Sektor 236 – Tors Vrede review

As a film maker, what line is one to take to low budget feature film projects that does not end up being a great indie movie? The question was once again raised, after watching Sektor 236 Tors Vrede last night.

The movie is about some kind of supernatural phenomenon that exists in a few different places around the world, including Sweden. The Swedish military together with American specialists set out to find the source as well as a platoon that have gone missing in the wilderness. A group of people around their 20′s are at the same time hiking in that very same forest, without any knowledge that they are being observed by something hostile. Soon they become aware of that they are in great danger and they have to escape with all means possible.

The movie can be summarised with the word ‘uneven’, as some parts work but most don’t. This goes for all the components of the movie. The acting is for example pretty stiff, with the exception for a few characters. I question the number of characters in this movie, as only a few of them seem to have a back story relevant to the movie. They could have been fused to into half the number I believe or their dialogue should have had a greater function.

Most of the actors seem to be amateurs, but a couple of them are known actors, like Tintin Anderzon and Fredrik Dolk, and I have to congratulate to this. The technical elements sometime works very well with really nice composition and atmospheric sound, but for the most part people get framed in strange ways, the grading differs between shots and the sound is mixed and mastered in a way that you can sometimes not even hear what they are saying (I had to manually compensate for the differences in sound!).

Another interesting thing is that the music is made by Jan Johansen, a Swedish singer, but his rock music mostly feels misplaced. The most impressing thing with the movie is the use of real helicopters and military gear. If you ignore that the gear is not what the Swedish army uses, it works really well. There is however a problem with adding that kind of production value when other parts lack it. In this case it adds to the unevenness and excessive use of those sequences then lowers the production value a little. And why do some of the characters have rave outfits?

Sektor 236 – Tors Vrede is written by Björne Hellquist, who has also directed it together with Robert Putkis. From what I’ve gathered it is their first feature movie and I think it is important to remember this. The basic story ain’t that bad, but the script feels like it should have gone through a couple of more rewrites. Most of what’s in the movie have been seen before and the original stuff, mainly in the last act, ain’t explained enough to become that interesting, in my opinion.

Much of the errors and the whole unevenness thing, are things that I can see traces of in most low budget productions, including my own. It is kind of a natural result of low budget and not working with a pro crew. Sektor 236 – Tors Vrede is worth watching if you want to analyse flaws you want to avoid in your own movies or are really into b-movies. If you want a good science fiction horror, I however can’t recommend it.

• Swedish title: Sektor 236 – Tors Vrede
• Made in: Sweden
• Language: Swedish
• Runtime: 96 min
• Swedish release date: 9 November 2010
• Awards: -

Trailer:

Tags: review, swe-fi, timetravel