A film caught between two formats, WallDale doesn’t quite find its footing, but when it lands a punch, it hits hard enough to make it worth the watch.
by Nav Qateel
From indie studio Golden Horizons, based in the East Midlands in the UK, England, WallDale was originally planned as a mini-series, but during production it was decided that a feature-length movie would be a better fit. Unfortunately, this has affected the end product somewhat, as I’ll explain further in the review.
Directed by Matthew Cathcart, who also shares writing credits with Dawid Przebinda, WallDale is a film that feels as though its creators were influenced by films like Westworld and Michael Bay’s The Island.
However, I’ll say no more about that so I don’t spoil the big reveal. Cathcart’s first effort is a busy affair, with a large cast that threatens to overwhelm at times, and this is where you can see the problem with going from a show to a movie during production. A rewrite and trimming of the cast would have been the order of the day, but obviously this was then impossible, leaving us with a film that’s unwieldy at times.
WallDale is a sort of estate in England where nothing is quite as it appears, and they have their own police force that definitely doesn’t resemble normal UK cops. The locals seem to have everyday problems like anywhere in the West might have, yet slowly we learn that there are possibly nefarious people pulling strings in the background, but to what end? The mystery side of WallDale is one of the better aspects of the movie, helped along by an unsettling score that maintains a strong sense of otherworldliness.
I won’t talk any more about the story itself, as going in blind is a must to really get the most out of Cathcart’s sophomore creation. Because this was supposed to be a show rather than a film, it’s hard to talk about the writing and be completely fair. It is rather disjointed and a touch convoluted, but one can get a strong sense of the direction it was meant to go in. Sadly, it loses a lot of fluidity and continuity, even becoming unintentionally funny at times.
For example, there’s a scene where Jenna is behind Ashley and we hear her racking her automatic, only for the next shot to show the gun in her inside pocket, where it would be impossible to rack. Now, this might be one of several editing decisions that were not fully thought through, leaving me scratching my head, but being a first movie by the director, it is a forgivable misstep.
There are loads of fight scenes in WallDale, and I was extremely impressed by the quality of the choreography, as the punches and hits with various objects were on par with the fights in John Wick. They were bone-crunchingly realistic, and this is not hyperbole. There were one or two that were simply good, but the rest genuinely stood out. The actor playing Enid appeared to know how to actually fight, but sadly she wasn’t around for long.
In conclusion, this movie could have been so much better, yet it was strong enough in places to keep me entertained. The performances were solid from mostly unknown actors who are clearly still finding their footing, much like director Matthew Cathcart himself.
It’s a shame the film doesn’t fully represent his vision for the proposed series, and the editing ultimately lets the movie down, causing a kind of narrative whiplash due to questionable continuity. All that aside, WallDale still has plenty to offer, especially if you’re a fan of mystery or enjoy seeing realistically choreographed, hard-hitting fight scenes.
Nav’s Score: 7/10
