A rise of an underground protagonist hero. Live action short film based on the Grand Theft Auto video game series created by Rockstar Games.
Mixing CGI with real life environment can sometimes be a big disaster, especially in lower budget short films. But Gevorg might have found an ideal place to merge the two. ‘Grand Theft Auto: Rise’ is a different take on a popular video game that we’ve been loving since its first installment in 1997, but even more so after the release of Grand Theft Auto III when Rockstar Games brought the series to a 3D setting and a much more immersive experience. Gevorg Karensky brings this experience to an even further level turning it into a live action short film, the result: An uninterrupted action thrill that will make you want to jump on your bike and chase bad guys, or just open your xBox and play GTA.
The film seems more like an introduction video to a level of the game rather than a live-action in-play experience, giving it a great cinematic feel to it. We do get nice hints of in-game play when we follow the character from behind with a map and get name tags over everyone’s heads just like in the game. But once the action begins we get submerged into a full-blown action sequence with magnificent directing and choreography between a beautiful roaring BMW e92 M3, a motorcycle and incoming traffic on a never-ending bridge, oh and a man hanging out the window with an M16 shooting at the bike. Just exciting!
I must say I was expecting a game view, at least for a while, of the character in a vehicle, but I know doing some things are not as easy as said.
I’ll go ahead and be hyper-critical and say that some of the visuals did look like CG effects, or not-super realistic, most notably on the incoming cars. However, I understand the complexity and difficulty to achieve perfect lighting matches between the natural and CG environment without an enormous budget, and I’ll come back to my initial point being that since it’s a recreation of a video game, the presence of some computer animation gives the film its own unique feel and attachment to its original forma. I am not saying that the CGI is bad, far from it, I believe that they did an outstanding job at creating this on almost no budget, with a team scattered a little all over the world in Russia, Germany, Italy, Thailand and a few other places.
I might have caught myself living in a hybrid timezone in order to keep the balance between the countries, but it was fun.
-Director Gevorg Karensky
Great action, amazing graphics, astounding sound quality and highly respectable acting and stuntmen make this a must-watch and share!
If you liked the game you will love this little short!
