If only the passion Fischbach clearly has for the game and the world David Szymanski created with it translated into something far more interesting on screen. Because wow, is Iron Lung a slog to get through. <\/p>\n
Fischbach stars as a character continually referred to as Convict, thanks to his status as a convicted criminal. Our Convict is part of a decidedly bleak future where all of the universe\u2019s stars and planets have vanished, with humanity\u2019s last hope presumably resting at the depths of a literal ocean of blood located on a remote moon that still remains. <\/p>\n
For nearly the entirety of Iron Lung, Fischbach is the only person we see on screen, as his character embarks on his submarine mission. Though he does have radio communication with voices above, Convict is by himself on this mission and by himself as our sole focus for the film. And look, that is not inherently a bad thing. There have absolutely been plenty of good films in which we follow a character completely on their own. <\/p>\n
But Iron Lung has terrible pacing and very low energy from the start. The scenarios that Fischbach has put his character in just aren\u2019t compelling enough to watch unfold, with scenes that drag on and on. It was about 15 minutes into the movie that I started to think about how restless I was already\u2026 and then realized I had so much more time to go. Because this movie\u2019s runtime is two full hours (and a couple of minutes on top of that) and it sure doesn\u2019t earn that. <\/p>\n
For far too long, we watch Fischbach turn knobs. We watch him look at screens. We watch him write down things. And sometimes, we watch him argue with voices on the other side of the radio. But it\u2019s very rarely engaging. The movie has the tricky job of worldbuilding only through dialogue (and some narration at the top) to explain what is going on here and what life is like for the remnants of humanity. And though there are tiny slivers that feel intriguing \u2013 and I do love the game-derived term of \u201cthe Quiet Rapture\u201d \u2013 little of it really takes hold or gives the audience enough to connect to. And too much of it is a guy yelling about something that hasn\u2019t been properly explained in the first place. <\/p>\n
Iron Lung feels like it would have all been much better served as a short, rather than a feature film.\u00a0\u201c<\/p>\n
As an actor, Fischbach is fine. As his YouTube audience knows, he has a genuine onscreen presence and his delivery is decent enough in his calmer moments. But his script and performance also have the tendency to lean into moments where he\u2019s angry and gets really loud at the END OF A SENTENCE. And that gets old pretty quickly. <\/p>\n
Off-screen voices are provided by a bevy of actors, including no less than Troy Baker. But it\u2019s Caroline Rose Kaplan who gets the biggest secondary role as the most sympathetic of the voices the Convict speaks to. However, the attempt to sell any sort of genuine rapport between the two falls flat. <\/p>\n
There is some good production design, which is based on the game itself of course, but which also owes a big debt \u2013 as do plenty of other films at this point \u2013 to Ridley Scott\u2019s Alien with its dark, dingy take on a sci-fi setting. Like the game, there are old-school, analog-era digital screens, and the instruments on the sub (the Iron Lung of the title) all feel decades old, rather than from the far future. This is something we\u2019ve seen cemented not just in the Alien franchise, as it continues a story first begun in the 1970s, but in all the stories influenced by it. <\/p>\n
One sequence in particular feels reminiscent of Alien, as Convict needs to crawl through some tight ducts in a manner very similar to Tom Skerritt\u2019s Dallas in that film. But imagine if that scene with Dallas removed any inherent stakes or tension or drama and you\u2019d have this version. Just a guy moving through some ducts to do something, finish it, then crawl back to start doing something else. <\/p>\n
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