Don't Let Him Get Away
Writer, Director & Producer: Chris Stuckmann
Starring: Trevor Lawrence, Kaleb Edwards and Elliot Szerensci
Don’t Let Him Get Away is a short film written and directed by YouTube movie critic, Chris Stuckmann (Whose superb channel you can subscribe to by clicking here) The film follows a driver as he is given the job of following somebody with the simple, titular instruction…Don’t Let Him Get Away. For a short YouTube film, Don’t Let Him Get Away is very impressive on a technical aspect. Chris Stuckmann is somebody who has clearly brought his love and knowledge of film to this project as the shots all seem lifted from the work of somebody with much more feature filmmaking experience. While the film’s storyline may seem simple it is surprisingly gripping and there a good few twists, turns and even laughs to be had as the short progresses.
One of the strongest parts of this short film is undoubtedly the soundtrack and how it is utilized. The music brilliantly aids the images and I cannot imagine watching this short without the soundtrack that accompanies it. Filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino have become the masters of marrying music to movies and in Don’t Let Him Get Away, Stuckmann demonstrates a similar ability. What is more impressive is the way in which the soundtrack will stop to provide tension before coming back in to ratchet up the excitement. The way the soundtrack suddenly stopped as our hunter accidentally came face to face with the hunted left the audience with an awkward, yet tense silence.
Another strength of this short is the way in which it is largely dialogue free. I love films, which are able to tell a vast majority of its story visually as ultimately film is a visual medium. I would say that 80-90% of Don’t Let Him Get Away is free of dialogue and this allows the soundtrack and the direction to really flourish and stand out. While this is therefore a great showcase for some great pieces of music and for Stuckmann’s directorial potential, in future shorts I would like to see more of some Chris Stuckmann dialogue, as his YouTube reviews commonly display a witty sense of humour and intelligence.
Speaking of humour there is some to be had in Don’t Let Him Get Away. I am not aware whether it was intentional (Although I am pretty sure it was) but when our protagonist resorted to a bike in a foot chase with his target I couldn’t help but smile. Most likely as I knew it was exactly what I would have done in that situation.
Stuckmann’s YouTube editing experience is also visible in this film as it is a very cleanly edited and coherent film to watch, with the well filmed chase sequences thankfully veering away from the shaky cam methods which Stuckmann has expressed a distaste for in his videos.
The film’s performances are perfectly serviceable as it is not a film that requires Shakespearean level acting. Trevor Lawrence has the perfect build for the film’s lead however at times I felt his face was a bit too blank (Even though I am sure it was intentional) While it would be very easy to criticize the film for lacking depth and having no interesting characters that is not this films aim. Most YouTube shorts that I have seen have not displayed anywhere near the level of craft and effort on display in this film. When I saw the initial twenty-minute running time before clicking the video I feared that a short (Which by design is never as fully fleshed out thematically as features) could effectively hold my interest for such a length of time, as many shorts of a similar or lesser length haven't.
Don’t Let Him Get Away however is a very gripping short film and I can honestly say that the twenty minutes absolutely flew by and the film left me with a smile on my face. As a sixteen year old film enthusiast, seeing a short film such as this is rather inspiring as it is another reminder that filmmaking due to technological advancements is now something open to everybody and that shorts of impressive quality can be made without the big budgets of Hollywood studios. This short also sealed the deal as far as I was concerned with the credits, as ever since watching Scream and Adventureland I have been a fan of the freeze frame picture credits (I am sure there is a much shorter term to refer to them by).
An incredibly minor nitpick with this film is the sound effects used for the fight scenes. While I fully understand that it is hard to have realistic sound effects for fight scenes unless you have a Hollywood editing system, the sound effect used in this film seemed a bit too cartoony (Not a word I know) and comic booky (Again…I know) despite the light tone of the rest of the film.
Overall Don’t Let Him Get Away is a short film worth twenty minutes of your time. The soundtrack is excellent, the direction displays great potential and it is incredibly gripping. Besides my minor flaws about the too blank face lead, a desire for slightly more dialogue and the fight sound effects, this is a technically impressive and incredibly well shot and edited film.
To watch Don’t Let Him Get Away you can click on the embed down below. Be sure to check out Chris Stuckmann’s movie reviews here and subscribe to his channel if you have a YouTube account as his reviews have made me want to pursue movie criticism on YouTube as well as with this website.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
One of the strongest parts of this short film is undoubtedly the soundtrack and how it is utilized. The music brilliantly aids the images and I cannot imagine watching this short without the soundtrack that accompanies it. Filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino have become the masters of marrying music to movies and in Don’t Let Him Get Away, Stuckmann demonstrates a similar ability. What is more impressive is the way in which the soundtrack will stop to provide tension before coming back in to ratchet up the excitement. The way the soundtrack suddenly stopped as our hunter accidentally came face to face with the hunted left the audience with an awkward, yet tense silence.
Another strength of this short is the way in which it is largely dialogue free. I love films, which are able to tell a vast majority of its story visually as ultimately film is a visual medium. I would say that 80-90% of Don’t Let Him Get Away is free of dialogue and this allows the soundtrack and the direction to really flourish and stand out. While this is therefore a great showcase for some great pieces of music and for Stuckmann’s directorial potential, in future shorts I would like to see more of some Chris Stuckmann dialogue, as his YouTube reviews commonly display a witty sense of humour and intelligence.
Speaking of humour there is some to be had in Don’t Let Him Get Away. I am not aware whether it was intentional (Although I am pretty sure it was) but when our protagonist resorted to a bike in a foot chase with his target I couldn’t help but smile. Most likely as I knew it was exactly what I would have done in that situation.
Stuckmann’s YouTube editing experience is also visible in this film as it is a very cleanly edited and coherent film to watch, with the well filmed chase sequences thankfully veering away from the shaky cam methods which Stuckmann has expressed a distaste for in his videos.
The film’s performances are perfectly serviceable as it is not a film that requires Shakespearean level acting. Trevor Lawrence has the perfect build for the film’s lead however at times I felt his face was a bit too blank (Even though I am sure it was intentional) While it would be very easy to criticize the film for lacking depth and having no interesting characters that is not this films aim. Most YouTube shorts that I have seen have not displayed anywhere near the level of craft and effort on display in this film. When I saw the initial twenty-minute running time before clicking the video I feared that a short (Which by design is never as fully fleshed out thematically as features) could effectively hold my interest for such a length of time, as many shorts of a similar or lesser length haven't.
Don’t Let Him Get Away however is a very gripping short film and I can honestly say that the twenty minutes absolutely flew by and the film left me with a smile on my face. As a sixteen year old film enthusiast, seeing a short film such as this is rather inspiring as it is another reminder that filmmaking due to technological advancements is now something open to everybody and that shorts of impressive quality can be made without the big budgets of Hollywood studios. This short also sealed the deal as far as I was concerned with the credits, as ever since watching Scream and Adventureland I have been a fan of the freeze frame picture credits (I am sure there is a much shorter term to refer to them by).
An incredibly minor nitpick with this film is the sound effects used for the fight scenes. While I fully understand that it is hard to have realistic sound effects for fight scenes unless you have a Hollywood editing system, the sound effect used in this film seemed a bit too cartoony (Not a word I know) and comic booky (Again…I know) despite the light tone of the rest of the film.
Overall Don’t Let Him Get Away is a short film worth twenty minutes of your time. The soundtrack is excellent, the direction displays great potential and it is incredibly gripping. Besides my minor flaws about the too blank face lead, a desire for slightly more dialogue and the fight sound effects, this is a technically impressive and incredibly well shot and edited film.
To watch Don’t Let Him Get Away you can click on the embed down below. Be sure to check out Chris Stuckmann’s movie reviews here and subscribe to his channel if you have a YouTube account as his reviews have made me want to pursue movie criticism on YouTube as well as with this website.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
