Powerful

Excellent but underrated film

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Absolutely my favorite film of all time, Double Down tackles intense issues of depression, love and loss, and the overwhelming battle of perfectionism. i've never had a film touch me as deeply as this film has. worth the watch and every subsequent viewing.

Neil Breen is an alien being from another galaxy, who has come to Earth to spread his message....that's not the plot of this movie, that's just who he is. I have no idea what the plot of this movie is. Breen's character in this film is a hacker/assassin/bioterrorist who discovers a mysterious old man who gives him a magical rock that cures cancer, which he uses once on a girl we don't know and then it never comes up again. Also his wife is dead. Or a ghost. Or a skost. And there's anthrax. And lots of stock footage.I also don't know what Neil Breen's message is. Is he here to save us? Or destroy us? I'm not sure, but he IS here, and you MUST see this movie.

This is the first time I have watched 'Double Down'. What a long strange trip I've just been on.Firstly, Breen himself, who looks a bit like a Vulcan Neil Diamond, clearly has a genuine passion for film-making, and apparently finances everything, as well as doing (according to the credits) pretty much all the dog-work, right down to the catering. To date, he has made 4 feature-length films and I salute that. This isn't some one-off project with no follow-up; Neil's in it for the long run.Secondly, having watched this movie and seen trailers and reviews for his other work, Neil Breen makes 'message' movies, and while his message can be a bit garbled at times, he seems very committed and earnest. It seems like an honest attempt to convey his vision so, again, admirable.Some criticise the over-lengthy voice-overs, but I watched 'The Star Wars Holiday Special' which is about 70% Wookie honking without subtitles, and I'd have been grateful for a Neil Breen voice-over explaining things, believe me!The execution of this vision, however, is muddled at best and technically inept on many levels. The acting is wooden, too, especially our hero, who delivers his lines as if he's being shown them on cue cards in a different language and he's having to translate them one by one. The plot is standard Breen; he's some form of mentally, morally and physically superior being who has come to combat the ills of the world like greed, corruption etc. In this case, he's a super-secret agent, but in other films, he's an alien or a cyborg, but the general idea is the same.The movie has a strange dream-like feel to it, which is actually enhanced by the technical cock-ups, as you find yourself unsure what is happening and why, and when. Breen's stilted delivery of critical lines just adds to the confusion.Now the big question for all Breenies (you know who you are) - does Neil get nekkid? The answer is yes, albeit briefly. But you do get to see his plums, whether you want to or not.In short, Breen makes strange, badly-executed films that really do stand apart for both good reasons and bad. You don't forget seeing them. Definitely try at least one before dismissing this strange strange man's canon.

I saw a segment from the web-show 'Best of the Worst' which featured clips from this... do we call it a 'film'(?) It made me intrigued by just how insane the actor-writer-producer-director (also caterer-production manager-designer-music-score etc etc) Neil Breen made this tone poem about a man who becomes a sort of weapon against the world while also having the super-human ability to heal people with brain cancer and yet spends all of his time in the desert, living off of tuna fish cans and his several laptops where he organizes his plans to dominate and possibly blow up the world but hey it's okay because he "supports the troops" and mourns for his dead wife which... how did she die again?! This movie is utter, incomprehensible nonsense of a magnificent order. You can't believe what is before your eyes exists, but apparently through the sheer will-power of ego and drive, one man can make a movie by himself basically single-handedly - well, also, a lot, and I mean a LOT, of stock footage helps. Not to say the other actors (are they actors) help much (they don't), or any sense of forward momentum or drive. It almost appears like it's some sort of desperate plea in the guise of an espionage thriller narrative (hell, even on the front cover of the DVD the quote says "Stunning... desperation..." as if the critic, if it was one, was marking this as a cry for help).At the same time as an ego-trip spectacle of the worst order, it may be more unwatchable than The Room; at least in the case of Tommy Wiseau, he had a certain oddball, off-the-wall charm and deranged charisma (or just bafflement) that could keep your eyes glued. What makes Neil Breen such a train-wreck to watch is more-so the filmmaking, how it is apparently shot on film in 2005 but he and everything else looks like it was shot in the early 80's, and is over-loaded with a gargantuan amount of narration, and at times one wonders if this Neil Breen whoever has telekinetic capabilities with those he acts across on screen since he talks and we hear it without him moving his mouth (!)It's not a sight to recommend legitimately in any way shape or form - matter of fact it's one of the ten worst things ever committed to celluloid, like you halfway expect for the Beast at Yucca Flats to arrive - but if you decide to watch it with friends, it will be one of the great bonding experiences of your lives. Watching Double Down is like going through the trenches with an A-grade certified psycho who is full of himself and tuna and the electronic impulses giving him a heartbeat for some reason.