Official Synopsis:
“Two former baseball players, Ben (Jeremy Gardner) and Mickey (Adam Cronheim), cut an aimless path across a desolate New England. They stick to the back roads and forests to steer clear of the shambling corpses that patrol the once bustling cities and towns. In order to survive, they must overcome the stark differences in each other’s personalities — Ben embraces an increasingly feral, lawless, and nomadic lifestyle, while Mickey is unable to accept the harsh realities of the new world. Mickey refuses to engage in Ben’s violent games and longs for the creature comforts he once took for granted — a bed, a girl and a safe place to live.
When the men intercept a radio transmission from a seemingly thriving, protected community, Mickey will stop at nothing to find it, even though it is made perfectly clear that he is not welcome.”
The Battery is a very unique and stylistic approach to the zombie genre. This really isn’t a story about zombies, but about these two guys, Ben and Mickey, as they travel through New England with no clear destination in sight. In fact, “no clear destination” is a more probable theme for this film, as the film itself has no clear destination.
The first act is painfully slow. We are quickly introduced to Ben and Mickey, but through the course of the entire film are only told bits and pieces about their background. Normally, this would be okay, but in a film about the contrast between these two characters and the friction between them, we need a little more or else we are just watching a scene unfold without being invested in the characters. Unfortunately, this is a trend that lasts the entire film. There is no clear inciting incident; what I would guess would be the inciting incident would be hearing the radio transmission, however that doesn’t take place until around the half hour mark. They make little effort to actually find this place, so that is not the drive of the story.
My main problem with this film, especially the first act, is that this entire film and genre seems to be a platform to feature different bands. Instead of dialogue to help propel the story forward and learn about our characters, we instead watch them walk from place to place to a musical montage. Once that song is over, we see them drive to a musical montage. Then, and I’m not joking, we see them brush their teeth for five minutes to a musical montage.
The second act is a bit better. The musical montages die down a bit, but not by much. We get to see more clearly the differences between Ben and Mickey. Mickey’s irrational fear of defending himself against the undead is explored in more detail, and the fact he hides himself in his headphones to make everything magically disappear. But this character development moment is short lived, as we transition back to musical montages and disconnected scenes of them eating apples for about ten minutes. I will say, however, the transition to the third act is the most suspense we get and is very well done. We learn a bit more about this protected community and we get to see the darker side of humanity when civilization has collapsed.
The third and final act is one of the more unique situations I have seen, especially in the zombie genre. After they lose the keys to their car, Ben and Mickey become trapped in their car with a horde of undead beating on the windows, trapping them inside. The men are powerless, as the zombies are relentless and won’t stop as long as they know they are in the car. They ration their supplies as long as they can, and try to do their best to keep their sanity trapped inside such a small space with dozens of hungry, rotting faces staring at them and pounding on the windows. It is a claustrophobic sequence, and forces the viewer to feel just as trapped as they are. However, this goes on for way too long. There isn’t much development in the story here, either, and being the final sequence there just isn’t much happening. Finally, when Mickey decides to climb out the sunroof and try to find the keys we are left in the car with Ben for seven long minutes, just waiting. Although the purpose is to be suspenseful (or due to low budget restrictions), it only succeeds in boring the audience as Ben squirms around wondering if Mickey is coming back.
I really wanted to like this film. It did take the genre is new directions, but ended up getting lost in the process. Structurally, the film is a mess with no purpose.
Video
The Battery is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen 2.35:1. The transfer is free from any noticeable defects or blemishes. There is a lack of sharpness and detail throughout, probably due to the technology used to film. Other than that, colors and levels are good, and it definitely has a low budget, indie feel to it which gives it a unique look.
Audio
The audio is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. The track sounds great, with good levels coming from all the surrounds. The dialogue is crisp and clear, and the music comes through very powerfully. This is a good mix free of any noticeable issues.
Special Features
There are quite a few special features on this disc, all are very interesting and informative for the most part. The featurette is almost as long as the film, so you won’t have a lack of extras here. You’re also going to see:
Audio Commentary
The Making Of The Battery (90 minutes)
Outtake Reel
Theatrical Trailer
Featurette On The Music Of The Battery
The Battery definitely does some interesting things with the genre, and despite its extremely low budget it pulls off a believable film. I’m sure there are many that disagree with my assessment of the film, but style alone doesn’t make a movie good (i.e. Sucker Punch). Although there were parts I enjoyed to this, there were too many that I didn’t. As on the fence I was about some scenes, and the fact that reviews are so diverse, I recommend seeing this yourself and making your own decision. If nothing else, it is a lesson on what you can achieve with a budget of only $6,000.
