G.P.S.
College friends embark on a GPS treasure hunt in search of money. Instead of finding buried treasure, they find a buried coffin that contains photos of a kidnapped woman and GPS coordinates that lead deeper into the forest. Are the photos real or part of a game?
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In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
The acting in this movie is really good.
The acting in this movie is really good.
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
Andrew and Bob are two GPS hunters who have recently accepted a hunt from the enigmatic fugitive Shephed Loman who's allegedly in possession of two million dollars and before you know it they're deep in the woods (with some friends in tow) in the game. But when the first clue they find is a series of Polaroids of a bound & gagged woman with the words 'don't let me die' as well as coordinates to the next clue, they get an inkling that this 'hunt' will be a bit different. The film starts off well enough. The acting while far from stellar, was perfectly adequate. I found myself interested in the storyline and the film kept my attention. But an ending that comes out of left field and is in one word: Idiotic, coupled with a really stupid coda sadly soured the entire movie for me. Eye Candy: An extremely fleeting and obscured glimpse of Lauren Nuebling topless & some side boob action from Nicola Anderson Eye Candy for the ladies: Paul Proios bares his ass My Grade: D+DVD Extras: Commentary by Director/writer Eric Colley & Producer/writer/actress Hallie Shephard; a 30 minute Making-of; 30 minute 'characters of' featurette; stunts featurette (19 minutes); a short 3 minute Anatomy of a scene; post-production (18 & a half min); Bob's 8 and a half min homemade documentary; a making-of "mistaken" (Colley's previous short film) featurette; a segment on the GPS internet game & a code for said game (speaking of there's another code at the tail-end of the film's credits)
I saw this on DVD, which means I got to see the Behind the Scenes Bonus Features that go in depth into the making of this movie. There are more than 2 hours of special features.I didn't intend to watch them all, but they pulled me in so much I ended up watching most of them. After seeing those, I have a real appreciation of what the filmmakers went through to get their first feature made on a tiny budget, so I give them a '7.' The movie itself is really fun, but it's not flawless. It had me laughing out loud at a couple of the funny characters, and there were some very suspenseful scenes in the second half of the movie. I think the biggest problem is that the suspense doesn't really start up until halfway through. The first half almost plays like a comedy, the second half like a thriller. If you know that going in, you can like it anyway. But it is a little disconcerting to the viewer as the tone changes dramatically at the midway point.I'm glad they embellished GPS treasure hunting (or geocaching) to make it highly competitive, otherwise it wouldn't have been exciting. People are literally racing each other to get to the next hidden cache. There are some beautiful locations and some cool stunts. Overall, a really good first effort, and from what the director, producer, etc. said in the bonus features, it's obvious they learned a lot in the process to take with them to their next movie.
I love no-budget thrillers and applaud every young filmmaker who opts for the genre route, resisting the too easy art-house choice. Indie thrillers sometime make such gems as The Following, Brick, Primer or to some extent Fermat's Room. In some cases, though, independent genre films turn out to be complete turd, like GPS.What enrages me in this case is the fact that the makers of this film have obviously talent. Photography is excellent, also the editing is inspired. Music is also good, but it's used way too much, and becomes amateurish after a while. Acting is more miss than hit - I give more credit to the actors and chalk it up for the inept directing and rubbish screenplay. The director obviously has talent too in staging action, blocking the scenes, choreographing but he apparently knows zilch about instructing actors. And he should definitely stay away from trying to write a screenplay.Putting so much talent and apparently a good deal of money into such a turgid story is a waste on so many levels that it frustrates me as a viewer. The screenplay completely lacks originality and gets stupider from scene to scene until such a ridiculously convoluted climax that it is mind-boggling. Every bad C-category slasher/thriller cliché is present from the masked stalker (really.... it is so tired it cannot be less menacing) to the characters becoming suspicious of each other, to the worst offence of all: the talking killer in the end, who explains everything at length while holding the other characters at gunpoint. And the resolution... let's just say it puts the most far-fetched soap operas to shame with its utterly non-sensical, melodramatic "reveal". What's worse, it's played completely straight, without a hint of irony (even with irony it would be lame, without it it's an embarrassment to everyone who has been connected to this fateful production).Owing to the zero characterization and completely predictable, silly plotting, there is little to hang on to for a viewer, thus any unfolding events generate less suspense than a shrug or a disbelieving groan. It's a pity, because the GPS gimmick sounded original, and there is even a neat visual - though seemingly dated - trickery tracking the protags' route in the woods.Let's hope these obviously talented filmmakers find a job working on others' films. Or find a good screenwriter asap. The world needs great indie genre films, but not uninspired knockoffs of already bad B-movies.
I saw GPS in LA. This movie blew me away. I expected a low budget campy horror film and got an epic adventure that took me back to my favorite thriller movies from the 80's. Indiana Jones, Goonies, Weird Science, Lost Boys, all were fun and memorable and GPS stands up to these wonderful cult classics. This film looked gorgeous, I think it was High Def, definitely felt and looked like a real movie. The editing was professional, fast paced and the story moved along nicely. Never had that cheesy, bad editing, that you would expect in indie horror films today. Granted, this is a movie about GPS Hunting or "Geocaching" and they really make it light hearted with a lot of comedy and still have serious parts to keep you in suspense. Reminds me of Suicide Kings, or a "Who Done It" mystery, very clever. They also have a theme song to boot, hilarious. They don't make films like this anymore and I miss them. Great Job on a whatever budget you had, kudos to a job well done, you guys should be proud! (singing) Going on a GPS Hunt.... Me and Andrew.....