This British movie is the kind of quirky labour of love I feel guilty for bashing. Captain Eager and the Mark of Voth is a kitsch homage to the comic-book heroes of yesteryear. Captain Eager himself is a square-jawed relic from the analogue age, adrift in a hostile digital world. But even this digital world is not particularly hi-tech – the film was made on a budget that appears barely to have scraped into double figures. It has a ramshackle, homespun aesthetic and looks like it was cobbled together from bits of old string and sticky-backed plastic.

This endearing shoddiness is not a problem. I applaud any film that can create such a distinctive look with such limited means. The problem comes when the economies extend to the screenplay. A bad screenplay will sink a film no matter how many bells and whistles are used in postproduction. And if postproduction means tinkering with some sticky tape and noodling on a vintage synthesiser, there’s not a lot to recommend the film.

tbc, 95mins

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