Machine

Machine

The first time I heard Bert Kreischer speak, I was in college and it was during the Thanksgiving break. While enjoying good Russian vodka, my friend decided to let me and my other friend watch Kreischer’s bit. I had always been a fan of stand up, but it was Kreischer’s humor and storytelling that stood out to me. The following day, I caught up on both Kreischer specials available on Netflix, and became one of his great fans. Many people don’t know this legend, Kreischer was an exchange student and drank too much with the Russian mafia and ended up robbing a train with the mob.

As soon as it was revealed that Kreischer was joining the film industry with his movie The Machine, I couldn’t contain my joy. In this film, directed by Peter Atencio, the highly underrated director of the Key & Peele movie Keanu, Mark Hamill stars with Kreischer as his father, which, in a way, is fitting because Kreischer has been wanting to show this story for a long time. However, for a moment, it seemed that the project would be shelved due to the war in Ukraine. This made Kreischer take a different route. He ‘leaked’ the trailer and after a successful feedback, Legendary Pictures decided to partner with Sony to release the film.

In this film, Kreischer portrays a character which is modelled after him. He is however much like his real self as he made a career out of launching his Machine story on stage, inviting reputable commercials, etc, facilitating numerous appearances on late-night TV programs, and co-hosting the successful podcast 2 Bears 1 Cave along with his best friend Tom Segura. At the introduction of the film, Kreischer has hit rock bottom. He gets too drunk and goes so far as to stream the moment his young daughter Sasha (Jessica Gabor) is getting arrested.

He even had to cancel his stand-up shows saying it was because of family issues. While at the sweet sixteen birthday party of Sasha, Kreischer on the other hand bemoans the presence of his estranged father Albert (Hamill). As the preparations for the celebration were ongoing, Kreischer’s father and Kreischer were abducted by Irna (Iva Babic), the Russian organized crime Lord’s daughter, so that she could receive what Kreischer had taken from her father while in college.

Big Legends Styles Despite many potential monsters throughout the centuries that are waiting to be adapted into film, the sub-genre of cryptozoology is surprisingly neglected, especially in the horror film industry. Even though some cryptids have earned fame throughout the years, none have quite achieved the prominence of being on the silver screen like the Big Man. These motions pictures featuring Sasquatch are quite frequent but the best has to be Justin Lee’s Lots of twists and turns characterize Big Legend, a compelling survival story as Lee reveals more and more surprises.

In Big Legend, actor Kevin Makely plays the character Tyler Laird who is mourning the tragic death of his fiancée who went missing during a camping trip. After spending a year in an insane asylum, Tyler decides to go back to the woods where he lost the love of his life in the hope of finding the creature responsible for his lover’s death. Unfortunately, in a very brutal fashion, he comes to terms with his worst fear. What was thought to be a stray animal attack, was something more and even worse as he tracks the dominating animal in its territory. But as he moves deep into the woods, Tyler does end up tracking down the creature that claimed his fiancé.

The film also includes a short but endearing appearance by Adrienne Barbeau as Tyler’s mother and not to forget, Todd A. Robinson, who plays an eccentric hunter/Bigfoot fan. The other part of the film, though, is pretty much dedicated to Makely’s participation with the wilderness of Pacific Northwest, as well as the deeper shadows that are hidden in it. The small number of characters and desolate setting makes this: a tighter and more personal ordeal than most Bigfoot movies, and brings out more the loneliness of Tyler’s unaided fight for life.

Fortunately for us, Makely broadens the scope of action and picture, so we do not notice the problematic in this depth of the film sequence, and Tyler evokes sympathy with the audience. At times, the dialogues seem to be unnatural and the script in general required an extra hand to make it look better, this is still an amusing movie though.

However, it must be noted that there is a sort of cheapness about Big Legend as practically every aspect of the film appears poorly made. This is undoubtedly a byproduct of working within a shoe-string budget but I believe many of these problems should have been avoided by strengthening the design aspect of the film and cutting out some of the silly lines from the screenplay. The anatomy of Bigfoot himself is also quite uninteresting but there are only so many ways in which you can portray a bipedal ape on the screen without going too far from what the witnesses’ portray, so I can’t really blame the filmmakers for that.

The beauty of the movie is that it’s a narrative that has a start, middle, and an end; however, the way the film ends gives the impression of being a sequel in a very bizarre way, which I would have hated in other films. But seeing how this little film quite excitedly explained its intention of creating a sequel I can’t help but look forward to the ensuing ideas that are presented. That said, this particular scene feels very out of place.

In conclusion, Big Legend can be described as an amusing survival thriller that for the most part is within its limited budget. The film does seem a bit rough around the edges, but given the heartfelt charm of it all, it is easily forgiven. It is not quite the best Bigfoot movie out there, but it is good for a viewing if you want a cryptid infused drama about love and loss at a Sasquatch’s expense.

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