Movie Review: The Hummingbird Project
30th March 2020
Copyright: The Orchard/Elevation Pictures
Wall Street is pretty competitive as far as I’m aware, and according to The Hummingbird Project, milliseconds matter. Feeling more and more like a biopic until you realise it’s a completely fabricated work of fiction, The Hummingbird Project shows us how scratching a couple of decimals off of internet bandwidth can make millions of dollars. Even I understand the importance of a good internet connection, but I don’t use it to make millions. I use the internet to upload moderately enjoyable film reviews and to stream a selection of around forty songs. Wasted potential is the word that springs to mind for my internet usage, but also the same words that come to fruition when thinking of The Hummingbird Project.
Some aspects of the film feel like they’re thrown in to add drama for no particular reason. Many of the subplots surrounding brothers Vincent and Anton are completely redundant, only there to add some form of extra layer to the character that we never get to properly explore. Even though these performances aren’t all that deep, we do receive some enjoyable performances. Skarsgård in particular gives us a few explosive scenes, playing the essential geek of the project, Anton. It’s a role that doesn’t play off of his dashing good looks, instead depending solely on his abilities as an actor. A risky move, but it pays off rather well.
The supporting cast does less to convince us of a worthwhile watch though. Michael Mando and Salma Hayek appear in various capacities but have nothing much to offer up. Mando has some enjoyable chemistry with Eisenberg, stealing the show in the few scenes he has. For most of Mando’s other scenes though he just lingers in the background, watching the action unfold rather than jumping into the fray. Hayek too, although her performance is limited to being a relative villain for our trio of heroes to defeat, if we want to apply a rather broad understanding to the film. She has no development, just a bad woman that owns a company and makes money. Good enough, I guess.
Director Kim Nguyen hasn’t directed anything else I’ve seen before, but from this it looks like he can put together a solid enough film. There’s no room to showcase his voice as a director, and I’d have to watch more of his films before suggesting he has nothing unique to offer. I’m optimistic though, his direction has brought out some good performances and there are splattering’s of tension and emotion throughout. They’re buried under the rubble of quite a jilted premise though, one that has great simplicity but feels weakened by its various subplots. Still, his use of lighting and general chemistry on the whole is rather good, Nguyen holds The Humming Project together as best he can.
I think it’s strange when moments of clarity can hit us in life. Where we just pause to really think about our actions and what we’re doing with our life. The Hummingbird Project made me realise that every single second counts, and if you’re not being productive with your time then it’s a waste. I should point out that this realisation was at a time when I was watching a bald Alexander Skarsgård eat spaghetti, and I would like it on the record that the film did not directly cause this moment of clarity, as The Hummingbird Project is nowhere close to depthful or engaging. It’s filler entertainment, crafted out of the reliability of its performers, and thankfully those reliable few are more than enough to get us to the finish line.
