Reviewed by Jon Barton

I saw Powerplay when it came out but I didn't remember much considering most of the movie is made up of conversations. This is my personal gripe with the film. When you watch Powerplay, unless you have a keen eye for this style, it is easily forgotten. That's a real shame, because it is genuinely a fantastic movie, boasting the most innovative camera angles, excellent continuity and sound editing and on top of that some of the best scenery of city scenes you're likely to see. And it uses Back In Time in the soundtrack. Which quite frankly is quality.

Powerplay is a really difficult movie to review. And the reason its difficult is because it is a really unspecific movie. Unspecific in that the focus of the film continually shifts from comedy to majesty to action etc. The premise is brilliant for a community based movie, communist rule as the answer to the board's problems successfully argued as the defining means of making everything better actually makes a fair amount of sense. And to compliment these ideas Jorrit and Tom are never afraid to blend it with some very funny comedy. The moment when Jorrit changes the subject surrounding Tom's mention that it would be logically impossible for him to meet Stalin is absolutely hilarious, while sight gags such as the remote control sequence both helps to reinforce this and push the story further. Communism as a solution also adds a gestic message to the film suggesting ways of change for the board's dictatorship.

Not enough happens in Part 1 for me to get truly immersed in it. The presentation of EP city for example is so grand and on a scale so epic that they are badly matched with some narrative development. One moment the audience is asked to lose themselves in the expanse of the city, their minds warped by the sheer nature of the grandeur, and the next they are catapulted into an apartment where a conversation may consume three minutes of the film independently. A continuing story usually picks up in the second chapter but ultimately I found it insanely difficult to enjoy the company of the characters considering the extreme nature of the communist rule, the dictator-like measures taken by Fred to keep the board alive and the status they have in relation to other members of the board both seen and unseen. A city has to have suburbs and you have to wonder with all the glossiness of the condos presented here who exactly dwells there. Maybe in time I'll be able to forget about the status issues and class struggles but for now it remains my key worry that Powerplay may end up so political that it begins to drift into self-parody.

However, EP city is as rich and detailed as they come both visually and in terms of narrative. It seems completely apparent that Jorrit and Tom did their homework when penning Powerplay, as everything is in its place. The mythology of the board is all accurate and coupled with a unique blend of directorial methods and wonderful comic timing means at best PP would have to try very hard to fall down. It is genuinely a very funny movie, which may confuse audiences considering the nature of Maltby's appearance, however brief, and Space Goat's high rise haven complete with an anti-communist dartboard.

Although the direction is brilliant, the voice acting is on top form and the narrative is to die for, I recognise that I may have addressed more criticism than anything else in this review, but that is simply because Powerplay has had quite enough praise already, all of which I have agreed with. My only real fear is that Part 2 will have to try harder to pick up some pace. For as good and entertaining as the conversations were they did slow the film down, and Part 2 needs to shake off this pattern if it is to succeed with flying colours, which no doubt it will. The first in possible series is by no means disappointing, but remains very much a work in progress. The start of a brilliant saga no doubt, but in the long run Part 1 will not be remembered as the best one.

8/10