We built and destroyed a full sized B17 bomber specifically and only for this competition. Also known as "Banana Boys"

hey just letting people know who missed it
the link used to be a rickroll before the comp finished ._.
and I don't know how to express the respect I have for this team now

Because these reviews will (hopefully) last in the years to come, I'm going to note how absolutely insane it was that Tim Hamilton's team entered not just once on the first weekend in Wellington, but again on the second weekend where all teams who entered were placed in the Tamaki Makaurau region of the competition.
So yes this says they qualified for the Grand Final from the 09 region, but they very much shot using the same skeletal set down in the 04 that they had spent weeks on prior to making "We built and destroyed a full sized cardboard u-boat specifically and only for this competition. also known as “DAS BANANA-BOOT”. Even more incredibly, that film and this film are directly connected, taking place effectively during the same war. Just a staggering achievement, production wise.

For me, I honestly felt the film played as chaotic, for lack of a better word, on first watch. But I've come to realise that was an extremely harsh way to describe the film, because it is more a case of so much going on that a lot of it went over my head and I picked up a lot of the nuances on repeat viewings.

And also, chaotic kind of fits, in a good way, because war is chaos, and this film is about dealing with a plane being under attack from enemy fire and how the team rises to the occassion. Not just being under attack, but given it is a first flight for the crew the element of uncertainty about to what to do is presented very well. Perhaps a bit casually, but what that did was create a heightened sense of comedy as planes blew up and heads were exploded.

On that note this film had some of the best sound design I've ever come across in this competition. From the incredible folley used to genuinely sell the idea that the team were up in the air in a B17 bomber, through to the guns and splats everything just sounded right. I loved the last minute of musical score used in the film, letting things wrap up with a melancholy feeling, but also thought it was the right move letting everything play out using just the sounds of the battle for the first 3 and a half minutes, as it stressed the real time real urgency of the situation.

I must say I do still have some thoughts about the buddy film genre. Yes I got a big smile from the winks and nods to 4th wall breaking - "it's a genre thing", and we had two clear leads who developed a sense of camaraderie as the film progressed. But was that enough to have really nailed it? I personally am unsure. But still a staggering achievement.

Story: 3/5
Technical: 5/5
Elements: 3.5/5
Overall: 3.5/5

These guys are way cool