One Step Ahead (II) (2020) User Reviews

Not bad for a bunch of beginners

[dajones-4 · 6/10 · 4 January 2021]

If you are looking for great acting or familiar faces, well, this ain't it.

The premise of the story of technology, mainly cell phone tech, coming into being 40 years sooner than it has is interesting. I was sucked into this movie by the fact that it has a Private Investigator as the main character. Couple that with the 1st-person narration, similar to Marlowe and Hammer TV, and I was in.

The PI is trying to track down a serial killer who has been on the loose for close to 20 years. They do a halfway job of sticking to the plot with a handful of social items tossed in such as race and guns.

I will give them credit for doing a pretty good job of getting the timeline acceleration of high tech explained in the first 4 minutes. Without that, it would have been tough knowing anything of what was going on.

One thing that really helped hold my attention was seeing all the mid-60's cars. And a few from the 50's. Brought back some memories seeing the old Pontiac with the similar front grill to the '66 GTO I had.

I don't claim to know every new actor who shows up, but I didn't see any familiar faces. The lead character does the directing along with other tasks. But hey. On a low budget, you have to save where you can.

You are not going to come away from this thinking you have just seen an Oscar winner. But likewise, you probably won't be kicking yourself for watching it. I wouldn't recommend buying or renting it, but it is streaming currently for free on at least 2 venues I know of.

The acting by itself only gets 3 to 4 *'s from me, but the story premise and the old cars pull it up to an overall 6 stars from me.

Quirky and admirable

[arifali · 6/10 · 24 January 2021]

If I try to organize my thoughts to write a review it will take me forever. So here are some quick takes.

I'm right there with dajones-4 - the film was promoted as an old school private eye movie and that alone had me hooked. The fact that they weren't recognizable actors also intrigued me.

I loved the alternate technology time frame of the film, with cell phones being available in the 60's. They set this up with a neat historical timeline at the beginning of the movie. This gave the setting of the film a Sci-fi like originality that differentiates it from others in the old-school PI drama genre.

The acting wasn't great but it also wasn't pretentious. It was like the cast saying "hey guys, this is who we are". And I appreciated that.

Even though I was tempted to switch to watching something else early on in the film, I couldn't stop watching out of curiosity of what these guys were working toward.

Im glad I watched this film and I hope you will enjoy it too. And I hope Robert James makes more films :)

One step ahead of the cliche...

[ChristopherJohnsonActor · 6/10 · 15 February 2021]

I enjoyed this cliche rich film. I really liked the cars and the not so subtle consequences of technology quips. Some of the camera angles are off a bit. The acting is bit amateurish. Overall it is a fun low budget, novice film. We all have to start somewhere and this is a watchable start.

My brain actually hurts

[authoramandamarie · 1/10 · 4 January 2022]

The best part of this film were the Commercials. Oh, and the end credits. Don't waste your time! The story line was awful, the actors were dull. The cinematography made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Seriously, the commercials were terrible but still more entertaining than this movie.

Worst Acting Ever

[clydepearlwillis · 1/10 · 25 August 2023]

I have rarely laughed so hard watching poor acting, but every single actor was devoid of any passion or any emotion. You will rarely be treated to a complete crew of actors who recite their lines with less passion than a 80 year old man reading a grocery shopping list.

I encourage people to watch this movie which may have been made on a whim while their kids were doing a sleepover at their grandparents. Nothing else can describe such a deficient effort!

The best acting by far is performed by a drunk at a bar about 1/3 of the way in. His onscreen time makes his appearance basically a cameo. Whomever this actor is, he should be giving lessons to the others since he is the only believable character.

Every single other actor couldn't sell a salmon to a starving grizzly bear.

Wow. This movie is as bad as Holy Moses with Dudley Moore, Rubber, any Tromaville movie, or Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.

I can't stop laughing.

Confusing.

[DMB90650 · 3/10 · 18 February 2021]

When the film first started, I thought it was a mistake. It showed the events of the 1950's and 60's, but then showed a modern dressed man. Then shows a woman interviewer with a 21st century hair style and then shoots to the detective that is dressed like a typical noir detective from that era. It just was kind of all over the place with inconsistency.

Clever creative indie flick. Worth seeing.

[greggreg · 7/10 · 12 April 2021]

This is very much an indie/low budget film. But it's smart enough to be entertaining and makes it's sci fi/noir conceit work. Certainly a lot better then many better budgeted B action flicks that claim to be sci fi. It's original and earnest in all good ways. The acting is good enough especially for a low budget indie film. More creative and well thought out then films with budgets in the millions.

Quit now while you're losing.

[Arthur_Lemming_of_the_BDA · 1/10 · 4 January 2022]

This is the worst movie ever. The best part is the end credits because it showed I'm done watching this garbage. The worst part is everything before that, especially Simon Jacob. He is horrible. Really you're supposed to emote not be monotone. Is he tone deaf or just a terrible actor?

The writing almost gave me a stroke. Half of the shots are pointless. The acting made me want to cry out in pain. And why did someone say, "Listen carefully," at the end of a scene? To what am I listening? People blowing smoke out their faces? Paintball gun shots? Sheesh. The effects are awful too. An orange hole in his shirt is just bad.

I wonder if the Simon Jacob louse really wrote it under a pen name? Because it strokes his ego from here to December. If so, he needs to go to film school and get an iota of talent to write more.

Hm, the director also wrote it also starred in it. He did a bad job, though.