I stumbled across Frogman and, as ever, I immediately question it when I see a 2/10 and a 10/10 review next to each other. It actually drives me to watch a film so I can call out the fake!
And it was quickly clear which one it was.
I usually enjoy about fifteen minutes of any found footage movies - and that was true of Frogman. But overly long exposition, poor pacing and heavy handed use of glitch effects that many such films suffer from, were all present here in spades:
The build up to the first visit to Frogman Point was waaay too long (almost forty minutes) and did little to build tension, and the more intimate conversations between the friends dragged somewhat. Scenes of running through trees at night shouldn't last that long either. The glitch effects became very intrusive, very quickly.
The acting standard was variable, ranging from 'recent drama school grad' to 'been at it a while but not getting far'. Some actors displayed both ends of that spectrum in their performances.
I applaud the use of a practical creature rather than CGI, but they didn't quite pull it off. The hackneyed 'flashlight light cuts out, panic for five seconds, flashlight comes on, frogman is hanging upside down behind them' scene was a (presumably unintended) laugh out loud moment that I had to watch again.
The humour that some of the external reviews talk about as being such a strong feature of the film, well, I didn't see much that was notably funny (in the right way). That being said, the No Parking sign did make me laugh.
Without revealing the plot twist too much, I liked the reveal of a third party group just over an hour into the film.
Overall, the film was far from horrible, and had they worked on overcoming, rather than exaggerating, the typical found footage flaws, it could have garnered a 6/10 from me. For me, though, it's consigned to the pile of 'watch with friends and giggle for the wrong reasons'.
So, how about that 10 star review? You decide!
And it was quickly clear which one it was.
I usually enjoy about fifteen minutes of any found footage movies - and that was true of Frogman. But overly long exposition, poor pacing and heavy handed use of glitch effects that many such films suffer from, were all present here in spades:
The build up to the first visit to Frogman Point was waaay too long (almost forty minutes) and did little to build tension, and the more intimate conversations between the friends dragged somewhat. Scenes of running through trees at night shouldn't last that long either. The glitch effects became very intrusive, very quickly.
The acting standard was variable, ranging from 'recent drama school grad' to 'been at it a while but not getting far'. Some actors displayed both ends of that spectrum in their performances.
I applaud the use of a practical creature rather than CGI, but they didn't quite pull it off. The hackneyed 'flashlight light cuts out, panic for five seconds, flashlight comes on, frogman is hanging upside down behind them' scene was a (presumably unintended) laugh out loud moment that I had to watch again.
The humour that some of the external reviews talk about as being such a strong feature of the film, well, I didn't see much that was notably funny (in the right way). That being said, the No Parking sign did make me laugh.
Without revealing the plot twist too much, I liked the reveal of a third party group just over an hour into the film.
Overall, the film was far from horrible, and had they worked on overcoming, rather than exaggerating, the typical found footage flaws, it could have garnered a 6/10 from me. For me, though, it's consigned to the pile of 'watch with friends and giggle for the wrong reasons'.
So, how about that 10 star review? You decide!