MovieChat Forums > Phantasm: Ravager (2016) Discussion > Last dance with The Tall Man...a Ravager...

Last dance with The Tall Man...a Ravager Review.

posted 8 years ago by mashkej
4 replies | jump to latest

First up: thank you Don, David, Reggie, Mike and all involved in bringing this movie together. Regardless of reviews, critiques, trolling, etc, there is no one who can argue that you created this movie specifically for fans of the Phantasm series. And Im sure Im not alone in thinking, for years, that OblIVion was the last chance we'd have to spend with the phantasm gang. Getting this one last opportunity is absolutely appreciated. Y'all are great!!!

Now....onto my review....as with some of my fellow fans on this board (looking at you necroburn and doctorarzt!)..i was giddy with the prospect of a VOD release..so much so that i got up around 3am to watch it the day of release. I'll start with a spoiler free take then dig deeper: i enjoyed this movie a bunch. like a whole bunch! I recently read a review of the original Phantasm that called it all over the place and a bit of a mess but a blast to watch. I think thats a fair assessment of the original, its sequels, and this last entry. No movie in the series is a simple story arc that follows a straight forward good vs evil struggle with resolution all around and all questions answered. Quite the opposite. And that was frustrating to me up to and including Oblivion. I was looking for all the answers. Going into this, I changed my expectations, and I was looking for one last battle between the boys and the tall man. Thats it. I got that and more. This movie is not without its flaws, there's quite a few things that could be better, but they arent nearly as substantial as could be and dont diminish the good. Now lets head into some more details.

(SPOILERISH AHEAD - if you are going to see the movie, hold off reading)

One of the biggest challenges in making sequels is makings something fresh that doesnt just take what worked in the previous movie(s) and rehash them. Weirdly Ravager manages to walk that fine line...dips its toes on both sides...and come through at the end feeling a little rehash and a little fresh. There's no question that the movie is a grab bag best-of from what worked before: lots of flying balls o death? check. Reg man centric story which starts with him meeting a new female interest? check. verbal confrontations with the tall man? check. Mausoleum setting? check. Confusing and unresolved twists or reveals with all key characters? check and mate. However it also takes us to new places with the gang..some psychological and some dystopian future. It does indeed expand our phantasm universe.

This is definitely Reggies movie. We join him on his mission to get his friends back, come hell or high water. We also get a sample of how difficult it is to sanely process either: 1) insanity/dementia or 2) the ability to transverse multiple dimensions or a little of both. Given the incredibly low budget, I think that having us jump around with Reg the entire time was a cool choice and effectively carried out. Mike's role as the movie played out act 3 got bigger and equally complex as we got to see different versions of him in different timelines with some hints of unification of purpose. We also get a nice bit of cameos from several other players from the series.

The Tall Man. my favorite part of this movie is Angus' performance. Yes, he's only in the movie a small amount. But thats ok, dont forgot how little of bruce the shark you see in Jaws. Angus' portrayal of the Tall Man is stronger than ever. His voice, his lines, his looks, his command. Its all there. Its the one part of the movie im looking forward to revisiting. And, as with the best villains of all time, he is an intelligent villain. Do we get all the answers to his plan and odd relationship with reggie/mike/jody...nope...but honestly could there be a tidy answer? nah....hes smarter than that. he he.

As for critiques...ive got plenty...but wont spend much time on them. There's a review referenced elsewhere on this board on cutprintfilm.com. Its pretty critical. And i agree with alot of it, albeit less strongly. I dont have any real issue with the low budget nature of the film or effects, i give those a pass just to have it. I do think the writing could have done alot more with the conflict between the gang and the tall man, especially when it comes to his final dis. Not necessarily answers but more back-and-forth between them. I also think they could have focused on a little more horror elements....dont get me wrong..there's some solid kills and ball action (ummm..that sounds weird)....but not much focus on horror tension.

As for the ending(s), Im not going to get that spoilery but will say that i actually teared up during one of them and I really liked the final shots. Resolution? Not exactly. A really fun last ride with our gang of heroes and amazing bad guy that first came into my life some 36 years ago? ABSOLUTELY.

Peace .n. BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Mash

[–] mashkej 8 years ago

PS: Duh! i forgot! Huge thanks to all the phans that have been hanging out on this page for the past few years!! Its been a long frustrating wait and I appreciate that there were other uber fans that shared thoughts and findings here. Y'all rock!

[–] computerbeg 8 years ago

Mash,

Thanks for the review. I also stayed up past midnight anxiously waiting for it to pop up on Amazon...

In a nutshell, I LOVED it and can't wait to re-watch it tonight. Seeing these characters together again... wow, I still have goosebumps.

Essentially, it was one big love letter to the phans and I couldn't be happier (e.g. we even got a brief allusion to the comic) :)

[–] mashkej 8 years ago

hazaa computerbeg! reading the threads today i find that there's a nice sized handful of true fans that lost sleep last night thanks to Ravager. That, in itself, is a nice testimony to the love for this series!

Can you expand on the brief allusion to the comic? I havent read it yet. Is it the dystopian future stuff? I feel like that is also stuff from the Avery script but i havent read that either.

[–] computerbeg 8 years ago

The scene in the film reminiscent of the comic is when Reggie is strapped down and connected to the ambiguous device (in the comic, it's Mike who's connected). Also, I suppose the appearance of Rocky reminded of the comic as she was a big part of that story (note: Gloria looks better now than she did 20 years ago-- good for her!).

I read the Avery script a while ago. It was interesting (Oblivion had two scenes that paid homage to it: Jennifer's sphere-breasts and the Tall Man roaming the deserted city street. In Ravager, the apocalyptic future and souped-up Cuda are essentially homages to it as well)... in my opinion, you can take the script, the comic, and Ravager and consider them alternate views of the Phantasm lore (to me, the story begins and ends with I-IV, but I still adore Ravager [and prefer its story over Avery's script and the comic]).