The Glint of Darkness: Revolution
This inept Indian would-be science fiction thriller contains clumsy plotting, amateurish fights and hammy dialogue. Its only saving grace is its 51-minute running time.
“The Glint of Darkness: Revolution” does not live up to its title, other than the darkness. It’s filled with murky cinematography and sparsely lit scenes where you swivel your head, trying to make sense of what you see. But then what you do see makes you crave the dark again.
This inept Indian science-fiction thriller looks like something a handful of friends shot over one weekend with no budget, just wearing their regular clothes and driving their own cars. Scratch that, motorcycles, since other than one taxi everyone in the movie — even supposedly foot soldiers of an international conspiracy organization — gets around on cheap mopeds and other two-wheelers.
At 51 minutes long, director/writer/producer/cinematographer/star/culprit Shaarath Vihari seems to be aiming for a placeholder movie for a grander, bigger one he wants to make. (There’s already an even shorter version out there on the web.) It’s a not an uncommon tactic — a lot of people don’t know that “Whiplash,” “Sling Blade” and many other celebrated features were originally short films that were made just to secure funding for the complete version.
I shudder to think what a bigger version of “Glint” would be like.
We are introduced to a young jouranlist, Heena (Arshiya Gul), who has uncovered some vague plot to create super-soldiers who will do things ordinary humans can’t. She looks at the camera and talks about the big story, and then immediately we learn that she died and it’s now “two years later.” Then we’ll time-shift again to a few months later, with the cycle starting all over again.
It seems Heena has the goods on a computer hard drive, which falls into the hands of a young do-gooder named Nick (Saikumar Guttikonda). He now passes them on to Sasha (Brinda Shivram), yet another intrepid young reporter with a marvelous waterfall of cascading black hair. Though we never see her pull out a notebook or type at a laptop. Movie journalists tend to an astonishingly little amount of writing and lots of running about and heaving of bosoms.
(Also: a hard drive? Why wouldn’t you just back that up into the cloud?)
All paths lead back to mystery man named Noah Black (played by Vihari himself), who apparently was one of the original super-soldiers but has now turned his back on them, breaking out of the mind control that renders them as emotionless automotons. Making things even weirder, Noah was apparently cloned so he gets to have several fight scenes with his own doppelgangers.
The fight scenes are… something to behold. There actually is a stunt coordinator credited, and it’s Vihari again. All I can say is that he must have never been in a fight, or trained to fight, or even witnessed a fight.
Even with evasive editing and photography, they can’t hide the fact the actors are doing slo-mo punches and kicks that barely connect. It’s like watching old drunks flailing at each other in an alley at 3 o’clock in the morning. The fact that these are supposed to be enhanced superhumans a la Captain America makes their feeble fumblings even more pathetic.
There really isn’t any way to enjoy “The Glint of Darkness: Revolution” except as unintentional satire. Even the self-serious black-and-white photography seems included just to make the movie seem more foreboding than it is.
I realize production standards in other parts of the world aren’t up to what they have in Hollywood, but I’ve seen plenty of excellent Indian cinema. This ain’t that. I suppose a case could made to enjoy it by inviting some friends over for a game of drinking and ripping on the movie as you watch it, MST3K-style. Don’t suffer in solitude by watching it alone.