Ghost Machine

Starring: Sean Ferris, Rachel Taylor, Luke Ford, Richard Dormer, Joshua Dallas

Synopsis:

Tom, a military consultant, is in England running experiments with the British Army on a new combat simulator, with totally immerses the subject into a virtual reality. His main test subject is Jess, a Special Forces soldier, and the project is overseen by Sgt Taggert, a sadistic misogynist intent on making Jess’s life as miserable as possible. Tom borrows the simulator for the weekend, meeting up with some friends in a disused prison to hold a “Call of Duty” style tournament with a few friends. But the prison holds a few dark secrets, and its not long before a deadly spirit has interfaced with the simulator and turned their game into a fight for survival…

In some ways Ghost Machine feels like a Michael Crichton novel: a group is disparate individuals, shiny new technology which goes wrong and puts them in danger, and a race against time to escape. Exactly the template Crichton had used for Jurassic Park, Timeline and Sphere.

Unlike “Gamer”, the game sequences here feel a lot more realistic and intuitive, and the editing and camera-work are a lot more stable. Gamers will get a kick from seeing enemy soldiers being re-spawned, I think.

The film comes up with a well-designed baddie too. The female terror-suspect (who we learn was a “cyber-terrorist” who hacked into bank computers and siphoned off money to terrorists around the world), who died whilst being interrogated, causing the facility to be shut down. Her face is covered by the sack pulled over her head, but she wields a deadly chain whip. One of the good decisions was to keep the character mute.

The non-supernatural cast work well, if not great. While Rachel Taylor’s British accent is pretty good, she doesn’t convince as an experienced soldier, especially when carrying a rifle and checking doorways. Also, I found it a bit sexist that, when in the simulator, all the guys have full uniform, while she is in a revealing brown teeshirt. Of course, that might be a deliberate omission by Tom, who’s a sexist git anyway! Tom is an interesting role for Ferris, whose bone structure and cocky attitude still make me think he’s related to Tom Cruise. Richard Dormer does a good job of chewing the scenery and gets a great line early on (“Special Forces? More like Special Needs!”). I’m not sure what’s going on with Luke Ford’s accent though – he seems to be Australian, South African and/or Canadian at any given minute.

There are a couple of good twists along the way which admittedly are pretty easy to spot, and a nice logical deduction towards the end which reveals the guys are still in danger. The plot steadily escalates the peril – The Prisoner’s powers grow stronger, the arrival of Sgt Taggert threatens to be fatal and Fort Bragg are about to close down the remote link to their main-frame computer. Unfortunately the race-against-time element is a bit rushed and I feel they could have squeezed some more tension out of this element. The epilogue works very well though and bodes well for a sequel.

Verdict

A low key but effective cyber-thriller which effectively blends elements from Gamer, Nightmare on Elm Street and The Matrix.Not everything works, but what does, works very well.

7 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)