Plot Summary
Frank is a known counterfeiter and professional all-around criminal. He has is hands in a lot of dirty businesses, but his fast and checkered lifestyle catches up with him finally, when he is faced with a medical complication he cannot overcome. Thankfully, he is able to secure a heart donation to improve his medical condition, but this miracle sends him on a journey he never thought he would travel as he crosses paths with the family of the man whose heart he now has. Will Frank be able to find redemption in the unlikeliest of places?
Production Quality (1 point)
From the studio that brought us 2 to Tangle and Time Collectors: Return of the Giants comes another poorly funded and poorly executed production mess. However, Echo Rhyme surprisingly has the highest production of the group. Still, this film has a lot of production problems, such as very obvious overdubbed lines, a loud and generic soundtrack, and sound effects that are not natural to the scenes they are stuck in. Video quality is fine, but lighting and camera work are inconsistent throughout. There are also some sequences of unnecessary slow-motion. However, there is some improvement throughout as it seems like some parts of this film were better funded than others. Even still, the editing is horrific, with very abrupt and choppy cuts and transitions in very awkward places. Having a one-point production as your best achievement isn’t saying much.
Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)
Unlike the severely limited scopes of their previous two films, Son Films went all out with Echo Rhyme. They attempt a level of plot complexity that even the audience cannot understand at times, as subplots are very disjointed and confusing, especially in the first thirty minutes. As things unfold, the premise becomes more and more cheesy as it is fixated on the organ donation of the heart and how this affects all of the characters involved in the most far-fetched ways. This story is based entirely on very juvenile coincidences and a childish outlook on life as content meanders along endlessly for over two hours. Everything is too connected yet not rooted in reality as one chance encounter after the next prolongs this story far beyond its welcome. This goes without mentioning the very thin dialogue and empty characters in this story. Although this ‘unique’ plot structure had some potential, it did not manifest in this presentation.
Acting Quality (.5 point)
Son Films has put together some notoriously awkward casts, and this one isn’t much better, even though there are a few good moments that keep this section from being zero. Nevertheless, this group needs some serious acting coaching, as they are very robotic and overly practiced. As a whole, this movie needed a total redo, if it needed to be made at all.
Conclusion
Besides all of the other obvious issues with this film, what on earth does this title mean? I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise coming from the studio that brought us 2 to Tangle and Time Collectors. However, despite the myriad of problems in Echo Rhyme, there was actually a chance for a unique storyline here that was totally bungled. Centering the plot around an organized crime character is a creative idea, but the sheer amount of coincidences and childish version of Christianity in this plot are just too much to bear. Maybe somebody can responsibly reuse a portion of this idea in the future.
Final Rating: 2 out of 10 points
Box Office Revolution 