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Plot Summary
Two soldiers are tasked with deciding the fate of a terrorist with a single push of a button. As the action plays out in real time, their window to use a deadly military drone on the target slowly closes. With time running out, the soldiers begin to question what the real motives are behind the ordered lethal attack.
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Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
33%- Reviews Counted: 6
- Fresh: 2
- Rotten: 4
- Average Rating: 4.9/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Rotten: A middling real-time thriller that chronicles a fictive crisis for two Air Force personnel, who find themselves at loggerheads when they spot an apparent terrorist thousands of miles away on surveillance video.
Rotten: Drones is the equivalent of an issue-driven movie about the NSA featuring agents who feel really creepy about spying on people. That's not the problem.
Customer Reviews
Moral Challenge
This is a great way to look at how technology could improve our lives while also challenging our humanity.
terrible movie
Sorry, but although the morals and internal struggles are relevant, the production, acting and pure watchability are probably the worst I have had the miss pleasure to see in years. The movies cover graphics are also totally misleading. Unless you have a rainy afternoon with nothing, and I mean nothing better to do, don't waste your time. Again sorry...
Drones
I approached this with trepidation, seeing references to terrible sets, production, and acting, but was pleasantly surprised to find a movie that was believable and interesting for a low-budget independent film. First of all, the set accurately depicts what an actual drone-piloting trailer at Creech AFB or other sites looks like, and the displays of imaging from the drone are not nearly as over-the-top as, say, the imaginary Cheyenne Mountain in the movie "War Games."
Yes, the secondary actors such as the mission commander and the father of the drone pilot seem a bit over the top, but the two pilots, Eloise Mumford and Matt O'Leary, do a competent job of showing a shifting moral positioning over "death from a distance." This film is a tightly-focused psychological drama between two pilots dealing with their misgivings about drone warfare. There are very few scenes outside the piloting trailer itself. Hence, this is in no way an action film (the promo poster for the movie is highly misleading in this regard).
For those who wonder how moral dilemmas regarding collateral damage play out in modern warfare, this film provides a good setting, then lets the viewer decide. Since Sue Lawson (Elois Mumford) was considering flight school before being pulled for a detached retina, the film might have explored the issue of how high-altitude aerial bombing carries the possibility of even greater civilian deaths than drones - but the pilots don't see the damage. What is clear in this movie is that the imaging intelligence allows you to see the drone targets, and be very much aware of every death that might take place in a wedding party, crowded market, or any of the other places a drone might be used. This film tries to confront those points without the use of too much hyperbole.
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- $12.99
- Genre: Thriller
- Released: 2014
- © UAV 13, LLC 2013 Phase 4 Films (USA), LLC. All Rights Reserved. Phase 4 Films™, the Phase 4 Films logo™ and all related titles, logos and indicia are trademarks of Phase 4 Films Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively in the United States by Phase 4 Films (USA), LLC. / 460 Greenway Industrial Drive, Suite A, Fort Mill, SC 29708 / 1.866.495.3650 / www.phase4films.com