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    • This is a spoiler free review per the wishes of Markiplier.

    The fact that it was even possible for me to watch Iron Lung in Denmark is insane. Click here to read about my thoughts on that and the enormous effort that went into production.

    I watched it yesterday and have so many thoughts on this movie. I won't go too much into specifics in this review but I am already working on a long post I'll publish a while after the movie has left cinemas.

    Iron Lung is not everyone's cup of tea, but that's maybe my favourite part of the movie. Markiplier put his heart and soul into this movie and you can tell that this is his uncompromised vision. If we flatten out art to make it generally appealing we loose passion in the process. Iron Lung is the antithesis to this. It's a slow 2 hour movie about a guy sent to map out a blood ocean (yes, actual blood) in a depressing universe where a small possibly doomed subset of humanity is all that is left.

    Iron Lung is genuinely good. It certainly has its flaws but I was completely blindsided by the wealth of innovative ideas that somehow didn't ruin the mystery. The world of Iron Lung doesn't feel any more explained after watching the movie, even after knowing the game's lore.

    I will say this, this movie is absolutely a slow burn. I like the pacing and I feel like it works really well with the story. Rest assured, there are scenes where lots of action is happening and I think that it balances it well. Going into Iron Lung I hoped for only a few things: That the mysteries of the game wouldn't be overexplained, that the movie was slow (like the game) and that it didn't try to be some action flick. I got all three.

    The tension steadily builds up as the movie goes on and I think it worked really well.

    There's also quite a bit of humour and it worked well for me. People in the cinema laughed at the jokes and took the serious scenes, well, seriously so that to me indicates that it's not just me here.

    The sound design is phenomenal. Great score and ambience as well. The sounds sort of sear themselves into your mind. I also adore the use of silence both to build and reduce tension. I sadly don't know enough technical terms to do this segment justice but rest assured this particular element was handlded REALLY well.

    The game mechanics are adapted really well and there is 100% new things in store for people familiar with the game. None of it feels forced. Iron Lung (the movie) feels like what I'd call a "Yes, and"-adaptation where it adds without replacing or removing anything. I love how the control panel and camera was translated into the movie.

    The cinematography is great. This movie isn't afraid of shadows! There's so many interesting angles and uses of framing and it was definitely necessary given how the movie mostly takes place in one quite small location.

    The effects are mostly practical and work really well. There really, REALLY is a lot of blood and it looks so, so good. Not kidding this is some good fake blood. It's so beautiful yet frighteningly enveloping, if that makes sense.

    The sets look really cool and have been adapted to the new format in a way that feels natural. They are actually grimy, which is something I feel like movies these days are afraid to be. I believe that they used a giant dolly to move the submarine around and that is a choice that really carried this movie. The submarine's movements tell the story at points and its really cool.

    The very first shot of the movie worried me (and from what I can see, quite a lot of other people) since the CGI in it looks a bit cheap but it's very brief and this issue does not persist throughout. For a movie with a budget of 3 million it's very well-done.

    Markiplier did a damn good job given how we're literally locked in with him most of the time. Is he the best actor I've ever seen? No. Did all the lines land? No, but no movie is perfect. I get why some people are saying that they feel like the main character's personality and story is too nebulous but I feel like it hit the right balance.

    Some of the writing feels a little unnatural at times. Some of the dialogue needed more polishing and perhaps even omission. There were points where I felt like there was just a tad too much repetition and outright telling (instead of showing) but these were scenes where a lot of wacky stuff was happening so honestly I don't mind too much.

    As for scariness, I didn't jump at any point, but I'm not easily scared and that is not the kind of horror this movie specialises in. It builds dread, tension and atmosphere and I think it does that well. There's some genuine mindfucks and "oh HELL no" moments. Throughout the movie, your perception gets messed with a lot. Can't go too much deeper into it without actual spoilers but I'll say that we got some delicious existential dread.

    This movie is extremely cryptic and difficult to understand and I adore it for it. For all its flaws this movie is an incredible feat and one of the most interesting movies I've watched in a long time. I'll definitely watch it again as soon as it gets on streaming. I really hope that the Blu-Ray (which is supposedly going to happen) will be available in Europe.

    If Iron Lung sounds like something you'd enjoy, and you're one of the uh... somehow more than zero readers, I definitely recommend it. Don't pass up the opportunity to watch it in cinemas if you can.

    Main hurdle for some people may be looking past the fact that Markiplier is in the movie. Many of us may have watched his videos before (or at least seen some memes or mentions of him) and I must admit that for the first 20 minutes or so it did distract me a bit but eventually I fully bought that this was some other guy.

    I feel like some of the moments fans may see as bad acting is just them associating certain phrases and deliveries with stuff from his YouTube Videos, which is understandable. I've heard mostly good stuff about the line delivery from people who say they hadn't watched Markiplier's videos before, which I can believe.

    I can confidently say that Iron Lung is worth watching if you enjoy any of these:

    Thanks for reading :)