In this new adventure in the Surge of Power series, Surge must team up with a few other superheroes to stop a new powerful villain.
Written by Blake Casselman and Vincent J. Roth, with dialog by Enoch Scott, based on a story by Roth, Mario DeAngelis, and James A. Ward, and directed by Mario DeAngelis, Jeff Rector, and Vincent J. Roth. If this seems like too many people, it may be the case. You see, this new Surge of Power takes place in many locations, brings in a bunch of characters and a whole lot going on, perhaps even too much which may very well come from the number of writers and directors working on this film. The story here has enough elements to become a television series, and the film suffers from having too many threads, too many characters, and too many elements. There is plenty in here so of course some of the elements work well, but at the same time, some of them do not work all that well and it creates a film that feels uneven from start to finish. The comedy has some good moments, the fights have some good moments, the drama has some good moments, but it doesn’t all come together cohesively enough to make it a great film.
The cast here also hit or miss with a ton of cameos which sometimes feel shoehorned in unfortunately. It’s obvious the cast is trying to do their best here, but it does come off like there is a lack of direction (or perhaps too many visions behind the camera) which leads to some of the characters being portrayed way over the top and others being quieter in a world that is loud both visually and sound-wise. The main cast is decently talented and shows an interest in their parts making the most of it all. Standing out as best performances are Stephanie Ahn as Falling Apple and Vincent J. Roth as Surge.
Another element that we normally look at in review here is the cinematography and while watching the film, it was clear uneven between locations and even between scenes at the same location. Then a quick look at the credits explains it all once again. The cinematography here is credit to nine, 9!, different people. That is a lot of folks and definitely explains the uneven styles, the changes in lighting, the changes in angles, and so much more. Here, these nine people are Gary Ahmed, Stephania Barr, Mario DeAngelis, Phillip Greenbaum, William Greenbaum, Landon Hill, Michael Mason, James Panetta, and Fabian J. Tehrani. It’s clear that was a necessity over a clear decision to do this, but there has to be a way to get a more cohesive look with this many people handling the cinematography.
Surge of Power: Where There’s Smoke has its moments and some really good scenes here and there, but it lacks cohesion. The story does flow decently enough, but there are some pacing issues, the look of the film varies from scene to scene, the cast is uneven as well as the direction and writing. This is a super independent film and it does mean that the budget was lower, but with this many people behind the scenes, one would think that a few meetings were had and that they would have agreed on more elements and perhaps planned the shots to look like they all go together. There is potential here, but the film is definitely not for everyone.