Paintball (The Movie)

I recently watched Paintball (The Movie), an independent film that was released in July 2009 from Spain about a group of paintball players that sign up for the ultimate paintball game at what’s advertised as the best scenario paintball field in the world. Each team has eight players who are blindfolded and transported to their starting point on the field. Once they arrive, they’re given their equipment, objectives, and position on the team. They must reach the 6 flag stations that have equipment boxes to help them complete their mission. Confusion sets in when the team finds that the first box contains a bulletproof vest and is soon being fired at with real bullets. They quickly realize that this is no longer a game – they are being hunted with real guns and their new mission is to make it out alive.

The movie has a great idea, but it was poorly executed on film and quickly takes a nosedive to the point that it’s hard to watch. There is no way that I would fly halfway across the world to play in a paintball game with people I didn’t know, where I couldn’t use my own equipment, and where I had to be blindfolded to get to the field. Half the team didn’t wear full-face protection and took their mask off in the middle of the action. Within the first 10 minutes of the game the team is ambushed and they all cower into a bus. Then once they figure out they’re being hunted with real bullets they continue to carry their paintball guns. And when they should be quiet and stealthy – they’re loud and walking out in the open. The characters become so annoying that you start rooting for the bad guy to kill them off so the movie can end faster.

If the movie had done a little more research on how scenario paintball games work, gotten more input from paintball players, and developed the characters a little more, the movie would’ve been a lot better. You can check out the trailer at PaintballTheMovie.com or watch the movie with Cox Movies On Demand for $0.99.

Anyone have a camera so we can show them how it's done?