Tercer Grado (Geoffrey Cowper, 2015): Spain

Reviewed by Patrik Hans Joensson, Santa Barbara, 2016. Antioch University.

Tercer Grado is a spanish movie directed by Geoffrey Cowper. The movie is about an ex convict who witness an armed robbery of a security van at a critical time in his life. Desperate times calls for desperate measures, so he then follows the robbers to try to steal the money from them.

The movie itself was a good production with nice cinematography, script and acting, it did however had a bunch of misses in the make up and props section. For example, the picture I picked in this review is a cool and interesting picture, until you see the movie. Then you realize the miss of his outfit, the bright neon west that he wore right at that moment has disappeared. The different scares he had from the action scenes switched places, disappeared and appeared here and there.

When Geoffrey Cowper had a Q&A after the movie, he did explain how he knew that it was not a perfect film but it was one of the first big productions they had made. I understand the situation and still think it is a good movie overall, with good action scenes and an intense story. With an estimated budget of €500 000 I think they did a great job. Geoffrey Cowper did do a good job directing this movie and the main leads, Jesus Lloveras and Sara Casasnovas performed an believable and intriguing role. With an average age of 24 for the whole crew, I think this was an amazing debut and that might have been one of the best Spanish films since “The Orphanage”.

What I did like about the movie was how the camera did not leave the main character, Mark Rodríguez though out the whole movie. This made you get a certain bond with him and understand the actions he took. The movie was intense and there was always something happening. I do recommend people to see this movie and not only because of how good the movie was itself but for people to realize what good you can produce if you put your heart and soul into something.