55-Minute Matrix Fan Film Is Visually Awesome [Video]

Whoa. Now this is some high-budget fanfiction. Two self-taught French filmmakers, Savitri Joly-Gonfard and Raphael Hernandez, have put together a 55-minute film that takes place in the world of The Matrix. You’re probably wondering if you should watch it. I’m gonna say: Yes. If you have 55 minutes that you need to fill, Kaydara is not a bad way to fill them. (If you can stand the ads.)

Here is the synopsis from the film’s site:

Kaydara, a bounty hunter who is living separately from the Human Resistance Group, does not believe in the prophecy of ‘the One.’ He sees this so-called saviour instead as a threat to the awakening of Man’s self-awareness and considers him an enemy. If their paths cross, Kaydara will not hesitate to confront him.

First off, it’s obvious that Kaydara was shot in a language that is not English. Sometimes, this is obvious. Sometimes, you wonder if the sync is off. But indeed — this movie was shot in French with an English translation. The English language voiceover is the worst part of this thing. For one thing, the voice actors are not great to begin with, and there was no attempt at sound mixing for the most part, so it sounds like a video game. It’s even kind of distracting, and the script itself isn’t the strongest. As for the actual actors, not-Josh Holloway and not-Alessandro Nivola, I feel like watching them with the bad voiceovers didn’t do them any justice. They might have been excellent (they certainly weren’t impossible to watch), but what I was hearing was not jiving with what I was seeing. I’ll choose to give them the benefit of the doubt, despite some serious moments of emo.

That said, the rest is pretty spectacular to watch, and these guys deserve to have very successful careers in the special effects field. Personally, if they were hired to do a Lady Gaga video, she could sing a “The Wheels On the Bus” and it would be beyond amazing in a video that looked like Kaydara. It is visually stunning, and the music is also not bad.

Among the groovier special effects was on Kaydara’s younger brother, who was given one deformed hand. It looked like he either had all thumbs for fingers, or maybe just one tiny hand. (Of course, this is assuming that the actor does not actually have a deformed hand, in which case, I apologize for making the assumption.) Something that I think they did — almost positive — was superimpose Keanu Reeves‘ face onto another actor, making it look like he was reprising his role. Obviously, Reeves was not in this. But it was very well done, save for him being completely expressionless like a video game. I would have said they just found an actor who was a dead ringer, but since there was a noticeable effort to avoid closeups, this guy was definitely pulling “other Winklevoss twin” duty.

So, if you’re still interested (and I think you should be), here is Kaydara! (By the way: The beginning of the film is not the entire film.)

KAYDARA official film by Kaydara-film

(Kaydara Official Site via Geek Tyrant)