IRON LUNG Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Mark Fischbach
Stars: Mark Fischbach, Caroline Rose Kaplan, Troy Baker, Elsie Lovelock, Elle LaMont, Jacksepticeye, Isaac McKee, Mick Lauer, David Pettitt, Alanah Pearce, Rahul Kohli, Valkyrae, Ethan Nestor, Mika Midgett, David Szymanski.
The sci-fi horror film Iron Lung spent a couple of weeks at the top of the US Box Office charts, so it is obvious that there are plenty of fans keen to see this film adaptation of a video game. David Szymanski, who created the Iron Lung video game in 2022, has been involved in most creative aspects of bringing this adaptation to the screen. Iron Lung marks the feature directorial debut for Mark Fischbach, who works under the professional name of Markiplier, and who has created lots of short films and You Tube videos over the past decade.
I was not familiar with the source game so a lot of what happens here didn’t make a lot of sense. The film is disorienting but also a little confusing.
The film is set in the not-too-distant future after a cataclysmic event known as “the rapture”, which caused most of the human population to disappear. Fischbach also takes the lead role in this film. He plays a man named Simon, a former convict sent on a suicide mission in the SM-13, a small ramshackle one man submarine, to explore a remote moon with an ocean of blood. He has been promised his freedom if he completes the mission successfully. The parameters of the mission are a bit vague, especially for those unfamiliar with the game. and he sits at the small control of the submarine and checks numbers and images. However, as the mission continues Simon grows a little paranoid and suspects that those behind the mission have not told him the truth.
Simon is on screen for the entire duration of the film; Fischbach has a strong screen presence though and he brings a sweaty intensity and determination to his performance. Although Simon is on screen the whole time we do get to hear a few other voices over the speaker system and occasionally glimpse another couple of people on the surface as they prepare Simon for his mission.
Iron Lung looks like it was shot on the smell of an oily rag with its minimal production values, but it has been made with a lot of passion, ambition and a do-it-yourself mentality. The special effects are practical rather than CGI enhanced. Its budget was just $3 million, but it has already made nearly $50 million at the box office. This is a very claustrophobic film as the action is confined to the cramped interior of the submarine.
Fischbach’s direction and pacing is uneven. Kudos though to production designer Iman Corbani (Lousy Carter, etc) for the stark industrial strength design for the setting. Regular cinematographer Philip Roy (On Fire, etc) has shot the film in a washed-out brownish palette that gives it a gritty and grimy aesthetic. And the climax is bathed in buckets of fake blood.
However, where the video game is more interactive and gives the players choices and options depending on which buttons they push or decisions they make. The action here is repetitive and lacks tension for much of the time. However, a film is passive viewing and nothing changes, which many gamers may find disappointing and frustrating.
With an overly generous running time of two hours the film quickly outstays its welcome. Iron Lung may have worked better with at least 30 minutes trimmed from its bloated running time during the editing phase.
★☆
