Storage 24 and Seeing Characters as They Are: A Movie Review

Director: Johannes Roberts.

Writers: Noel Clarke, Davie Fairbanks and Marc Small.

Cast: Noel Clarke, Colin O'Donoghue, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Laura Haddock, Jamie Thomas King, Alex Price, Ned Dennehy, Geoff Bell, Ruth Gemmell, Davie Fairbanks, and Amy Pemberton.

Storage 24 is a small sci-fi thriller? from the United Kingdom. Written partially by Noel Clarke of Kidulthood, this film never steps out of a predictable framework. Perhaps, the one shooting location stops this film from finding true heights. Whatever the case, eighty minutes of cat and mouse interchange is not enough to recommend Storage 24 to many. Noel Clarke writes an interesting sub-plot involving infidelity, but he also writes his own character, Charlie, much like a shining white knight. The film and this character are hard to tolerate.

Creature feature film fans will be able to tell how this film will play out. An alien crash lands next to a storage facility. Once on the ground, this creature takes no prisoners, not even a German Shepherd. Soon, castmates are whittled down as Charlie finds out that his girlfriend, Shelley (Antonia Campbell-Hughes), is cheating on him. Someone cue the credits.

Noel Clarke as Charlie

There are a few comedic bits in this piece. A rocket launching toy dog added one laugh for this reviewer. When Charlie is searching for a weapon, he finds a dildo. This was also a laughable moment and Storage 24 is able to laugh at itself in a few frames. More laughter was needed.

Hilarity could have lightened up the many tedious moments. There is a series of scenes involving Charlie searching through boxes in order to protect himself with a weapon from the alien. These scenes go on for 5 to 10 minutes. Most viewers will understand what the character is trying to do in just a few frames. Yet, the scenes continue on. As well, the characters seem to go in circles within the storage building. They run there; they run here. Are they simply stalling before their eventual death scenes? The action needed to be more tense and purposeful. The film also needed some paring down.

Noel Clarke makes a mistake by performing double duty on this venture. He writes his character Charlie too proudly. Charlie can do no wrong. He is the victim of cheating, but a well written character takes part of the blame, no matter how small. People are imperfect and fallible. Many writers fall prey to personal bias and they create characters that are unassailable. Just ask Mario Van Peebles from Baadasssss! fame what can happen when you bring ego into a characterization. The character Charlie needed more rough edges to keep this character interesting and compelling.

Storage 24 has a few lights moments; however, this film is hardly worth sitting through. Sometimes self-aware, this title takes itself too seriously, overall. After all, a seven foot costumed alien is chasing a group of characters around a small and repetitive looking location. The jokes are practically already written. But, this is serious filmmaking and this film is too dramatic to pine through.

Overall: 6 out of 10.

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Posted in: 2012,creature,creature feature,creature feature movie review,movie review,release,sci-fi,united kingdom