Prologue (2015)
Prologue Review
Prologue is a 2015 animated short film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. It is the weakest nominee of the bunch.
It follows a brutal battle between two teams of Spartan and Athenian warriors. This story is so pointless that I honestly was baffled by it. I never understood what the message was or what it was about whatsoever. It is ridiculous. The carnage that happens in its second half is difficult to watch as it is so disgusting and just plain repulsive with all those bloody impaling shots.
Prologue’s saving grace has to be its animation which is certainly very good and quite interesting. The movements are well choreographed, the camera angles are great and the character design is very good with the facial expressions being great. The animation is very artistic and the film’s opening is very intriguing. But that all goes to a waste with that stupid and pointless second half which is just violence and nothing else. And the film’s final shot of a girl running to her mother, while memorable, is still vague in its meaning. This is without any doubt the worst nominee for Best Animated Short Film in an otherwise strong category.