Flasz On Film

Is it possible to approximate a Hollywood movie on a shoestring budget, without A-list stars, armed only with a clever gimmick, a lean script and a rag-tag group of filmmakers many of whom have seen big blockbusters being made up close, but never had the chance to hold the reins? Or is a sci-fi production of the B-variety always doomed to having to “stay in your lane” where its main source of lasting allure may only come from embracing the “camp factor”? In other words, does an independent filmmaker have to know in advance that they ought not to look up to Steven Spielberg and Ridley Scott and that they are better off settling for looking up to Roger Corman and Stuart Gordon? And if they choose the former, are they allowed to miss the mark and still come out on top? 

I believe this is possible. You know – aim for the stars and if you hit the Moon, it’s still a formidable result. This is what I think Breaking Infinity does. It’s a movie that aimed for the stars and hit the Moon. Directed by Marianna Dean in her feature debut and put together by a bunch of collaborators (Neil Bishop, Martin Bishop, Jonny Philips, Zoe Cunningham, David Trotti and others), who have either been in the orbit of big budget tentpole filmmaking in some fashion, or who have committed their professional careers to elements of the movie production that never generate front page buzz, this movie is best described as a perfectly serviceable approximation of a Hollywood blockbuster that makes all the right moves and maybe even – thanks to the much welcome democratization of CGI and special effects technology – occasionally punches well above its weight class. How does it do it exactly? 

Well, in the absence of willingness to go for the camp and self-awareness that would typically serve to excuse budgetary shortcomings bound to hamstring any low-fi attempt at a genre movie, Breaking Infinity makes the smart choice to lean into a puzzle box mind-bender of a script that’s well positioned to whisk the viewers out of their sofas into the neverland of the film’s escapist ambitions. From its opening frames, the filmmakers daze the audience with enigmatic vignettes where Liam (Neil Bishop) finds himself in increasingly cryptic scenarios – engulfed in flames, stranded in the wilderness, witnessing a nuclear explosion, waking up in abandoned hospital beds, covered in cuts and bruises – all of which immediately suggest he is travelling through time, space or maybe even between interdimensional portals of some description. Naturally, as the story goes on, Liam learns more about what’s going on, which he immediately passes onto us, and – quite expectedly – launches onto an expedition through time to stop the world from ending, while trying not to lose his mind.  

That’s it. You realistically do not need more to craft a suggestive piece of science fiction, and this is exactly what happens. Anyone who has been to the cinema to watch literally any Hollywood movie will immediately recognize that Breaking Infinity is not directed by Christopher Nolan and that it was not put together with heaps of money. However, who’s to say you should not at least try to do whatever is in your power to come as close as possible to what a big studio movie would look like with the money you have? In fact, if you play your cards right, you might be in a win-win situation anyway because if the movie comes out looking cheap and fake, it might still appeal to camp connoisseurs. And if you knock it out of the park, then congratulations – you’ve just discovered your golden ticket to Hollywood. You’ve made Kill List. You are the next Ben Wheatley.  

Well, Dean’s movie is not camp. This is not From Beyond or The Blob. It is instead a solid approximation of a Hollywood science-fiction piece made for just about enough money to pay for the catering on the new Star Wars production that never betrays even a scintilla of inferiority complex and behaves start-to-finish with the confidence of a Ridley Scott movie, but without its glamour and pizzazz. And that’s because everyone involved in making Breaking Infinity knew they had a cracking script on their hands which leaned just about far enough into its mind-bending proclivities to ensnare the viewer without alienating or patronizing anyone in the process.  

What is more, the story also conveniently never calls for visual solutions that would be financially out of reach. Thus, this flickering kaleidoscope of short vignettes jumps and jaunts between easily accessible locations and never even tries to hide behind intricacies of production design. The filmmakers just knew they could pull off what they needed to pull off by renting a warehouse, spending a weekend in Wales and shooting a bunch of interior scenes in offices and hotels and that they would be just fine because the rest would be taken care of by the propulsiveness of the script and prosumer-grade special effects, which – when deployed correctly and in short bursts – are more than adequate and will look close enough to what you’d see in a movie backed by serious money.  

Therefore, Breaking Infinity can be chalked up as a truly formidable approximation of a Hollywood movie that provides serviceable entertainment underpinned by the mind-bending power of its narrative and the seriousness of its commitment to shoot for the stars… regardless of knowing they had only enough fuel to reach the Moon. However, we have to be honest here: this isn’t Inception. But it isn’t an Uwe Boll movie either. It’s a perfectly serviceable straight-to-home-video genre piece whose reach exceeds its grasp… in a good way. It is a movie that makes it abundantly clear that if the same people were given an opportunity to make the same movie without having to cut corners and squeeze the absolute maximum out of Adobe After Effects, you’d be watching it in cinemas.  

And Gerard Butler would be in it. 

And dads like me would be raving about it too.  

As it is, however, Breaking Infinity is close enough – an A-movie trapped in the body of a B-movie.