Director: Mark Fischbach
Writers: Mark Fischbach, David Szymanski
Stars: Mark Fischbach, Caroline Kaplan, Troy Baker
Synopsis: In a post-apocalyptic future after “The Quiet Rapture” event, a convict explores a blood ocean on a desolate moon using a submarine called the “Iron Lung” to search for missing stars/planets.
Iron Lung has been hard to get a full gauge on since it was announced. The film is directed and co-written by Mark Fischbach – more commonly known as ‘Markiplier’ for his immense YouTube fame – in what is his directorial debut on the big screen. Thus, given his multi-million follower popularity, Fischbach’s name has clouded this film with a sheen of support from his varied cast of diehard fans.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but Iron Lung is more about Mark the filmmaker, rather than Mark the YouTuber. Even so, his transition from the latter to the former went smoother than most, it seems. Iron Lung is a visceral, well-acted, sharp thriller. It’ll do anything but blow you away, but for his first swing at a feature film on a reported budget of less than $3 million dollars, this is a win for Fischbach’s young future in the field.
Following Simon (also performed by Fischbach), the film is set in an apocalyptic future in which stars and planets have disappeared. Our main character is then forced to explore a desolate moon’s ocean of blood in a submarine; for the film’s circumstance, this is a groundbreaking discovery.
How exactly you could define this one, whether sci-fi, thriller, horror or otherwise, Iron Lung carves a unique identity regardless. It’s one of those that may combine a number of genres to tell a story that, despite being a bit thin, weaves through each of them with precision.
While it may overstay its welcome with a runtime just over two hours, Iron Lung manages to find success through sharp colors and claustrophobic sets, in addition to Fischbach’s strong performance as basically the movie’s only constant character. He’s emotional to an extreme at times, but the thing is shot more than competently in a way that structures his outbreaks in audience understanding. Angles are tight, and the walls of his literal iron lung, in the form of the aforementioned submarine, are grimy and pressing.
Fischbach is sweating and shouting in equal parts; if you’ve played the video game the film is based on, it replicates that intended feeling quite well. The concept’s nihilistic attitude, as tiring as it may be, is also retained. It’s a gritty watch that certainly won’t be for everyone. Then again, on a landscape of big, blockbuster movies without any stakes – not that this film is necessarily a blockbuster, although it shares a space with them – Iron Lung’s tangible stakes are a breath of fresh air.
And the film’s ending, too? It almost feels like a direct response to those sorts of movies; the sort that don’t challenge or ask anything of the audience. Iron Lung can be messy, unfocused and, at times, terribly slow, but it’s also a movie committed to this story to a fault. Fischbach clearly believed in the tale, and the film doing well at the box office in spite of its low budget and plain issues is a testament to general moviegoer’s desire for that.
After all, there’s enough in Iron Lung – whether or not you have a YouTube background with the director – to get just about anyone through on the early-year cinematic landscape. Especially considering the harsh reality that stuff like this, with a shoestring budget and sole vision, is extremely rare and becoming rarer with time, this is one to be celebrated.
Come for the noise about a content creator turned moviemaker, stay for properly eerie visuals and a solid lead performance, both of which drive this low-budget thriller up the wall and over the edge. Iron Lung is worth a look at least once for that reason alone. It helps that the movie looks good, plays things (mostly) straight and is clearly a passion project. Take the proper excuse to go to the cinema and be glad things like this can still exist in the medium today.
