Salvation. USA 2007. Directed by J.A. Steel

Few years ago, director J.A. Steel released her low budget debut feature film called Third Society. Extraordinary Movie & Video Guide reviewed the film and interviewed the director, as you can see behind the links. Yakuza-spirited Third Society had its moments, although there were serious problems especially with narration. It had so many promising aspects, that the review ended with words "we are waiting eagerly the next effort from Warrior Entertainment."

Now this next effort has surfaced and yes, the narration has improved a lot this time. Unfortunately, it's not enough for other aspects.

Salvation tells an ambitious story of two members of Knights Templar, who had been sentenced to death. The souls of these knights continue to battle for good and evil. The good knight (J.A. Steel) takes care of an 8-year old girl, who is murdered and raped by a motorcycle gang. The girl wakes up as a grown-up woman and soon it is time for the revenge.

As you can see from the synopsis (which is more complicated and imaginative, than it may seem from this review..), the director Steel has gone through the very hard task. When focusing on the story, it may have took time from directing the actors and actresses, since Salvation fails many times because of the underacting. The only exceptions are the director herself and other female lead, Heather Surdukan. In some scenes, you can see clearly some stupid grins of the actors, although those particular scenes should be serious. The over-aged motorcycle gang is hilarious, before the underacting causes the embarrassment mixed with a confusion.

When it comes to action, things have gone backwards when comparing to Third Society. The sword fighting are slow, so slow and stiff that you could be watching first-time live-action role players instead. It is also the fault of editing, that could be (much) more fast-paced. The direction of cinematography is one thing that has improved besides the narration, and there are a lot of scenes that look like they have been planned with care.

After all this, I have a serious respect for J.A. Steel since she knows exactly where she's at as a film maker. The letter she wrote clearly proves this, and the article of Filmstew (can be found from Warrior Entertainment's site) put it perfectly: the critics were not pleased with Roger Corman's first two dozen efforts. Steel can improve a lot, and when you combine the best elements from Third Society and Salvation, she could come up with a decent feature film. And yes, I still can wait for that.