dmm stuff usually did. If they're a little rougher than the standard fare, well, 11 days for a project this big can do that to you. Besides which, this is pretty obviously Dan's first or second outing with much of what's been available for a long time, so if he uses a few Superdings objects in somewhat unconventional ways, fair enough; the uniqueness that ensues in the style is always welcome. I've been waiting to see people stop worrying so much about perfecting every aspect of a lot of what's out there in their work and just blast ahead in playing with it, like you might do with normal 3DMM, Frankie's Expansion, Doraemon, or Nick. The fusion of 3DMM and v3dmm here can be a little rough (seems to be the word of the day with this project), but Dan is stubborn and unworried about trying a bunch of new stuff in unfamiliar territory. 'Bout time.

The other kick-ass thing is what appears to be yet another step in his irreverent, self-referential, ADD-afflicted nature, evidenced by all the 3D Text stabs at himself throughout the movie. My favorite was Jammin' Jeff turning around after a long, dramatic entrance and suddenly Dan uses 3D Text with an arrow to point out a texturing mistake in the model, where a line of off-color pixels splits the back of Jeff's pants open. There are other fantastic visual gags that don't really involve v3dmm, but are funny in a physical way, like the drawer to the Muse CDs springing open and bashing Lmac across the room, or the minus signs spewing from Art Gallery regulars performing the yell action as they turn away from Dan's work to see him there, are oblivious that he is intent on destroying them, and start badmouthing his work.

The whole movie has this misanthropic "who the fuck cares" feel to it, darker and more unconcerned about accessibility in places than even 5DMM. It's probably Dan's most self-conscious movie to date, and if you look at the JDRs and 5DMM, you'll understand where I'm coming from; in those, he's completely self-indulgent, having fun with his own antics and hoping you do too, but here he's totally aware of the community, his place in it, and makes a point of speaking directly to us. The twist of irony is that this time, he doesn't seem to care much if something isn't working. It's almost cynical at times. Lots of long pauses for jokes that might seem like dead air if he still had that puppy-dog earnestness that permeated JDR Revival, but this reminded me a bit of Sniper@ADLH, where Andres probably wasn't that concerned how well some easy shots were taken. He's grown up, gotten a little bitter, and says "FUCK THIS SHIT >: (" when he knows a joke isn't working. I'm not sure if it's a refreshing change, but I can't remember ever feeling bored.

Silly, funny, highly entertaining, a little darker than usual, and a little intentionally inaccessible, which is just fuckin' awesome.

Critical Score: 78/100.
Personal Score: 78/100.