Casey Jones

*Disclaimer: the preview that’s posted above shows too much of the movie in my opinion, so if you’re planning on seeing the film I wouldn’t recommend watching too much of it.

Holy shit guys, this short film about arguably the best character from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles universe is fucking incredible.  As much as I liked Elias Koteas’ version of Casey in the live action picture from 1990 this is definitely better.  There’s still the same wise cracking tough guy charm that the character is known for but in this film he’s much more sadistic and completely merciless.  Like Casey shoves a guy’s head into a barrel of fire.  It’s left unclear if he actually kills the people that he comes across but it certainly looks like he beats them to a fucking lifeless pulp. 

This one’s an origin story but since the film is only about 30 mins long all the bullshit is cut out.  We learn who Casey is, understand his motives and see him fight crime.  There aren’t any unnecessary subplots or bad CGI effects shots getting in the way.  Half of the short is Casey beating the fuck out of bad guys which is exactly what we want to see.  And it’s all choreographed and shot well.  The action scenes are understandable and straight forward and the non action scenes create a nice brooding atmosphere that fits perfectly with the character.

The only real complaint I have is I wish Hilarion Banks (the dude who plays Casey) had a little beefier build and wasn’t quite so scrawny looking.  I don’t want Casey to look like Schwarzenegger or anything but I think he would look more menacing if he was a little more muscular.  This isn’t a big deal though because when the man springs into action there’s no doubt he can kick some serious ass.

So should you see it?  Yes, definitely.  Do what you have to, see it.  It’s ironic that I wish this was feature length because there are a lot of movies out there that I wish were 30 mins instead of 90.  So maybe it’s better that this is a short?  I dunno.  With this director, lead actor (they’re brothers by the way) and great sense of filmmaking I think they could pull it off.  Who knows, maybe they will one day. 

This film almost feels Nicholas Winding Refn-ish with how gritty it is.  And now that I’m thinking about it, Casey Jones should’ve had a dedicated film already.  Well it’s about time someone corrected that.  They nailed it, the mask, the character, the production, the feel, the music, everything.  The Banks bros even included other TMNT characters (but I wouldn’t want to spoil for you who they threw in). 

The appeal of Casey Jones is that he’s a man who won’t put up with street thugs anymore so he takes matters into his own hands.  He doesn’t have a superpower or even martial arts skills.  He’s just some fucking guy with an arsenal of sports equipment that he uses to knock people around.  And when he doesn’t have some sort of club he uses his fists like an unstoppable machine that keeps coming at you.   I really can’t recommend this short enough guys.  Casey’s the fuckin’ man.