Plot Summary
Allen Davis is a former military special forces operative who is pressed by a friend to train a squadron consisting of a random collection of young adults from churches in order to pull off a dangerous mission to deliver Bibles to missionaries in a harrowing location. Though he is not completely honest about the mission’s true nature at first, he trains them hard to prepare for the worst. Will they be able to make it through the mission alive?
Production Quality (0 points)
Squad 77 is a classic example of biting off more than you can chew. Action adventure and suspense films, especially in international contexts, need well-funded and responsibly-allocated budgets to meet expectations. Unfortunately, though Squad 77 is trying to fit into these genres, it fails miserably in the production department. This is evident in the wild and dizzying opening sequences, as well as the crazy camera work and poor video quality. Audio quality is equally bad, with loud background sounds, dead air, overdubs, cheesy sound effects, and a generic soundtrack. There are also dumb special effects used throughout, not to mention the poor lighting and horrific editing. Essentially, if you don’t have the money to make it good, don’t make it all, unless you have a game-changing plot idea.
Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)
However, Squad 77 does not have a game-changing plot idea. The premise is silly and unrealistic, and basically half of the film boils down to endless training montages. The plot throws a bunch of faceless and empty characters together for a vague mission of unrealistic proportions. There is basically no substantial content to work with here, and what little dialogue there is comes off as very hollow. Thus, there are no attempts to develop the characters. It goes without saying that this story is not believable as the action premise is very forced and disingenuous. Basically, this film really doesn’t have any positive elements.
Acting Quality (0 points)
Though this cast of random people does not show any substantial acting skills to their bland and blank delivery, it’s not like they were given many chances to act or to be coached properly. Emotions are too awkward and robotic, but again, there was little to no support in the acting department. In the end, this punctuates a disappointing effort.
Conclusion
If the creators of this film meant well, it doesn’t show. It feels like this film was misguided and mishandled from the beginning. With a small budget, it’s better to start out with a small production and a truly creative plot. Unfortunately, Squad 77 joins a long list of independent Christian films that failed on this front, among others. Perhaps future film makers will learn from these mistakes.
Final Rating: 0 out of 10 points
Box Office Revolution 