I've not watched as many shorts as normal of late, but even with a few months off, I probably still saw more 'proof of concept' films than I would have liked. Rise is one of the bigger ones of late, and the hundreds of thousands of views shows that an impressive visual showcase delivered in a tight package will grab those online eyes. Of course proof of concept is not the same as proving you can make a good short film – but then, this is not really the goal here. There is a certain amount of universe creation, and a scenario is played out, however it never doesn't feel like a trailer which runs long.
Visually there is a lot of very impressive work here. The tight editing makes the most of the dramatic scenes and footage, while the effects are very well done. The merging of humans and robots is particularly convincing in how it looks and moves. The money spent on this is certainly right there to be seen. As a story though, it all feels so very familiar that it didn't really excite me to get into it more. The familiar faces (Sewell, Yelchin, Kang) add to this feeling of it having quality, but like the effects, it only works on the level as a trailer.
Hard to complain, because it delivers what it set out to do, and it certainly got the views it wanted, however if you are looking for anything more than a professionally produced trailer then Rise will not do much for you.
