This is a fun short and a great idea. Some studio needs to buy the rights and make a full length film or a fun series. I love the karate guy against the octopus bit.
4 Reviews
Fun and well made short film / trailer for a silly b-movie creature feature
bob the moo2 June 2013
Monster Roll is not really a trailer for a bigger film but nor is it the full film itself. It appears to be a draft for a fuller film made almost like a calling card to show what is possible and therefore what could be done with more support and funding. This short film acts as the frame for the bigger film and we see sushi restaurants in LA being attacked by some form of giant squid coming up through the plumbing. When the sushi chefs combine to hunt down the creature, the size of it is revealed and then we have clips of more epic confrontations with various other oversized sea creatures.
The film is well made technically and, although the CGI creatures are limited in how well they look when placed in reality, they are actually pretty close to the standard you would see in some bigger Hollywood creature features (Deep Rising for instance) so it is not like it is a massive stretch. The main body of the short is the restaurant attack and it is well done with convincing action and was actually pretty tense. The confrontations suggesting a bigger film are all very tough in cheek and I found them very amusing – not sure that this would make for a bigger film that could sustain what it does here without making it too silly, but it worked very well here.
Although it is just a very short film, the cast benefit from Odate in the lead role; he has a great presence and his tough impatience is a very good temper to the silliness of the concept. The rest of the cast sell the humor of it all, but Odate is the one you remember. Creator Dan Blank appears to have a good career under his belt in the area of visual effects and I would like to see something from him on the basis of this because he seems to not only have an eye for the effects but delivers action well and does so without taking himself or the film more seriously than it can bare.
It may only be a trailer showing what is possible for a bigger film, but it is enjoyable and fun in its own right.
The film is well made technically and, although the CGI creatures are limited in how well they look when placed in reality, they are actually pretty close to the standard you would see in some bigger Hollywood creature features (Deep Rising for instance) so it is not like it is a massive stretch. The main body of the short is the restaurant attack and it is well done with convincing action and was actually pretty tense. The confrontations suggesting a bigger film are all very tough in cheek and I found them very amusing – not sure that this would make for a bigger film that could sustain what it does here without making it too silly, but it worked very well here.
Although it is just a very short film, the cast benefit from Odate in the lead role; he has a great presence and his tough impatience is a very good temper to the silliness of the concept. The rest of the cast sell the humor of it all, but Odate is the one you remember. Creator Dan Blank appears to have a good career under his belt in the area of visual effects and I would like to see something from him on the basis of this because he seems to not only have an eye for the effects but delivers action well and does so without taking himself or the film more seriously than it can bare.
It may only be a trailer showing what is possible for a bigger film, but it is enjoyable and fun in its own right.
The comedy factor is not good enough even for this minimal runtime
Horst_In_Translation22 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
"Monster Roll" is an American English-language 5-minute short film from 2012, so this one had its 5th anniversary last year already. The writer and director is Dan Blank, a prolific visual effects artist who worked on some blockbusters too and usually in his films in charge he focused on animation more, but here we got a live action film. It is chefs vs creatures as the city of Los Angeles gets attacked by gigantic sea creatures and it's up to a bunch of sushi chefs, some of them looking like sumo ringers, to save the place and maybe the planet. They made the thing look a bit like a trailer, but it was probably too long for that and honestly I must say I'd probably not watch a full feature film based on this premise as it gets old really quickly here in terms of comedy during these five minutes (plus one minute credits) already and sadly stops being funny as quickly as it starts being funny. It's not a failure though, but from a pretty experienced multi-talented crew member like Blank I must say I expected better here. The good news is it doesn't look cheap or anything. But yeah, for me, it is not good enough for a thumbs-up and positive recommendation. Watch something else instead.
A Food Chain
ks1915 February 2014
To say briefly, this story is about battles of people and monsters. I was frightened at the openings and remembered the movie "Anaconda", but you will find this is not a terrifying film. This is a funny one, I think.
I am not sure what the author intended, but I at least felt so. The story begins at a sushi bar. A customer is attacked by a huge octopus there. Then a sushi chef fights against it. At the last scene, the narrator says, "You can eat what you can kill." I found it convincing.
This film is only five minutes long and the overall direction is funny, but it has a certain message.
I am not sure what the author intended, but I at least felt so. The story begins at a sushi bar. A customer is attacked by a huge octopus there. Then a sushi chef fights against it. At the last scene, the narrator says, "You can eat what you can kill." I found it convincing.
This film is only five minutes long and the overall direction is funny, but it has a certain message.
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