Gears of Doom
- Tagline
- Survival is a joke, but nobody's laughing.
- Description
- In an anachronistic world of cogwheels and steam, horror takes a comedic yet dark turn. 'Gears of Doom' follows an unlikely band of survivors, including the alluring yet dangerous femme fatale played by Norwhale Talmudge, and a cunning wizard whose secrets are as twisted as the machinations of the era, portrayed by Friedric Marchfish. Together they navigate a steampunk dystopia teeming with inconceivable terrors conjured by an enigmatic sorcerer, a role embodied by Forest Whittaker. Their quest for sanctuary is mired by misadventures that ensnare them in a desperate struggle between levity and mortality. Under the pessimistic lens of director Tim Burdton, 'Gears of Doom' dissects the irony of survival in a world where laughter can be as perilous as any beast that lurks in the shadows.
- MpaaRating
- R
- PopularityScore
- 4.40
- ReleaseDate
- 02/24/2022
- Genre
- Comedy
- Director(s)
- Cast
Critic Reviews
4.00
Wading through the labyrinth of cogs and shadow in 'Gears of Doom' feels like an exercise in futility, where the only respite from the oppressive atmosphere is a dismal chuckle at its attempt to meld dark humor with horror. Director Tim Burdton's vision is as overcast as an industrial London sky, lacking the clarity or innovation one might hope for in a genre imbued with potential energy. Norwhale Talmudge's portrayal of the femme fatale drifts through the narrative like a phantasm, ethereal yet ungraspable, while Friedric Marchfish's wizard is an enigma wrapped in an abundance of tropes rather than originality. Even Forest Whittaker, with his commendable gravitas, seems to flounder against the tide of banal steam-powered terrors. The film insists that 'Survival is a joke, but nobody's laughing,' which tragically becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, as the audience's search for even a sliver of amusement or genuine fright is met with the bitter aftertaste of predictability and uninspired steampunk aesthetics. 'Gears of Doom' is an albeit ambitious fusion that stutters and stalls more often than it shines, and perhaps its greatest horror is the specter of what could have been, rather than what is.