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many respects, "Druid Gladiator Clone"
has the same whimsical feel and texture of the
amateur backyard movies that you made with your
friends when you were a kid. However, creators
Matt Farley and Charles Roxburgh are far from
amateurs, as "Druid Gladiator Clone" is
the third instalment in their five-part
"Thomasville Saga". And, to their
credit, their skills in the plotting and humour
department more than compensate for the problems
brought on by a low budget. Yet, one has to feel
slightly let down that they didn't put a bit more
time and effort into making "Druid Gladiator
Clone" look a little less like a home video.
The storyline is certainly
different: an evil Druid warlord (Kevin McGee)
resurrects a young man (Matt Farley) and
transforms him into a wicked superhero. With the
help of a nice young woman (Mel Chyner), the
superhero eventually begins to question his
diabolical beliefs. As if his hands weren't full
enough with his study of good and evil, the
superhero also has to deal with the confusion
caused by his clone, his girlfriend Bri (Brianna
Henderson), the beasts of The Druid Gladiator
Match, being closely watched by a professor of
Druidism (Charles Roxburgh), and, of course, the
scheming Druid warlord who resurrected him in the
first place.
Suffice to say, it can get a
little confusing, with the viewer having to ask
why these things are happening on more than one
occasion. However, because the movie does not take
itself seriously, neither should you. I am fairly
certain that if you look too deep below the
surface, "Druid Gladiator Clone" will be
ruined, so just sit back and enjoy it rather than
digging for a "hidden meaning". Still, I
can't shake the feeling that a part of the movie
wants to be analysed…
I was surprised that I
enjoyed "Druid Gladiator Clone" as much
as I did, as I have seen too many no-budget movies
made by twenty-something Californians ruined by
pretentious "underlying ideas" about
good and evil. And, yes, "Druid Gladiator
Clone" has its own ideas about good and evil,
but thankfully, the film does not suffer from
this, and in fact benefits, as these ideas (mostly
the musings of the Druid Farley) actually add a
certain amount of sophistication to this otherwise
amateur project, showing us that Farley and
Roxburgh actually know what they are doing.
With the theme of good and
evil out of the way, "Druid Gladiator
Clone" is actually quite entertaining, to the
point of being (occasionally) laugh-out-loud
funny. Well, maybe just a snigger. The humour is
slapstick, surreal and low key at the same time,
and, unlike a lot of low-budget features, is
actually funny on purpose. Much of the dialog
seems to be ad-libbed ("Sand castle lessons
are out of the window"), adding to the
madness and surrealism of the picture.
My one glaring complaint
about "Druid Gladiator Clone" is the
overall lack of sound and picture quality. Yes, I
appreciate that Farley and Roxburgh had very
little money to work with, and the whole thing was
probably shot on a home video camera or digi-cam,
but the camerawork is very shaky, and as a result
does a lot to nullify the overall quality of the
film. Also, the sound is quite frustrating, and
was probably recorded directly through the camera.
Once again, this detracts from the film's overall
quality. Maybe the home video look was something
Farley and Roxburgh were going for, but it makes
the movie look like a bunch of friends were
messing around and less like a legitimate film.
The ending of "Druid
Gladiator Clone" is rather abrupt, and
doesn't really tie anything up, making the subplot
of the Druidism professor trying to find out more
about the Druid Gladiator Match seem rather
pointless. A great deal of confusion is also
caused by the character of Bri -- is she evil, is
she not evil, and what does she have to do with
any other aspects of the film? Maybe the sequel
"Druids, Druids Everywhere" intends to
answer some of the questions that the ending
poses, but frankly, I could have used something a
little more substantial than the
"cliff-hanger ending" offered here.
"Druid Gladiator
Clone" is a flawed movie that is,
nevertheless, very fun, different and silly. If
you don't take it seriously, you're bound to get a
few giggles out of it. And I'd watch out for the
"Thomasville Saga"; it has the makings
of a cult classic. |
