If you want to make enemies….try to change something.

-Adam Jensen

 Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a fan film from the mind of writer/director/actor Moe Cherif and is based on the world of the video game of the same name developed by Eidos Montreal. Human Revolution was the third in the Deus Ex video game series and followed Adam Jensen as he went from new-guy security guard to cybernetically augmented guy with interesting abilities. The game posed questions of the morality of human augmentation and presented a dystopian world (because dystopias are kewl) where multinational corporations’ power had finally outstripped that of national governments.

Let’s not get into how close we may or may not be to that world. I’m here to tell you about possibly the best 12 minutes you will spend this week.

Acting: Quite often when watching fan films you come to the table with lower expectations on several fronts… but mainly the acting. It’s not that the people acting are necessarily bad actors, but they don’t have millions of dollars worth of training, re-shoots, voice overs, and stunt doubles working in their favour to supplement their actual skill. However, I can very confidently say that Human Revolution is brilliantly acted. There are high budget Hollywood films that can’t touch the skill demonstrated by the actors in this fan film. When you consider that they are working to immerse you in a cyberpunk world where people’s bodies can literally be turned into weapons… well, it’s all the more impressive.

Aesthetic Appeal: Again, a lot of fan and indie films in general have budgetary constraints that can mess with your suspension of disbelief if you aren’t already a fan, or you’re just an unforgiving critic. Again, Human Revolution has no problems on this score and it’s comparable to big budget productions and better than a fair few. Everything from the costuming to the Megatron lookalike mech was on point and worked to bring you into Adam’s reality. Even if you’re not a sci-fi fan, you won’t be disappointed with anything visual in Human Revolution.

Storyline: What can you get across in 12 minutes? A whole heck of a lot, apparently. If you’ve never played any of the Deus Ex games, if you have no idea what cyberpunk is, if the entirety of your exposure to the sci-fi genre is The Matrix (and you really didn’t get what was going on) … it’s okay. Deus Ex: Human Revolution has got you and it promises not to let you down. You’ll get to see a tragic love story unfold, check out a mysterious woman with guns for body parts, and watch the world change, all before the action scene begins in earnest. Oh, yeah, and you’ll get a pretty boss action sequence, too – existential angst included!

Mood Rating: Watch this short film as a prelude to your research on the ethics of human experimentation.