Epilogue (2013) Online

With the henchmen died and the main villain dead at the foot of a cliff, hero Skillman solves the final clue to recover the missing priceless orb and complete his mission. Curing the poison in his companion Veronica, the two kiss and the adventure is at an end. Jump to the epilogue; without a clear mission Skillman is at somewhat of a loss and, without the torn clothes and constant need or protection, Veronica is looking a little less hot than she once did – and so normal life starts to creep in.

Epilogue is a smart idea and it is one that could be used for comedy or as a jumping off point for something more heartfelt and genuine, albeit using the blockbuster cliché as the starting point. What this short seems to try to do is to do both. So there is an element of reflective sadness and 'realism' to the piece, but at the same time it is painted broadly, with references to blockbuster standards which seem comical and intended for laughs. As a result it sort of sits awkwardly in the middle of both, although it is clearly more on the serious side of the spectrum. It works in this zone and I appreciated that it didn't just go for easy laughs but actually sought to have a character piece out of the idea and mostly it succeeds.

Unfortunately it doesn't totally work. Skillman is meant to be a cardboard cut-out of an action/adventure hero (trademark stubble and torn clothes) while Veronica is a typical hot blonde, both take steps towards being real people but Skillman doesn't do it to the point really needed. I'm not sure where the limiting factor is, but it does feel like Coffey was visually playing it as a cliché and although his material moves away from that, his performance doesn't totally shake it off. Likewise Walters doesn't totally find the balance, although she is good on the more dramatic side rather than the genre side. Technically the film is very impressive; I don't know anything about cameras but this short looks very good and this quality is across the board as locations, sound engineering etc were all done to a very high standard.

Epilogue is flawed in regard to its balance, but it does still work and I appreciated how it pushed towards the more difficult side rather than the comedic side – I just would have liked it to have done it with greater emphasis and have done it better, but it still works.