Scintilla - The Hybrid

(Film Cinema Review)

***1/2
The Scintilla is a puzzle !!!

I really did not know what to expect from the Scintilla (Aka The Hybrid) and as I was packed into a cinema full off the cast at a hotel in Mayfair, I thought it showed some promise. The film was directed by Billy O' Brian (Isolation / The Tale of the rat that Wrote) who has done a great job bring out his vision of the story written by Steve Clark (Almost Married / Super Tornado) and Josh Golga who as an actor starred in 'Patrol Men' and 'Temptation'. The film contains a great soundtrack which see's Biff Byford (Saxon) teaming up with the mastermind of the band Hell and producer of the greats Andy Sneap (Machine Head / Megadeth / Testament / Soulfly / Carcass ext...). This great soundtrack set the scene of the film, but I have to say when a soundtrack is this good, it would have to be some film to compete with it.

They go about picking in the cast in the right way with John Lynch (Sliding Doors / Black Death / The Secret Garden / Best / In the name of the Father ext...) as the leading man in the movie and he puts in another great performance which far outshines the film. He is joined in the movie by Morjanna Alaoui (Traitors / Rock the Casbah) and Craig Conway (Dog Soldiers / The Descent / The Hogfather), Antonia Thomas (Misfits / The Muskateers). In this epic portrayal of mercenaries on a covert operation deep inside the Soviet state.

They are on a mission to rescue a girl and then find out not everything is what it seems and their is a boy their too and both the boy and the girl are not what they seem. The story shows the relationships between the party of mercenaries and the boy and girl and the people they meet on the way and how some people just can't be trusted, however much you think you know them. These Sci-Fi movie verges on horror and the horrific in places and their are a few moments that make you cringe and what you are seeing. You can understand why they casted Craig who did great performances in Dog Soldiers and The Descent, both films with a similar vibe.

Their are some nice scenes down corridors and some of the relationships between the characters is well worth watching, this film really shows off some of the great British emerging talents like Aiste Gramantaite that plays a biker girl with an attitude and a killer Russian accent. Also the conversations between her and Chris Ellis Stanton (Doctors / My Hero) are just brilliant and you can't take your eyes off the screen when they are happening.

The other great moments you can't stop watching is when John sets the scenes of the isolation and bleakness of the film well with his acting and Craig is just what you want to see from a hired mercenary and gives a good contrast to the creepiness and gives you almost a character you can identify with. Ned Dennehy (Sherlock Holmes / Reign of Fire / Blitz / King Arthur) who plays Harris is also superb and gives a good comedy value to film with some great one liners.

While Jumayn Hunter (Attack the Block / Eden Lake) gives the film a good urban modern feel to it. She works well as one of the antagonist and really get's the movie going, making it less stale with the slow build up at the start. Actor Edward Dogliani (Game of Thrones) who plays Corry in the film made the premier extra special for me because of his antics while the film was going on, showing the cast have a good sense of humour and didn't take everything too seriously even though the film had dark haunting underlines to it.

Everything in the movie is going well until the meet an evil scientist played by Beth Winslet (The Shadow Within / Bodywork) in her laboratory, who's bad acting really ruins the scene that is already set up at the beginning of the film. Her costume just does not fit into the esthetic of the production and even the room she is in looks far to clean and bright to be down in the catacombs of an old building. This is the part in the movie where their are long explanations for everything and it turns into a rush for the survival of their life with loads of twists and turns.

Doing this takes away the mystery of the film and the puzzles, which in a way you want to work out for yourselves. Saying that I was thinking different at the beginning of the film where nothing was explained at all. Perri Hanson who plays Goethe the boy that is found in the laboratory is a good emerging actor and one to watch in the future and really brings something different to the movie. The movie is nicely shot and I like some of the angles but certain things ruin it like the lack of different scenery and the lab, some of the surroundings just become too similar.

This is a good film that I did enjoy and it has good choice of suspension and twist and turns, but I think it's not need to go to the cinema to see it unless you want to the experience the decent quality picture and great soundtrack which come across very well on the big screen. But personally I would get it on video so I can stop it and look into it in more detail and maybe put it on late at night to watch with a friend. I would most definitely buy the soundtrack for this film, because it is awesome and shows Biff Byford off at his best. It also nice to see another good British film coming out in the recession and I think the director of this film Billy O'Brian will go on to bigger and better things. So I would keep checking out his name on Google because something really exciting is coming.