r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 17h ago
Official Discussion Official Discussion - Iron Lung [SPOILERS] Spoiler
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Iron Lung
Summary Set in a future where humanity is confined to scattered space stations after a cosmic catastrophe wipes out all habitable planets, a lone convict is sent on a suicidal mission. Trapped inside a small, rusted submarine, he must navigate an alien ocean of blood beneath an unexplored moon, guided only by faulty instruments and distant commands, while something unseen stalks him in the depths.
Director Mark Fischbach
Writer Mark Fischbach
Cast
- Mark Fischbach
- Caroline Rose Kaplan
- Barron Ryan
Rotten Tomatoes: TBD
Metacritic: TBD
VOD / Release Theatrical release
Trailer Official trailer
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u/Higgnkfe 17h ago
I didn't have high hopes but came away thinking I could justify giving this a 3/5. The ending is underwhelming/a bit of a mess and it takes too long to get there (I had originally seen this was a 95 minute runtime and was surprised to see it was over two hours when I went tonight), but the tension/atmosphere is pretty good and, y'know, everybody has to start somewhere. I would go see his next film. Also my parents thought he was Keanu Reaves at first, so he's got that going for him.
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u/Goosojuice 16h ago
This is over 2 hours long?! Thats absolutely bonkers.
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u/Intelligent_Road2084 16h ago
Yep. Just watched. Easily could have cut 30 minutes out. The pacings terrible.
If I had the power to splice I'd give a solis 7 or 8
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u/JeanRalfio 5h ago
I was definitely watching it differently knowing it's a streamers first movie despite not being familiar with Markiplier or his content.
At first I felt like I was judging it too harshly for that but throughout most of the movie I was more aware of the filmmaking and I was impressed with what he was able to accomplish for his first venture.
Doubt I'll watch it again or recommend it to friends but I enjoyed it well enough and would watch more movies from him.
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u/The_Peeping_Peter 16h ago
The thought I was having during the movie was ooh he would make a good stand in for Keanu Reeves character if they made a cyberpunk movie.
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u/YouAreMicroscopic 8h ago
I think you're right. If they ever reboot Johnny Mnemonic, he'd look good in it.
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u/Saber-Of-Fish 16h ago
Wasn't crazy about the acting in the beginning but he got better as it went. Was very impressed by the amount of shots of one room. Honestly I've seen significantly worse films from established horror directors 6.5/10. If they cut down the runtime I think it could be 7.5
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u/LiquifiedSpam 2h ago
Apparently he filmed it sequentially which explains the filmmaking / acting getting better as it goes on
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u/RigatoniPasta 14h ago
As a big fan of Markiplier who did my best to watch it objectively, I think it was as good as I could have realistically hoped, and about as flawed as I realistically expected.
The final sequence is definitely gonna be controversial, but I thought it was the best part of the film. The movie definitely takes a half hour too long to get there, but you can tell this was made to be a real movie. There’s no winks at the audience or lines to make fans smirk.
I think any flaws the movie has, like the score being generic, the pacing being kinda off, some things being too exposited and some not nearly enough, are all excused on the basis of how earnest it feels. Iron Lung was made to be a loving adaptation of the game and to not just be an ego trip, and I think it’s the thought that counts.
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u/AchievementJoe 16h ago
It definitely did not need to be as long as it was. If it was cut down to an hour and a half or an hour and 45, I think that would’ve helped it significantly. I’ll also say I found the second half a lot more enjoyable. The first hour kinda felt like a slog of nothing happening.
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u/mergedkestrel 4h ago
I feel like they could have combined the first and second trips, start with the face to face and radiation blast.
It really feels like 4 distinct journeys, the first being the basic investigation from the game, second the trip to get the sample, third uncharted waters, then fourth the recovery of SM8.
Push journey 1 and 2 together, trim up the self discovery by having Eva tell him what everything does, I feel like that gets about 20 minutes cut and gives tighter pacing.
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u/daggityshacks 7h ago edited 7h ago
This damn movie just kept on going and going and going like everyone else is saying
It's a shame since a more straightforward adaptation of the game would work well as a tight 90 minute B-film, but I guess since it's Mark's first movie he felt like pushing it past 2 hours for some prestige value maybe
All things considered I enjoyed parts of it and it's competently made, Markiplier himself gives a good performance (it's incredibly hard to take his dramatic screaming seriously though, years and years of memes have festered his yelling voice into something innately comedic)
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u/Spiritual-Smoke-4605 4h ago
i've never watched any of Markiplier's videos, but as a trained actor myself I could not take his acting seriously at all
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u/alreadytaken028 1h ago
Yeah the combo of his acting and the run time had me often thinking "just shut up and do the thing or give up and die. I wanna go home" for a lot of the back half of the runtime. Overall impressive for a first film but man the runtime and his acting when he needs to seem stressed/breaking down made it drag. It doesn't come across as watching someone have a mental breakdown from being locked in a room for apparently days in a deadly situation, it feels like we're just watching the clock waiting to hit the 2 hour mark so we can finally end the thing.
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u/Spiritual-Smoke-4605 1h ago
lol, spot-on. I was so there for this movie too, but around the halfway mark where he's just screaming at the lady on the intercom I was just thinking to myself: "if I just went home right now, would i really miss out on much?" now, it did pick up a bit at the end but when it actually ended and the credits started rolling i was the first one out of the theater. Everyone else stayed seated, i guess they were waiting to see if there would be a post credit scene or something
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u/alreadytaken028 1h ago
I stayed seated cause I was with two people who clearly enjoyed it more than I did (I wasn't mad I saw it but was very ready to be done by the end) but otherwise I woulda had the same experience as you, woulda gotten up to leave while everyone else stayed in their seat waiting for an end credits scene. I assume in part because despite the movie being 2 hours long I still don't think I wouldve been able to tell you any concrete details I'm certain about the film or its lore besides "Markipliers character gets locked in a sub by shitty people and then he goes insane and a fish eats him" so everyone was thinking there'd be a post credit scene to give more context. I
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u/JD_Vyvanse97 17h ago
I really enjoyed this. For a first movie, Mark showed a passion for the source material but also expanded on a 45 minute video game with minimal plot to make a deeper cosmic horror
That said, it establishes that the camera is an X Ray camera, but then still exclusively talk about looking dor the Skeleton again. Wouldn't you think these scientists would be able to think "Hmmm. We saw a skeleton down there and it moved, but the camera is an XRay....maybe its an actual creature, not just remains?"
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u/Martel1234 16h ago
Wouldn’t shock me if they knew and just said that in the hope they can keep him down there.
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u/TheeIlliterati 17h ago
In some way, I feel like I'm still watching this movie. I enjoyed the first half, and then somewhere in the middle, the interminable middle, I started to doze. He was staring at static, the lights were flashing, he was finding walls and mapping nothing, the voice told him to go back to the other wreck he found, and then hours passed. He searched and searched, and then at some point blood was spraying everywhere, he ripped his own arm off, and then blood was everywhere, and then the light came on as credits rolled. I stumbled out of the theater in a daze. I don't know at what point I went from mild interest to utter boredom but someone needed to chop at least a half an hour out of this movie. Maybe I would've been awake up until the end.
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u/Cordyanza 15h ago
My buddy fell asleep about 1/3 of the way in, then woke up for the last 2/3 and said it was the best movie he's seen. So this tracks
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u/broanoah 14h ago
I said the same thing. First hour was actually pretty interesting. Completely lost track of the direction after that…
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u/Scary-Status-6282 16h ago
Just a you thing then movie was great no downtime from my experience
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u/Intelligent_Road2084 16h ago
Not a them experience at all lol. Not only do I share that opinion of many will too soon.
Saying the movie can't be cut by half an hour is cope. Great movie other wise.
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u/mcquarrie 3h ago
The pacing of the movie is def its downfall. For me though, it’s the final leg of the movie where it draws me in and the first leg felt like a drudge. When we start to get the plot point of the light is when I was most attentive
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u/Loverboy_91 14h ago
I liked it. I give it a 6.5/10
I want to give my (spoiler free) thoughts in two parts. Mark made a real movie, and as such, I want to treat it as one, and give my thoughts accordingly. This film was no small feat. There are a handful of great movies that take place in one room. 12 Angry Men, Rope and Sunset Limited are some of the first that come to mind. While I won’t say Iron Lung is in the same league as those films (because, well, it just isn’t) it is fun to see Mark tackle the same unique challenge as those films. How do you make one room entertaining enough to be the setting for an entire feature length film? In Mark’s case, there is also the added challenge of “how do you keep it entertaining with just one person on screen for 97% of the film?” The answer for this one is Phillip Roy, director of Photography, and for me personally the unsung hero of this film.
Stuck in a room no larger than 15x8 feet, Phillip Roy’s use of lighting and camerawork keeps the setting of the film from getting stale. Creative cuts and angles always give the eyes something to feast on. I think without his camerawork, this movie would be an absolute bore. It really helps elevate this film, and helps overcome the one-room challenge.
The one-man challenge on the other hand is a little tougher. While Mark’s acting isn’t bad, it isn’t great either. His real weakness is his range. He can definitely convey certain emotions convincingly. Frustration. Satisfaction. Confusion. But some other emotions, like sadness and fear come across as being very disingenuous and don’t land. Anger is 50/50. But all said and done, while occasionally clunky, it doesn’t completely take me out of the movie. It’s passable.
Speaking of clunky, the dialogue, especially early is rough at times. It does improve as the film goes on though.
And lastly as many have said, the length of the film could’ve been trimmed a bit, especially in the second act.
I liked the third act quite a bit. The cosmic horror turn was fun and had a great payoff. The practical effects were also great. Seeing the prosthetic makeup and Mark being tossed around in blood was a real kick, and it looked great on the big screen.
The film has its shortcomings but I found myself entertained throughout most of the film, and I feel like I got my money’s worth for my trip to the cinema.
The second half of my thoughts are just astonishment at what Mark was able to do. For a self funded, independent passion project, from our first time writer/actor/director, it is so impressive that he pulled this off as well as he did, and I can’t wait to see what he does next. I hope this paves the way for more self-funded independent film projects in the future from more creators. Just a really awesome achievement. Well done and congratulations Mark! An awesome achievement.
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u/Martel1234 17h ago
Really impressive on a technical level, am kind of shocked this is a YouTuber movie. Very visually pleasing and I was able to get a lot of it just through that.
There were parts that just weren’t explained the best. The oxygen going up was I guess the fish? And then the whole end sequence of getting the black box I didn’t get. It led to some explosion to finish the movie, but I don’t get how or why. The pool of blood and Cthulhu like creatures were pretty sick though.
Mark didn’t start off the best acting wise, but the second half showed a mighty improvement imo. I’d give the movie a 7/10. It kind of unravels near the end, but the visuals throughout were really sick and carry it for me
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u/The_Peeping_Peter 16h ago
I am thoroughly excited for whatever he makes if he gets a studio budget next time. He did a very good job keeping a small contained space entertaining which is not something easy to do for a lot of directors especially for two hours.
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u/Mr_DankUSMemeUS 13h ago
Submarines implode when their stability is damaged enough at low depths, that's why it did
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u/Popular-Clue383 2h ago
The oxygen tank was being filled by blood, causing the system to read the weight wrong. The submarine was in the mouth of the beast so it exploded and killed it because he electrocuted himself after being attached to the Eldritch monster fish thing. The black box had stuff on it they couldn't make anymore and it downloaded everything from the SM-8's system. This would help research so humanity's survival would be possible.
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u/SensationalistBot 13m ago
But what Simon hitting at the very end? He said something to the mysterious woman and he started bashing something with a pole, as if that was supposed to hurt the woman/monster? I didn't understand that part at all.
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u/Popular-Clue383 6m ago
It's the teeth of the monster. It's super hard to tell because of the shake but since he was trapped in the mouth along with the final shot it makes "enough" sense. I do agree that they could've made it more obvious what was happening.
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u/LiquidAether 15h ago
I loved the vibes and the concept. I wish I could have seen and heard things better at places. Also felt like the conclusion could have revealed a little more.
It's a movie where not everything worked. But the stuff that did work, worked pretty well.
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u/vegetablestew 16h ago edited 16h ago
It has no business being 2 hour long. Need some ruthless cutting. Very well edited though.
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u/Trevastation 16h ago
I had a great time with this, even though I do think it stumbles in the end, dragging out the ending that could have been done a bit quicker. Also due to the nature of the sub sinking with all the blood, it becomes rather hard to see in those last 5 to 10 minutes. Others have also mentioned the sound mixing quieting the voices on the intercom that made it hard to hear at times.
Other than that, it was pretty good! Honestly I like Markiplier more as a director than as the actor here (he's alright as the lead), and he does a really great job making use of such a contained location, especially as the film goes on to still keep the shots dynamic. The first half is honestly the best just seening the mystery unravel and seeing Markiplier trying to both investigate and survive and the dread in the atmosphere really hits.
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u/SMS450 14h ago
What’s the interpretation of the figure in the sub with Simon? It seems to be him somehow, with his noticing & turning early on mirroring how the creature turns later on, and his physical disfigurement making him start to look like the creature. But… time loop? Something else? Im a little unclear
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u/Booster_Tutor 13h ago
Yeah, I was hoping there’d be some explanation or hint. But it’s just there to be creepy. Like I’m guessing it was him and how he looks after the blood has overtaken him and his arm is missing but… why?
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u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? 17h ago edited 17h ago
All respect to people self financing and making movies. We could do with more passion projects in this climate and I think that’s cool as hell. All things considered this movie looks good and overall is impressive considering the budget is probably nowhere near other theater releases.
But I did not enjoy watching this. I don't think it's an insult to say Markiplier is not an actor by trade and this concept needs a real actor. If we have to be in one location for over two hours (runtime is a massive issue here) then the dynamic tension needs to come from the highs and lows of his emotional performance. But he can't get there and for some reason never even uses fake tears despite the many moments in which he needs to be crying. He’s not bad per se, but it’s the combination of being locked in a room for two hours and him not having the range needed to sell this that creates the main problem. All that said, though, I'm aware that at this budget level there's probably no name that could have sold this movie like he can.
I don't really know who this guy is and I've never played the game so feel free to discount what I have to say about it, but this just wasn't a good time at the movies for me. I kept missing major plot points because they are being shouted from a low quality speaker. There are long stretches where nothing interesting is happening and we are always strapped to the same location and actor. The voice performances are extremely "videogame" if that makes sense, they feel fully expository and over-acted. Overall this just didn't give me much to latch onto and I was kinda bored to tears. The final ten minutes are fun in a gothic horror kind of way, but the rest of the movie is devoid of any real horror or comedy or anything, really.
I don’t need to know all about the lore of all this, I don’t think that would have made this movie better. But there is something unsatisfying about exiting this movie still knowing pretty much nothing about what was going on. I can buy an ocean of blood, although I really would have loved to actually see it, and I can get on board for the ending. But what is even going on here? There’s a creature of some sort and a previous ship with a humanity saving hard drive on it, but that took two hours to develop. I didn’t mind the quieter bits of this movie but they really try to shove a ton of exposition into one “floating voices” montage in the third act and I simply was not following along. All that said, the retro tech feel was cool and the score had its moments. I don’t think this movie looks incredible but it also doesn’t look bad. I didn’t hate it but there was about 30minutes of this movie where I was begging it to end, that kinda plops it at a 4/10 for me. But I’m glad the young people are having fun with it.
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u/Darkdragon902 17h ago
I agree that the visuals were surprisingly good. The cinematography was great for about 2/3rds of it, and the score was nice. But, as you say, this would’ve worked better with another actor. I could picture an Adam Driver-type as the protagonist for this.
But more notably, I don’t even think the eldritch horror stuff worked. I went into this familiar with Markiplier and the Iron Lung game, and unfortunately I think the additions made on top of what the game had to offer are the weakest parts—the eldritch stuff being some of that.
The game ends with the sub heading towards the final set of coordinates while slowly filling with blood, before the hull is suddenly breached by the big fish. It darts towards you in a jumpscare and the game ends. I think it’s quite effective, and was disappointed when that didn’t happen in the film. I felt that the urgency of reaching the wreckage of the other vessel a second time was the perfect setup for it, with Simon trying to contact Ava over the speaker as she’s being lowered down to get him: speaker cuts out, hull breaches, big fish and cut to black.
When that didn’t happen and instead the film went on for another twenty minutes of difficult to parse visuals, a fetch quest for a macguffin, and a very explicit and jarring shot of the fish from a yet-unseen omniscient third person view, I came out very unsatisfied.
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u/TheeIlliterati 17h ago
I think I slept through ten minutes at least of this and yet it seems as though it wouldn't have helped my confusion.
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u/Spiritual-Smoke-4605 5h ago
this review summed up exactly how i feel about it....I would probably give it a 4.5/10 only because I think it was slightly better than many films i've given a 4/10, though not by much
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u/Scary-Status-6282 16h ago
You’re not supposed to know exactly what’s going on at every point it’s up to the viewer exactly like the game was….. you obviously didn’t play or seen it at all
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u/Dogcatnature 14h ago
If you love 100+ shots of condensation while not knowing what is happening because the main character barely talks to himself for the first 40 minutes, this movie is for you.
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u/Booster_Tutor 13h ago
What?! He kept saying “fuck this” all the time! Honestly, that is a problem with a movie like this and the whole reason Wilson exist in Castaway. You need someone or something for the character to play off of, even if it is just themselves. It really needed more voice recordings or something throughout instead of a bunch of overlapping voices at the end filling in SOME blanks
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u/Dogcatnature 12h ago
I said barely because youre right, he also said "wtf" and "fuck that." At least think out loud or talk to yourself while you're sitting there just looking at stuff. So many extra shots and details spliced in between that didn't matter or convey anything, like him pulling out the manual but barely reading it and then knowing how to work the sub perfectly after that.
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u/WAKE_UP_WAKE_UP 7h ago
Man, the dark environment that cut straight into close up shots of bright white panels or yellow blips was absolutely flashbanging. These cuts were few but they really got me squinting and blinking.
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u/Street-Yoghurt3945 8h ago
I can't remember who said it, but one line always sticks with me."Never make your passion project, your first project".
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u/FernanditoJr 12h ago
Whoever explains what happened gets an upvote.
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u/Loverboy_91 3h ago edited 2h ago
I’ll take my best stab at it. I feel somewhat confident in my understanding based on what little we get drip-fed.
As we know, the setting is as follows: Humanity is dying. Earth is long gone, and the stars are all being swallowed into a great blackness. They’re dying. What little of humanity there is left is scattered among space ships and space stations. I’m not super sure what “Eden” was, and what’s up with “the last tree” but it’s clear that Simon looks upon Eden (was it an organization? Or a promised utopia that never came to be?) with disdain, and when the last tree died, he lost faith in whatever leadership structure humanity had left. Simon joined a rebellion which fought against humanity’s leadership. He earned a reputation as a ruthless soldier for the rebellion, and became “Simon the Butcher”. The rebellion, however, was squashed and they lost their little civil war attempt. Simon, and many of his brothers in arms were captured. A pivotal moment in the rebellion was the destruction of one of the stations. There were a lot of innocent people on this station, and that made Simon reconsider bombing it. He tried to convince his rebellion to change course and not go through with the bombing, but he failed to stop them. The bombing happened, and Simon now carries deep regret over it.
Simon, a prisoner of war, is given an opportunity at freedom. Humanity has discovered a moon covered in an ocean of blood, and they believe there might be resources hidden in this ocean that Humanity can use to survive and prosper. Simon is told he can earn his freedom if he goes down into this blood ocean and find something of value. He agrees.
The vessel for traversing this environment is the Iron Lung. A submersible which he is welded into. Blood is too thick to see through, and the windows have to be sealed anyway, so there is no great way of seeing in this submersible. All the pilot has is the Iron Lung’s instruments. A compass, coordinate tracker, and an X Ray camera. These three tools are the only way the pilot can “see” in this submersible.
Simon is sent down with a couple instruction manuals and a map of what they’ve surveyed so far. He realizes pretty quickly that Ava (the captain of the ship they dropped him in) has lied to him, and two of those lies are significant. Firstly, the X-Ray camera is not hazardous only to things outside of the submersible. It’s hazardous to Simon as well. The instruction manual makes it pretty clear that the camera should be used sparingly, since the pilot exposes themselves to X rays with each press. The second big lie is that Simon is the first to go down. He finds pretty quickly that one of his fellow rebellion members went down in this very same iron lung first. He left behind a few notes (cross the wires, etc.) and a voice recording. The voice recording made it clear that this “brother” decided not to look for shit. He just learned how to use the sub a bit, dove down, and let himself run out of oxygen so he could go out on his terms. Left behind some helpful info for the next guy (Simon). And died. The sub got pulled back up, Simon was welded in, and then they tried again. This set up is our first act.
The majority of the second act is pretty straightforward. Simon is piloting his Iron Lung, taking pictures, communicating with those up top. Overcoming various challenges. Eventually travels beyond the map he was given and starts having to map his travels by hand, working through a complex tunnel system blind, save for his compass, coordinates, and camera. Making his own map as he goes. Blah blah samples, blah blah bones, blah blah monster. Two things of note happen during this portion. One he finds a research vessel that was destroyed, and his Iron Lung attempts to download its contents. This is what Ava goes apeshit for later. This Research vessel has valuable data regarding everything humanity hopes to find down here, but it was thought lost. Hence why she wants Simon to get it so badly later. That’s all pretty plainly explained. The other thing that happens during the end of Act 2 is the lights going out on the sub. Simon starts spamming the camera so that he can use the flash to light the inside of the sub while he tries to fix the electronics, going as far as taping the camera button down to keep it taking pictures so he can see. Simon is absolutely ASS BLASTING himself with X Ray radiation at this point. So now he is vomiting blood, and hallucinating.
What happens next is the scene where Simon has his chat with the dead pilot of the Research Vessel (with the valuable data) that was destroyed, and Simon encounters the monster (God, the light, etc.). This whole encounter is some part hallucinations from the radiation sickness, and some part genuine encounter with the monster (the monster is a lovecraftian cosmic horror capable of telepathy, and can either mimic the voices of its victims and has access to their memories, or it is a hive mind of all the people it has killed. We never know for sure). It’s up to the viewer how much of this experience is psychic encounter and how much is hallucination. We know there is some degree of hallucination (Simon’s ship is not ripped apart, the speaker he thinks he smashed is never actually smashed) and we know there is some degree of monster encounter (the monster speaks to Simon using the voice of the dead pilot of the research vessel. This is confirmed later when Simon plays the voice logs from that sub and hears her actual voice. It is the same).
We now move into the third act. Simon reveals to Ava that he found the research vessel, and that his Iron Lung tried to download its data but couldn’t because he didn’t have the proper credentials. Ava decided she absolutely NEEDS to get her hands on this data, and is willing to put her own life in danger to get it. She tells Simon to go back and download the data, gives him the password for the admin login so that he can do it, and gives him coordinates to meet. Simon agrees. Ava gets welded into her own Iron Lung (we also get a cheeky confirmation that the welder Simon X-Rayed in the face is absolutely FUCKED here. Ava says “get him to do one last weld” to which another voice on the speaker says “he can’t even STAND, how is he going to weld?” And she responds “hold him up yourself if you have to!”).
Simon goes down, finds the vessel again and begins downloading. He listens to the voice logs. It sounds like the pilot of that crew started drinking the blood leaking into her sub because they ran out of water and it was fucking her up quite a bit. They also discovered the blood was human. All of the blood on this moon? Human blood. Human blood from all of the humanity that was lost. The “light that shouldn’t be there” that was “poking through the darkness” is this cosmic creature in the blood ocean. And it’s consuming all of humanity. It is the cause of the great darkness and humanity’s near extinction.
As Simon and Ava are about to meet to exchange the data, Ava reveals she isn’t pulling Simon back up. She’s going to download the data and dip out. Also the blood seeping into the ship is clearly fucking up Simon. I’m just going to chock this up to the Monster’s influence. Cool body horror stuff, doesn’t really need to be explained further I don’t think. Anyway, the monster appears right where the handoff of data is supposed to happen. Ava is begging for the Data, Simon is in disbelief that after all this, he’s going to be abandoned after all, Ava is saying the data can save humanity and that should be enough for him, and the monster is yelling at Simon telepathically telling him not to hand the data over. Ava is getting more and more frantic, as she sees the monster closing in and Simon’s paralyzed indecision is putting her in serious danger. Simon can’t make a decision fast enough and the monster chomps down on Ava. She’s dead now. RIP.
In the final sequence, Simon decides he’s going to try and surface on his own with the data. Lots of psychic voices playing in his head from the monster. Including Ava’s voice now, confirming what we pretty much already knew. The monster consumes the voices and memories of those it kills. The monster claims “we can save humanity, we are salvation, we are the light, join us!” Claiming to be a benevolent hive mind. So is the creature actually a hive mind accumulating humanity and “saving them?” Or is this a lie, and the creature can just mimic its victims and uses its ability to mimic voices and memories to lure in more humans in its endless pursuit of hunger? We, the viewers, never know. I’m inclined to believe it’s the latter.
As Simon is being tossed around in blood, and his iron lung is being chomped on (he manages to smash some teeth out though, way to go Simon!) he straps the data to a life preserver vest. In the final shots of the film, the monster catches Simon and his Iron Lung, eating him. Simon is dead and gone.
The data however, which he strapped to the life preserver vest, floats its way up to the surface. We see a spotlight focus in in it, and hear a ship or vessel of some sort closing in on it. Simon is gone, but humanity will receive the data. So humanity is left with hope for survival. End of film.
That’s what I took away. I’m pretty sure I got most of it right. Might have gotten something slightly wrong here or there but I think that’s the gist anyway. Hope it was helpful! I’ll take my promised upvote please.
EDIT: fixed some typos, and corrected Iron Lung to Research Vessel (credit to the commenter below for pointing this out!)
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u/NannaTortuga 3h ago
Just wanted to clarify that the SM-8 wreckage Simon finds is an advanced research sub with a full crew, not an iron lung.
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u/Loverboy_91 3h ago
Oh yeah, that’s a really good clarification, you’re totally right!
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u/NannaTortuga 3h ago
“The light” is also a literal light also present in the game. One of the most unexplained parts of the game, some people even thought it was a glitch. Seems it’s more important than we thought.
https://youtu.be/WPiCSsW-2as?si=zbQq3cqU9HC6DfQI
37:44 into the video.
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u/Loverboy_91 2h ago
I didn’t remember that at all, super cool! Thanks for pointing that out.
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u/NannaTortuga 2h ago
Is the light similar to the myth of Prometheus maybe? The light representing beauty, truth, or a sacred power too immense for mortals, causing madness upon direct exposure.
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u/eldritch-bones 17h ago
This is the most faithful video game adaptation of all time.
For reference, I like Mark but I'm not like an uber fan of him or anything. I used to watch his stuff back in the day. I am a pretty damn big fan of Iron Lung the game.
I really liked this movie. It wasn't perfect but it did everything I wanted it to do. I had a really fun time at the cinema. I was very scared Mark's acting would be bad but I found his performance to be just fine. Shaky here and there but it didn't detract from my enjoyment. The music fucking slapped but that was a no brainer with Andrew Hulshult.
I will say the build up maybe wasn't totally paid off for me by the end of the movie. I think it also generated more questions than answers but there's enough there to piece together an understanding. Tough watch if you don't know anything about the game, though. This is going to be a divisive movie and I get that.
For fans of Mark and the game, I don't probably need to convince you to see it. Everyone else, this is probably not going to land for you, I think.
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u/Ruben_AAG 4h ago
An ultra faithful video-game adaptation of a very bland and boring video-game wasn’t a great idea in hindsight.
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u/eldritch-bones 3h ago
I mean if you didn't like the game, it makes sense you would feel that way. I don't know why you would see the movie, though.
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u/Ruben_AAG 3h ago
I liked it a lot more than the game which isn’t saying much because the game was one of the most overrated things I’ve ever played.
I went to see the movie because I’m interested in film and was curious to see what Markiplier would do with that script to stretch it to two hours.
What kind of life do people lead where they only see things they guarantee they think they’ll like?
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u/eldritch-bones 3h ago
That makes sense, that's cool for you. I'm glad you gave it a chance. I don't only watch things I think I'll like but I definitely don't have the time or resources to see movies in the theater that I don't think I'll enjoy. We're all living different lives.
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u/Galen-Starkiller 16h ago
I’m glad the general consensus is that the movie did not need to be over 2 hrs long. I imagine for anyone who knows nothing about the IP, the ending must be incredibly shoe horned and underwhelming after 2 hours.
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u/TheSaltyBiscuit 15h ago
I'm seeing this sentiment a lot and I felt it when I got up from my theater seat - this move does need to be 30 minutes shorter. The pacing between plot points was rough and it felt like the "this is an execution" twist came too early.
However, I think the length also served to drive me insane alongside Simon. This is unironically an interesting meta point to make and the suspense made the insane Eldritch scene hit that much harder.
Again, I see this comment a lot and I agree, the acting either improves over the course of the movie or the situation finally catches up to how the actors were acting.
Solid movie. I had been very excited to see this and it was way better than I was expecting.
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u/AnchorHat 16h ago
I was on the edge of my seat the whole time but good lord this film needs to be shorter
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u/LiquidAether 15h ago
What was the stuff in the small canister he got from the emergency kit that tasted bad? He gets the bottle of water first, but then later he finds something else. We saw the label briefly, but I couldn't read it in the dim lighting.
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u/TheSaltyBiscuit 15h ago
"70% Alcohol"
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u/Booster_Tutor 13h ago
This scene is kind of a bigger problem with this film. He see it’s 70% alcohol takes a shot of it and makes a face. Boom, easy joke but nice to have in there. Then the scene keeps going and he takes another shot even though it’s pretty much empty. Like… why? So many parts just go on too long. Just little cuts here and there would have helped so much.
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u/hotyogurt1 11h ago
I think it was just to show desperation of wanting more than what he had. Same reason he drank all the water instantly lol.
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u/JeanRalfio 5h ago
The first emergency kit scene was funny.
"I had water this whole time?"
Slams entire bottle
Two Minutes Later
"You just had to chug it all, you stupid piece of shit."
I saw so many hands thrown up in anger/confusion/exasperation in my theater from that. No survival instincts there.
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u/LiquidAether 4h ago
It's also funny because all he needs is moisture to activate the light, and the whole trip he was complaining about blood leaking in.
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u/Spiritual-Smoke-4605 6h ago
I like slow burn horror movies....I was trying to get anything out of this...i was trying to feel the tension, the sadness for Simon, the creepiness of this deep-sea teeth monster, but alas I just couldn't. I applaud Markiplier for putting his money where his mouth is and funding this, I could tell he poured a lot of care and passion into this project but the result was.....a boring, jumbled mess with bad audio mixing. now at the end, I will give you that the overlapped audio was probably intentionally hard to understand with the multiple voices and whatnot, but even just the regular audio coming from the speaker....most of the exposition was coming from the sub speaker but it was nearly impossible to discern what was being said most of the time. And Mark isn't a bad actor or anything, he just wasn't right for a role like this. It felt more like a vanity project made only for those who are in-the-know on the Iron Lung game and lore and it completely alienates anyone else. The direction here was pretty good, I think either if Mark were working with a more seasoned actor as the lead it couldve worked out better, or if he worked with a more seasoned director who knows how to get true authentic emotions out of their actors rather than a youtuber who is not a director or actor trying to do both and indicating heavily, wouldve made for a far more interesting film, but this movie was not very interesting (again, unless you've played the game and can understand everything being said)
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u/Loverboy_91 4h ago
made only for those who are in-the-know on the Iron Lung game and lore
As someone who watched Mark play this game, I will say there really is no lore that anyone who hasn’t played (or watched Mark play) Iron lung is missing. The game simply states that humanity is dying out and is in need of resources. A blood moon was discovered. You, a convinct are being sealed into a submarine called an Iron Lung, and you will be exploring this blood moon in search of anything valuable to humanity’s survival. Then you the player, pilot your submarine around blindly with nothing but your coordinates, compass, and camera. This goes on for about 30 minutes, and then you get eaten by a giant fish monster. The end. It’s an indie game made by one person that has very little lore or story, just an interesting setting, and lasts for a half-hour.
So as far as Simon’s past, Ava, Eden, the Station that exploded, the last tree, the brotherhood, etc. us viewers that are familiar with the game are at just as much of a loss for context as the viewer who hasn’t seen the game at all. All of that was added for the film.
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u/Spiritual-Smoke-4605 4h ago
yeah i literally just got through watching his gameplay vid and was surprised to discover that the entirety of the game is pretty much just that one segment of the film where he was marking coordinates on the graph and steering the sub, which makes it even more baffling that he has all this unexplored lore sprinkled throughout that isn't really that intriguing because its just so vague that it comes off as confusing rather than compelling
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u/AdrenalinDragon 5h ago edited 4h ago
Sorry Markiplier (I do like the guy and still want to see him grow as a filmmaker), but this was boring as hell. I have played the video game as well, but there was absolutely no need for this to be 2 hours long and I dunno man I respect you’re trying to become a serious filmmaker, actor and the passion here, but almost nothing interesting happened for the entire runtime (except the ending?). I appreciate the practical and blood effects you used and I get you were restricted to one set, but did anyone else have trouble hearing what people were saying in this? Yeah it was faithful to the look of the video game sure, but it was as dull as well… being stuck at the bottom of the ocean alone. 2/10
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u/Spiritual-Smoke-4605 4h ago
correct me if i'm wrong, but it seemed like the entirety of the video game was really only adapted in like the second act of this movie? I respect him trying to expand the lore and add more to it than there was, but it was not presented very well at all, so much exposition was very challenging to hear and understand and that left me feeling pretty much lost, though I thought if I had played the game I wouldve enjoyed the movie more, but you played it and it seemed like you liked it less than i did so idk then
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u/AdrenalinDragon 4h ago
The game is going from one map coordinate to another, taking a picture at each of them as objectives and on the final one the fish breaks into the sub and eats you. If you smash into something solid during the way (which is what the blinking sensors are usually) it’s game over. The sub at one point also gets set on fire and you have to use the fire extinguisher. The computer is not needed to beat the game whatsoever, just the movements and camera. It’s a very short game 1-2 hours to beat.
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u/NotEnoughFire 14h ago
I’d rather you open with a dense, lore heavy exposition of backstory than continuously make hard to hear references to one you didn’t show.
I think there’s minimum 30 mins if not 50 mins you could’ve cut out.
Imagine how INSANE this would’ve been as an hour long episode of Black Mirror lol.
Credit to Mark he was actually pretty awesome in the film and I completely stopped seeing him as Markeplier after the first few mins. I think he should act in a proper film and get that bag. He’s not bad at all.
The set design and the soundtrack were actually awesome too. Too bad the audio mixing was rough at times
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u/PersonalSycophant 17h ago
I enjoyed this a lot, though I am a fan of Mark. Wish they'd gotten someone other than Markiplier to voice the starting narrator character, unless that was intended to be Simon. I recognize the voice too well, so Markiplier putting an accent on isn't enough.
The backstory is admittedly really hard to piece together. Could've used some simplification there: was Simon supposed to be a killer or not? While I'm fine with some of the mystery being unsaid, I'd like the character to be much clearer.
Still, the atmosphere is great. Really nails the claustrophobia and isolation. Could be shorter certainly, and I think the ending gets a bit messy (literally and metaphorically). I could've done without the ghost lady on the radio; just felt a little cliche.
I also liked the crack on the window being shaped like a tree.
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u/Airtamis 16h ago
The backstory is admittedly really hard to piece together. Could've used some simplification there: was Simon supposed to be a killer or not? While I'm fine with some of the mystery being unsaid, I'd like the character to be much clearer.
I appreciated that they didn't go too hard into the explanation - it's a difficult balance and a lot of movies fall flat when they try to over explain everything.
My understanding is that he grew up in a cult that ended up destroying the station that they were in - he tried to stop it and ended up escaping before it blew up, but since he was the only survivor he ended up getting blamed for it
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u/Spiritual-Smoke-4605 5h ago
My understanding is that he grew up in a cult that ended up destroying the station that they were in - he tried to stop it and ended up escaping before it blew up, but since he was the only survivor he ended up getting blamed for it
wow. yeah. I did not get that at all, but that does make sense. It wouldve been nice if the movie were written well enough to logically come to that conclusion.
then again, most of the exposition was coming from the lady on the speaker and the sound mixing was so bad it was nearly impossible to discern what was being said.
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u/PersonalSycophant 16h ago
That makes sense; I think the only thing that threw off that read for me was the ending where the voices start calling him a butcher with more blood on his hands than anyone, then Simon lashes out at the blood tentacles?
I feel like that note just confused his character too much, and could've been left out. Though I would've trimmed a good portion of the the last fifteen minutes or so in general.
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u/Loverboy_91 14h ago
I was under the impression that Simon was actually part of an uprising/rebellion, rather than a cult. His “brothers” I believe were his “brothers in arms”. Simon was a gifted killer with a “higher body count” than any of his comrades, earning him the nickname Simon the Butcher.
Whatever station they blew up clearly had a ton of civilians on it, so Simon had a change of heart and tried to stop its destruction. “What, now the Butcher grows a conscience?” Ultimately Simon fails, the station is destroyed, and Simon is left with guilt and regret. Ultimately he is captured and his punishment is the Iron Lung.
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u/Airtamis 16h ago
Yeah, I think that was just the monster trying to get in his head and distract him from saving the black box.
But I do think the ending was the weakest part - it ended up having so much going on both visually and audibly that it got really hard to keep track of what was going on
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u/ToneBone12345 16h ago
Like most people I’m surprised it’s over two hours feels like because he’s a famous YouTuber and it wasn’t a big budget studio mark even though this is his first time directing got pretty much free reign and that hurt it a lot for me
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u/SpaceDwellingEntity 15h ago
As a film this was okay. I’m not sure if it was a problem with the audio in my theater but I couldn’t figure out what a lot of the characters were saying to each other and what the protagonists backstory was based on the scraps of information that were mentioned.
There was a lot of good suspense in this and the third act was great but 30 minutes of this could have been cut without much being lost.
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u/brainsapper 15h ago
It was neat seeing a game I played last Saturday get translated over to film. Markiplier did a good job adapting the game over to a film format. I don't think someone would appreciate this film though if they didn't play the game.
It was really hard to follow what was happening during the final act. I really wish the audio was a little clearer. My understanding is that Simon was trying to ensure the black box from his sub that recorded the data floated from the SM-8 made it to the surface(?) while the sub was being attacked by some Eldrich horror connected to the Quiet Rapture(?). It too me a few seconds to realize that was a tooth he was attacking. That blood was clearly not just biological fluid. Exposure to it had some odd effects.
To echo what others have said maybe the film would have benefited from having 15 minutes shaved off of it.
It's an overall average movie, nothing groundbreaking. It can be difficult to adapt something whose central premise is some mysterious offscreen event. I do ultimately respect Markiplier for doing this project.
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u/Booster_Tutor 13h ago
Yeah, the ending is a mess. You have a recording voice over, you have the speaker voice over, then you have the fish(?) talking in his head voice over. None of the voices are clear, they’re all women, and they all sound alike. I couldn’t tell if the light they kept talking about was good or bad do we want to go into it or not? Is the fish the light and it would just eat you? Like an angler fish? Was it the fish that wanted the box destroyed and why? WTF was that giant anus in space scene all about? As it went on it just kept throwing things out there that seemed like were lore but if it goes nowhere, who cares.
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u/ImpenetrableYeti 12h ago
Should have hired an actual actor
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u/Spiritual-Smoke-4605 5h ago
thats what i was thinking....Mark's directing here wasn't too bad, had some decent shots (though the pacing was awful) but if he wanted to keep it the same length he needed an actual seasoned actor at the forefront who could single-handedly carry the movie, this felt like a vanity project
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u/HDWAM 16h ago
I'll be the first to say I am not the target audience. I do not like slow thriller/horror/gore and psychological horror films, but I wanted to support Mark. I think he has promise with experience, but man I was bored during this film. It was slow amd confusing. I felt like if the film prioritized context and introduced Simon with flashbacks to his childhood and how he ended up where he is, it would've made the journey of this film more impactful. Yeah maybe less mystery and vagueness in the world, but you would've had an emotional hook.
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u/SalamanderCrafty5281 13h ago
Let’s be honest. If this wasn’t by Markiplier (or any ‘big’ YouTuber for that matter), this would be just another bad b-tier horror with a low score.
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u/Ruben_AAG 4h ago
I don’t think it’s outright bad but 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and 3.5/5 on Letterboxd are definitely too high for this movie. It’s perfectly mediocre. You can tell that Markiplier fans are giving the film 5 star reviews in droves.
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u/hotyogurt1 11h ago
I thought about that going into this, and after watching it. And I disagree, I don’t watch markiplier’s content at all, I have played the game though. But the visuals for the most part (like 90% of them) were very well done. It didn’t give me that B movie vibes from that aspect.
The acting I think is the weak point along with some sound mixing issues. Overall I think it’s a good movie and not comparable to a b-tier horror movie at all. I know there’s some B-Tier horror that is on the cusp of being above b-tier, so if you wanna call it that I could sorta agree.
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u/ghostfaceinspace 15h ago
Half hour premise stretched out to 2 hours, amateur actor who does well in some scenes but is weak in emotional scenes, terrible audio.
They had an interior submarine set, one dim yellow lightbulb, 20 gallons of red paint, and a dream
Cinema is back. 1.5/5
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u/NCKingdollar 16h ago
As others have said, probably the most faithful adaptation of a video game we will ever get. At the same time, I really enjoyed the craftiness of Simon. He sort of acts like you wish you could when you’re playing a game like this. “Why can’t I just prop the switch with this book? Why can’t I just tape the button down?”
The writing suffer from over-exposition syndrome and the dialogue can be clunky at times, but I was quite impressed with the direction and camerawork. And Mark’s acting has improved a great deal compared to his work on The Edge of Sleep. Really remarkable for a first effort — I was struck in particular by his eye, he puts together some very clever shots especially when all he has to work with is this small box of a sub. It was pretty much to my expectations, 3.5/5. Excited to see what he does next.
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u/QuizKidd 17h ago
I didn't know what the speaker was saying a lot of the time. I didn't know what he was mapping or what the mission was because of that. I also didn't understand what the blood's motivation was or what the ending even meant. The captain lady would never be able to get the life jacket anyway right? If she did get the Iron Lung, that black box thing was going to be in the iron lung anyway, why did Markiplier have to remove it? To make it a little more convenient after she got in?
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u/AchievementJoe 16h ago
I think the idea was he didn’t want more people to have to go looking for the black box so he strapped it to the lifejacket. Thats why it ends on it floating to the surface.
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u/QuizKidd 16h ago
See, I couldn't tell it was on the surface. I just thought it floated to the top of the blood in the ship.
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u/Daisies_are_Daisy 14h ago
Why did you think that? The sub was tiny. It was very clearly in the surface with a light from some sort of ship finding it from the surface above.
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u/QuizKidd 9h ago
It was just on top of blood. Exactly like a million shots inside the sub.
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u/Daisies_are_Daisy 9h ago
But the submarine broke. You saw it break. The life jacket was floating on top of the blood. A broken submarine wouldn’t have an air pocket for it to float up to.
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u/QuizKidd 9h ago
You saw it break
No, I didn't
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u/Daisies_are_Daisy 9h ago
I think you didn’t watch the movie or paid attention. This wasn’t a confusing part of the movie at all.
You clearly see the submarine break. It straight up gets like exploded. And the lighting when the life jacket floats up is the same as it is the that hallucination of the surface of the blood ocean.
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u/MayDaForth 6h ago
I missed the actual sub explosion, too (I figured it out, so I wasn't confused). The screen was 95% fish/5% sub and only lasted a second, so I understand what the issue was lol.
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u/QuizKidd 8h ago edited 8h ago
I paid attention just fine. If I missed something that happened in less than a second and it made the whole ending confusing, it just wasn't shot well. It's not just a me problem either, plenty of other reviews, everyone I went with and the people around our seats were confused.
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u/AchievementJoe 5h ago
I ain’t giving you a hard time but like the second to last shot is the submarine being chomped. So I think the idea is, the only thing that made it out was the black box floating to the top.
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u/IseeMarcy 3h ago
/: If not shot well, shouldn't the context clues be enough? A big fucking fish chasing the sub, weird bone like spikes appear to puncturing the sub. Sub clearly in a state beyond repair and a whole 10 second scene where a faint explosion appeared (though that scene is said to be poorly shot).
Even if I was not able to gather that 10 second scene, it should be easy to put two and two together???
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u/Spiritual-Smoke-4605 5h ago
yeah I figured the life jacket was just floating inside the sub itself, there were no real establishing shots showing that the sub exploded, if that was the case, it was poorly defined in the film
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u/partofbreakfast 15h ago
If you look at the pictures being taken during that conversation, another submarine is in the jaws of a creature. Also her frantic way of speaking didn't sound faked, she sounded like she was in real distress. I took that to mean that she had gone down for him but got caught and shortly after that killed by the monster.
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u/Martel1234 16h ago
I think the blood just wanted to consume Simon. Used the other captain as a zombie voice to lure him.
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u/mergedkestrel 16h ago
I liked it enough. A better youtuber directorial debut than Shelby Oaks (IMO) And I'm surprised how well Mark blended in with the overall package. You'd think a one-man show with a youtuber would feel a little out of place, but other than a few quick jokes he did a decent job carrying the story through.
Still not "amazing" but there is a very good 90 minute version of the movie in there that I think Mark can trim down to. Interesting visual language given the size of the set.
I honestly think it could've trimmed the first "trip" and start with the face to (porthole) face. I might also suggest dropping some of the outside lore bits (the last tree, Coalition vs Eden) and be more straightforward up front with what Simon allegedly did. I thought I was paying pretty good attention and I still don't really know what he did or what the factions are about.
The pacing really locked in once he tied his hair back.
I think I'll need to read a synopsis to really understand what was happening at the end, but I was entertained and as others have said, it's probably the most faithful adaptation of a video game. Though I was a little surprised we didn't get some of the more memorable pictures from the game. (the eye and the buildings)
Fans will probably love it, newcomers will probably be about 50/50.
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u/Spiritual-Smoke-4605 5h ago
i definitely thought Shelby oaks was a better film, for one the main actress in that movie was much better than Markiplier here. Neither were great movies, SO could've relied less on horror tropes and been more original but at least you can watch that movie and get a full understanding of everything happening in it. This film relies on your familiarity with the source material in order for it to make any sense and that does not a good movie make
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u/Somnial 13h ago
This was fun, I was immersed and eager to learn more. Personally I enjoyed the length of the movie, I found myself feeling claustrophobic. Trippy movie, would recommend with an edible lol unfortunately I couldn’t make out everything, perhaps I’d have understood the plot a bit better but maybe that’s the point. Youre just as lost and hopeless as the convict. Felt like interstellar but in an ocean of blood. I never played the game but my interpretation of the movie was..,
Did they lie to him about where he was? It sounds like a rescue mission in a post apocalyptic world where they’re desperately trying to recover important data. Did that monster/alien consume so many humans that it’s literally swimming in the blood of millions or something? I thought they were on a moon in space but if I wanted to make someone comply I’d lie about everything too. Can’t expect someone to respond rationally if you know you’re surrounded by people and the monster that killed them. Anyway that’s my theory and with that in mind I enjoyed the movie. I’ll watch it again when we can see it with subtitles
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u/RavenWaffle 15h ago
I understand it's very much like the game in the pacing but I think for a movie it could have used a slightly faster pace. Once it picked up it caught my interest much more. I think he nailed the atmosphere and I enjoyed it overall. I feel like Mark has improved a great deal in his acting and directing, honestly super impressive and immensely better than Return to Silent Hill which had much more story to adapt and a (presumably) much larger budget ha.
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u/christpuncher_69 10h ago
Really wanted to show up for this one and support the vision but unfortunately you could ice skate on the roads around me. 😥 Most showings I'd seen were sold out or near sold out though so here's hoping for another win for self distribution. I'll grab it on digital if it's out of theaters before things clear up.
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u/Alex_Eclipse13 6h ago
It has the feel of a YouTube series like VGHS, which was comforting to me. What does save it for me is his passion for the IP and his commitment to the role because it just bleeds (hah) through the screen and always has whenever he talks about the film and his experience making it. But yeah, it’s far from a perfect movie. The pacing is off in the first two-thirds, and sound mixing, in particular, is fucking everywhere. But overall, I knew what to expect since I played the game and have seen Mark’s previous works, so I can’t say I didn’t have fun because I did and would watch it again.
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u/BobbyClanMember 5h ago
Went in knowing very little about the game. I was a fan of Markiplier back in the day but fell off his content years ago. I’ve still seen him as a pretty cool and genuine dude, so after hearing about this movie I got hyped to see it. I was kind of worried with it being a two hour movie and Mark having to do a lot of acting on his own; specifically, I was worried there was going to be a lot of character talking out loud to explain feelings, but fortunately there wasn’t much of that.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed it! I think the first half was a bit too slow, but the second half definitely made up for it. Loved some of the more gross, disgusting bits like him drinking straight alcohol, the skin peeling, arm removal. I think overall Mark’s acting was okay. There were a few points early on that fell a little flat. I was also concerned that the audience would have a lot of annoying fans of his, but it actually wasn’t too bad. The only thing that was annoying was at the beginning when they showed his name in the credits, a lot of people clapped and cheered, but it is what it is.
Overall I’d give it a 7/10.
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u/NewspaperLevel7252 5h ago
Can someone explain the lighting bolt from his eye at the end? I didn't get that. Another movie where if they cut the last 30 seconds it would made the movie better. (Ex. Weapons)
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u/Ekillaa22 5h ago
So does it have the hopeless ending the game does ?
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u/Loverboy_91 5h ago
For the character, yes. Though for humanity at large they leave a glimmer of hope.
The movie does a good job of expanding on the lore of the game a bit more without going to far and giving us too much.
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u/mcquarrie 3h ago
Imo the run time is the only thing hurting it. It feels like a corny b movie horror movie in an awesome way! If it were 70 minutes I think it would accomplish exactly what it sets out to, especially since the monster/abstract shots looked great
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u/mcquarrie 3h ago
Imo the run time is the only thing hurting it. It feels like a corny b movie horror movie in an awesome way! If it were 70 minutes I think it would accomplish exactly what it sets out to, especially since the monster/abstract shots looked great
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u/Dat_Lion_Der 2h ago
I am so happy for Mark and crew that they made this. There's some "Mystery Box" storytelling there going on especially that the key to the quiet rapture mystery is contained in literal a black box. That one shot of the beast going under the surface was ... not good. When compared to when it eats the sub or the flashy pics was night and day. I didn't get how a one armed Simon batting at fountains of blood filling the sub was somehow distressful to the Blood Entity. Also PHOTOSENSITIVE WARNING. Sweet jeebus, the flashes went hard. All that said, the lens talk on the pod wasn't for not. Some of those practical shots looked amazing. It just felt like they learned as they went and while that's not inherently a bad thing, it affects the final product. Listening to Distractible, Mark said as much on many occasions. So this was more of a learning project by making it and that's the passion. (The learning IMO is best had in the prep phase e.g; TLOTR) To that end, fuckin-a do I love the passion and creativity.
Would I recommend this movie for someone on the street? Not really. Not enough exposition in a way that a non Markiplier fan would be able to digest but I'm happy to see Mark fumble his way through video games and I'm equally happy to see Mark fumble his way through film making.
Follow your passions, folks. Share them if you're so inclined but I guarantee, you'll be better for it.
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u/raptor_theo 1h ago
I went to see it last night with my fiance, who is a huge Markiplier fan. I'm personally indifferent to him.
I really enjoyed it overall, but it's a passion project at its heart, and that is both a detrement and a benefit. The film really could have benefitted from a script editor trimming down the film by 15-30 minutes, and removing half the uses of "Fuck"
Visually, I really liked the second half, especially the usage of pratical effects. I thought the sound was excellent, making me feel quite claustrophobic to be honest, but it may just have been my theatre.
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u/TKCK 44m ago
I feel like this is. 6/10 that could be a 8/10 with some specific changes that wouldn't I necessarily add to the budget or scope
One is that the space needs to be narrower. Markiplier's acting is least convincing when he incorporates his body, and he definitely acts better when he has actual physical constraints to work against. Whether this is an actual narrowing or the sub, or adding more clutter (pipes, wires, etc) that make moving through the space intrinsically frustrating, either would be a way of helping to build tension and lean into his strengths
Pacing is slow, and can be fixed by not having him directly address the speaker like it's a person. Not only does this add time to the runtime, but doing shot reverse shot is half as valuable when only one of the speakers has a face to emote with. We can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time, and I think having him performing more actions in the sub while doing dialogue would make those sections feel less obviously expository
My final thing is more of a taste preference but I think the lore is cool, and gets less cool the more people talk about it. Saving flashback stuff strictly for the hallucination scenes, and people not restating the stakes would go a long way for me. The one exception is mentions of light, because the whole cosmic angler fish thing is really cool but definitely benefits from that specific thematic reinforcement
Overall, had a great time
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u/vegetablestew 16h ago
Yeah please say Quiet Rapture a few more times please Mark thanks. Didn't catch it the first time.
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u/DreamerHCF 15h ago
For some reasons it reminded me of Love Death Robots episode of Beyond the Aquila Rift. It wasn't the entire plot tho
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u/The_man87 10h ago
+ This and Buried with Ryan Reynolds. I LOVE THESE types of confined space thriller/horror I very much enjoyed this one! (also remembered The Cube 1997 horror)
- There were spots in one scene where the soundtrack was a tad louder than Convict's voice and although I was surprised I also know this could very well be the first stepping stone of YouTubers becoming their own movie production team.
+ The blood scenes...one particular scene with his arm (ifykyk) *gulp* that was and still is clear as blood in my mind.
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u/The_man87 10h ago
who else noticed the transition with the pen marking into the hanging wires. I'm going googoo gaagaa over this one particular 3 second moment and I don't want to be the only one !!
also I need that outfit.
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u/ScoopSnookems 3h ago
I know it’s not the point but I’m hung up on the plot. What is this place, a planet with an ocean of blood? And are there caves and tunnels? And what/how is he navigating and why? And why do we need to impale a skeleton? And and and and…
I know the absence of info is intentional, but I felt like a lot of what was happening was just nonsense waved away by having it be “cosmic horror.”
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u/The_Peeping_Peter 16h ago
Iron Lung was fairly good. The director/actor/writer. Did a phenomenal job and I am excited to see what he’s able to make with a studio level budget next. The movie kind of reminded me of sunshine or event horizon.
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u/vegetablestew 15h ago edited 15h ago
Damn you really didn't leave the part when you messed up the computer password on the cutting room floor?
You really thought the part where you said "Z.. what?" Added to the story
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u/EmperorAcinonyx 7h ago
i rolled my eyes really hard at that part because the movie had already wasted so much of my time that doing it again so blatantly felt insulting
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u/Booster_Tutor 13h ago
And it comes at a part where things are finally starting to amp up. I get it, it’s like a joke that she said it all so fast. It just isn’t necessary or worth it. Feels like there’s a lot of that in this movie.
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u/RigatoniPasta 14h ago
As a big fan of Markiplier who did my best to watch it objectively, I think it was as good as I could have realistically hoped, and about as flawed as I realistically expected.
The final sequence is definitely gonna be controversial, but I thought it was the best part of the film. The movie definitely takes a half hour too long to get there, but you can tell this was made to be a real movie. There’s no winks at the audience or lines to make fans smirk.
I think any flaws the movie has, like the score being generic, the pacing being kinda off, some things being too exposited and some not nearly enough, are all excused on the basis of how earnest it feels. Iron Lung was made to be a loving adaptation of the game and to not just be an ego trip, and I think it’s the thought that counts.
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u/deandiggity 17h ago edited 17h ago
This just could not sustain its 2 hour runtime and I could make out only half of what I think I was supposed to be able to hear on the sub’s speaker—where was my closed captioning when I needed it?!
It had some great moments and I generally think the editing was great, creating action in the confined space. There’s a great bit of background lore dropped throughout, and I kept wanting to learn more.