AMAZING. Can't say I've seen many music videos, but I can say this is quite possibly the best one I've seen BY FAR. Even if you're not a huge Weeknd fan, (which I can definitely say I'm not), this is still a must see for the stylish direction alone! Love this director!
5 Reviews
Ilya Naishuller takes a Hardcore shot at The Weeknd
Luiselclapperloader2 December 2016
I love the f- out of Ilya Naishuller's Bad Motherf-er, i may have replayed the living heck out of that video, with Hardcore Henry he had definitely outdone himself.
And with his latest hit, surprisingly a music video for another music group that is not Biting Elbows, takes an action-packed, kinetic and highly entertaining project that serves as both an insanely well choreographed bank-robbing scenario and a kick-ass dressing for a kick-ass song.
It also shows how much he liked his collab on Payday's 2 script since the bank heist scenario, while shorter than the other half and thus concentrating more on the runaway, is gritty, police forces and bystanders are getting shot at, and the POV's character, is such a cool out mix of Henry's likeliness as an anti-heroic character (not that he doesn't show to be giving a f- to people at surroundings, but neither does he look unapparent to that) and a mercilessly random GTA player, it gives a conscience to the "Hero" and the smallest emotions shared toward him and another character are well rounded and realized.
(Although i feel like between this and HH, Ilya has quite a different point of view of love.)
Also, Ilya Naishuller manages to achieve something quite odd, by giving some charisma to the main character, because he really doesn't show to be a perfect action hero, nor he does things done flawlessly on his own, it's a somewhat nice character you kinda effortlessly root for.
Expect also quite amazing stuntwork and awesome blood-thirsty gunfire-driven action that while not being as mindblowingly gory as Hardcore Henry, it doesn't stop it from being more violent than the standard music video as it genuinely feels as though you were watching a next-gen gameplay of an FPS.
And quite an excitingly blood-pumping good short action story well told in less time that a film could do so.
And with his latest hit, surprisingly a music video for another music group that is not Biting Elbows, takes an action-packed, kinetic and highly entertaining project that serves as both an insanely well choreographed bank-robbing scenario and a kick-ass dressing for a kick-ass song.
It also shows how much he liked his collab on Payday's 2 script since the bank heist scenario, while shorter than the other half and thus concentrating more on the runaway, is gritty, police forces and bystanders are getting shot at, and the POV's character, is such a cool out mix of Henry's likeliness as an anti-heroic character (not that he doesn't show to be giving a f- to people at surroundings, but neither does he look unapparent to that) and a mercilessly random GTA player, it gives a conscience to the "Hero" and the smallest emotions shared toward him and another character are well rounded and realized.
(Although i feel like between this and HH, Ilya has quite a different point of view of love.)
Also, Ilya Naishuller manages to achieve something quite odd, by giving some charisma to the main character, because he really doesn't show to be a perfect action hero, nor he does things done flawlessly on his own, it's a somewhat nice character you kinda effortlessly root for.
Expect also quite amazing stuntwork and awesome blood-thirsty gunfire-driven action that while not being as mindblowingly gory as Hardcore Henry, it doesn't stop it from being more violent than the standard music video as it genuinely feels as though you were watching a next-gen gameplay of an FPS.
And quite an excitingly blood-pumping good short action story well told in less time that a film could do so.
Back in the short form, this FPS stuff works well even if it is superficial in terms of content
bob the moo20 December 2016
I have not watched the feature Hardcore Henry, but by most accounts is not so good; I guess that the POV action stuff is better in short form rather than creating a whole narrative using it. Perhaps related, the director has returned to the short music video form that gave him such success with Biting Elbows, and has made this video for The Weekend. The film is the getaway from a bank robbery, and relies very heavily on movement and action to work. On this front it does, and it is very much like a video game scene – GTA5 comes to mind, but I know the director also worked on Payday 2, so maybe that is a better reference.
The film is a short, impacting ride – very violent and without any emotional context to draw you in, but it is the speed that makes it work. Technically it is very impressive in how it is all put together, and there are lots of cool ideas within this too – the use of the mini-drone, the jumping between vehicles, the shooting through the side of the vehicle, etc. It does play very well, and the FPS-view suits the video game content. In the end it is still a novelty piece that will play very well online but doesn't leave you with much after – which is fine, because it does deliver in the moment, which is what it is all about.
The film is a short, impacting ride – very violent and without any emotional context to draw you in, but it is the speed that makes it work. Technically it is very impressive in how it is all put together, and there are lots of cool ideas within this too – the use of the mini-drone, the jumping between vehicles, the shooting through the side of the vehicle, etc. It does play very well, and the FPS-view suits the video game content. In the end it is still a novelty piece that will play very well online but doesn't leave you with much after – which is fine, because it does deliver in the moment, which is what it is all about.
Botched robbery music video
Horst_In_Translation6 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"False Alarm" is a 6-minute music video from 2016 and the artist we hear in this one is Oscar nominee The Weeknd. The director is Ilya Naishuller, but I must say I am neither familiar with him nor with any of the actors we see here. The film starts with a robbery and the criminals flee with a girl they took hostage. The story then is pretty generic and cringeworthy almost as of course one of the robbers (the one we are as this is a first-person film) makes a connection with her and the one who acts realistically gets killed. And the ending is also really just dramatic for the sake of it and offer very little in terms of quality when it comes to story-telling. Oh well, the music video is kinda spectacular and showy and probably better than 90% of the other music videos out there. And also, the song is decent, not bad, but also not very good. The problem is that what we see and what we hear do not fit together at all in my opinion. This is one of the reasons why I give this one a thumbs-down overall. Not recommended, even if over 50 million Youtube users in less than two months may think differently. But hey, quality is not the same as quantity. Watch something else instead. Final note: Stay away from this one if you can't deal with graphic bloody violence.
Pure garbage... not worth your time
daniel-36-40801916 January 2018
If you cherish your brain cells, you'll avoid this film. The director clearly has no idea how to develop a plot or anything even resembling character development. Why anyone would ever fund one of his films is beyond me. Dude needs to retire and get a job doing wedding videos.
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