j* Movie Reviews 2019

Nekrotronic (2019)

Neon cyber-punk of the reasonably hilarious Australian kind.

The trailer is 100% Hell Yes! So I've been super keen. It pitches kind of as Ghostbusters by Aussies, and it mostly delivers on that vibe. Where it is totally winning is in the effects, lighting, set and cyberpunk... it is delivering the visuals at a Marvel quality level. It is definitely worth seeing for the beauty they put into it.

The gist is a spook story about a demon using a pokemon-go type app to take over souls and cause chaos, and a special who has to fight her. And that's cool, super neat premise, as previously noted visually executed really well. It has this super-awesome ghost character who was my favourite part.

But then, well, I think it's a case of writer-director holding on too tight. There's an awful lot of pre-explaining.... A character telling a long sequence about what needs to happen next, then they do it. Just do it, damnit. I don't want to hear it, I just want to see it. And then there's a lot of over talking - lines of dialogue that were not just unnecessary, but also diffused the cool that could have been had it been a look or a gesture. I mean this with critical love - this film could have been as cool as Blade, if only they'd let someone strip it back a little further.

Still worth a look for the madcap action and cyberpunky-ghost-gold. And the Aussie accents.

J* gives it 3 stars.