Firebase (2017) User Reviews

Firebase: Another great but incomplete Oats Studios short

[Platypuschow · 7/10 · 29 August 2017]

This is now the third Oats Studios short I've watched and I'm suitably impressed. Well made, great production values, well cast and they look fantastic.

Here we have a third seemingly Omnipotent force appearing during the Vietnam War and the story is told perfectly.

Well, that is until it suddenly ends incomplete on a cliff hanger! That's the trouble with these shorts, they are like a single scene ripped from a grand scale epic movie.

The scene is great, but it's just a scene all the same.

Firebase certainly has oceans of entertainment value but is yet another Oats Studios story that will never be fully told.

The Good:

Looks great

Awesome story/Entity

Documentary footage fits nicely

The Bad:

Incomplete with huge cliff hanger ending

Solidly crafted Vietnam war horror short

[Condemned-Soul · 8/10 · 22 July 2017]

Neill Blomkamp departs slightly from his trademark gritty visual style and socioeconomic premises with 'Firebase', a solidly crafted short within the Vietnam war genre that effectively breeds with straight out horror, injecting an unconquerable foe into the nightmarish fold. But it still retains the director's penchant for weaving CGI effects realistically into the setting.

What it lacks in characterisation and closure it more than makes up for in disturbing imagery and creatively building up its main threat. Something evil has risen in the jungles and the grimness of war horror is not forgotten either. For a short film, the budget is quite remarkable. It's pretty much movie quality, and Neill Blomkamp does a fantastic job of stretching that budget across its 25 minute runtime. From the hauntingly realistic raw footage-like montage at the start to the tempo-driven climax, 'Firebase' has a lot to like, and its a shame there's not more to it, just when it breaks stride with some awesome moments in its final scenes.

Lets hope Neill Blomkamp continues to impress with his short films from Oats Studios until his next major movie (maybe expanding on one his recent shorts). 8/10

An Interesting Concept

[whiterose-54828 · 8/10 · 10 October 2021]

Firebase follows a group of American soldiers during the Vietnam War who come face to face with a mysterious supernatural foe known as the "River God". The River God it turns out was a villager who lost his wife and transformed into a skeletal entity with the abilities of invisibility and invincibility, hunting down the enemy soldiers to make them feel his pain.

As a concept Firebase is quite interesting, it reminded me a lot of the original Predator film with a group of soldiers in the jungle under attack from an invisible and seemingly invincible enemy. Unfortunately this short is little more than just that, a concept. There was a plan to turn Firebase into a feature length film via crowd funding but unfortunately it was cancelled soon after funding began. Sadly all we are left with is this interesting concept for a film that will likely never be made.

"It Did Happen..., It Did!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 20 July 2019]

FIREBASE is Director Neill Blomkamp's astonishing vision of the Vietnam war, where the inexplicable "River God" turns the jungle conflict into something even more catastrophic! Can the army possibly stop this paranormal abomination?

Part APOCALYPSE NOW, all supernatural horror, this short film is a unique, mini masterpiece of macabre storytelling. Fabulous CGI and believable humans add to the fright factor. The ending leaves one wanting more...

Lots if potential

[luisgus-72268 · 6/10 · 13 November 2021]

Starts off strong with an 8 type of rating, Great setting and lots of potential.

As the story drags on you remember that its a short and it needs to lead somewhere, the premise is very interesting but the explanation slows down the pase for a movie that is about to end. 7.

The ending itself and the River God fighting for the Vietcong finished killing this for me.

Went from lots of potential to "eh what"

Good idea

[jthaule · 6/10 · 25 October 2021]

The idea and production values are ace, but the execution has too much exposition and wonky pacing. Too many things are repeated, too much monologing, and the editing could be considerable tighter.

Evil dr Manhattan be like...

[Prophet89 · 6/10 · 25 October 2021]

It is a quasi-horror telling of a dr Manhattan story, only here he fights on the other side and instead of a cool accident he's merely made by extreme grief. Just like that. Good production value, good CGI, OK acting and a draft of a story, at best. Short enough to watch, not good enough to make a serious impression.

I need more!!

[giannissol · 10/10 · 2 October 2021]

God damn it I want to see more of it. The atmosphere had me hooked up from the first minute! Well done!

Great short!

[Lilith_i · 8/10 · 15 October 2021]

Could they please just make this into a longer movie!? :) A long time since I've really enjoyed myself with a new story, or concept. The River King was amazing, a couple of things here and there that could be improved upon, just make this a motion picture already!

I usually don't like war vids,

[rockenkay · 10/10 · 10 June 2019]

But add a zombie god and I'm hooked.

It's short sci-fi Twilight Zone-like creature feature and gives lots to think about, especially the ending..

Excellent production,, well written and a well done video..

blabla and no content

[rdvljunk · 2/10 · 17 October 2021]

It is a meaningless style, the oats studio shorts. There is a lot of serious blabla about how special the event is, there is some nice cgi special effects and thats it. No background, no content, it happened and that's it. For those easily impressed by visuals it may be interesting, for those that at least want some basic content it is a total waste of time.

Stylish and interesting, but without enough flesh on its bones (pardon the pun)

[bob the moo · 15 July 2017]

As a fan of short films, and someone who wishes that more people would realize that Vimeo, YouTube, and sites like Short of the Week, all combine to provide lots of entertaining and creative things to watch, it was good to see Neill Blomkamp's new endeavor striking out into this media. Also to see them trying something new by making the film's assets available to those that buy the films. With this being the goal, it is essentially a form of proof-of-concept, which means that (like many of these) the films are not fully-contained pieces that deliver everything you may want.

Firebase is of this ilk. At its heart it has a terrific creature in the River God. The root of the creature suggests something more than a Predator style foe, but at the same time the power and destruction is on an impressive scale. Visually and design-wise, there was a lot to like in this element of the film. Around it though, it struggles to put a lot of exposition – which asks more than the actors can deliver in terms of keeping it natural and engaging. Additionally the rest of the film is a tad too generic, and does feel like a cut- scene from Call of Duty Black Ops (again something that the cast can't help with as they deliver rather generic characters). It still is well worth seeing however, with plenty of action and style in the delivery; but it never stops being generic, and the potential in the main character/monster remains just that throughout.

Strange

[gianmarcoronconi · 10/10 · 22 January 2022]

Particularly strange and disturbing horror short that contains in its short duration a strong message and an alternative version of a fact that really happened.

Gah, i should stop watching those.

[Stephan_fr · 1/10 · 9 July 2020]

It's becoming evident that all the oat studio shorts are attempts at baiting Hollywood, with little in the way of charming its audience. Such a shame as we are his biggest fans. I miss the days of the mind blowing Tetra Vall, which still stand the test of time after 16 years.

Oh and this? It's a cut scene from a video game and not much more, a camera test maybe? In any case it has no plot and no goal, no payout, and no character development. I'm bemused.

scattered and incoherent

[petergamble-55726 · 2/10 · 10 November 2021]

The story is scattered and incoherent. None of the actors appear to know what's going on, just like the audience. Watching this short film was an unpleasant experience.

A bit generic from Blomkamp this time

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 3 July 2017]

"Firebase" is a Canadian English-language short film from 2017, so really fresh and new and it managed to rack up a great quantity of views on Youtube already since late June when it was released. Then film's popularity can easily be explained as these 27 minutes got written and directed by South African Oscar nominee Neill Blomkamp and this film is one of his new project, namely his new production company Oats Studios that produces a bunch of new short films and for Blomkamp it is a bit of back to the roots. But as for once the focus here is not on his home country, it also is not working out that well. The connection between Vietnam War and some supernatural monster there killing soldiers from both sides apparently is never really working out. I also believe that the monster itself is not as interesting now as usual for Blomkamp when it comes to the creatures in his films. To me, it was almost entirely a military movie and the filmmaker usually manages to get in a component that elevates his films beyond that. This one here not so much, it is really only worth seeing for those who love the likes of Black Hawk Down or also the recent Brad Pitt war films for example. From a Blomkamp fan perspective, it was a bit of a letdown and I don't recommend checking it out. Rakka was better and I hope Zygote will be once again too.

Mindless, disgusting trash

[christopherhattonuk · 8 October 2021]

Two series which Blomkamps Shorts are often compared to are: 'Love, Death and Robots' and 'Black Mirror'. Both of these series are varied and clever; while 'Firebase' is anything but: I fail to see what such a dismal string of shock & gore shots brings to the world except baseless negativity.

TERRIBLE TRASH, BASELESS MIND

[azazel-67628 · 1/10 · 9 October 2021]

This is an unacceptable and discriminatory distortion of the war in Vietnam where American soldiers dropped napalm, Agent Orange and massacred millions of people. The director is justifying America's defeat by saying that the Vietnamese are monsters.