13 sins movie analysis
13 Sins (released in 2014) is a thriller movie that is based around a man named Elliot, a failing salesman who is under a lot of financial trouble. He receives a phone call from a mysterious voice who tells him if he completes 13 challenges, he will get a lot of money. As the movie develops, it becomes more vital for Elliot to finish the challenges as if he doesn't he will be arrested.

The choice of music and graphics that are used in the opening credits are spooky and eery. They definitely bring in a sub-genre of horror to the film. The opening credits are very dark which brings a negative, pessimistic mood to the movie. After that, we are introduced to our protagonist characters. I think that the way in which Ellis's girlfriend a brother were introduced was not as detailed as it should have been and the film lacked in context as whole. However, I think there are a lot of subtle clues which string together well in the movie and leave a lot of the figuring out to do for the audience. For example, when Elliot's phone rings it is the same ringtone as the old man who got shot at the beginning of the movie.
I think this film does a somewhat good job of avoiding stereotypes as one of the main characters is a black female. In addition to that, she is in a relationship with a white male which isn't used very often in film and media. However, I think that the stereotypes of gender are still visible as Elliot does a lot of masculine acts during the movie. These including cutting off his bully's arm, stealing a car and shooting a police officer.
The use of camera angles in this movie are very effective. For example, Elliot goes through a lot of trouble in the film and his facial expressions are emphasised to clearly show us how he reacts to each situation. Furthermore, there are times where the camera angles are tilted to show the confusion of Elliot which is a great feature to include. The audio is another micro-feature in the film which is used well. Despite the great sounding soundtrack, there is also a powerful silence in parts of the movie which creates a lot of tension and drama to further engage the audience. I think that there could have been a wider use of iconography in the film as it was rather basic at times.
I think that one of the most visible themes in the film is panic. It is used throughout to show us the emotion of Elliot. This is used in many cases such as when Elliot is in the coffee shop with the dead body and there is a closeup of the clock as it gets closer to the deadline that Elliot needs to meet. Another example is in the action and fight scenes. The main one is where Elliot runs from the police at the wedding speech. The clips are cut in very quick succession and the editing adds real panic and excitement to the scene. The music also makes the heart race and makes the film very interesting to watch.
The film features some well respected actors such as Mark Webber (Elliot) and Ron Perlman (Detective Chilcoat). The acting from Mark Webber is consistently good throughout the movie and he does a great job of showing his emotion through his facial expressions. However, I think that he could have been a bit more animated and used his voice to show his emotion at times. The acting from Ron Perlman was as good as ever as he did the job of being an intimidating male threat to the protagonist.
In conclusion, I believe that the idea was far better than the end product of the movie. Despite that, I still think that it was prolific in areas and I give it a 6/10.
Joe Leggett
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