Overrated and overhyped

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

"Pre Vis Action" is a live action short film from this year (2016) and in the months since its release on Youtube, it actually managed to gain a whole lot of clicks on the world's biggest video website. The reason may be that the writer and director of this black-and-white film is Gareth Evans from Wales, a man who has made several fairly successful films over the last decade, some of them similar to this one in style and subject. The lead actress here is Hannah Al Rashid and we see her go up against several assassins. It is probably not too surprising that there is no character development or anything other than the fighting because it is such a short movie. I myself still would have liked to know who the main character is in order to cheer for her. She could always be one of the bad guys you know. I guess the unfair battle system (2 vs. 1) is supposed to tell us she is a good character and we should hope she wins. But honestly, I never really did as much as I would have liked. I think this film is a bit of style over substance. It may work as part of a film, but as a film itself, it is not a success. Thumbs-down. Not recommended.