Directed By Mark Fischbach

Starring – Mark Fischbach, Troy Baker, Elsie Lovelock

The Plot – Set in a post-apocalyptic future where an event known as “The Quiet Rapture” caused all known stars and habitable planets in the universe to disappear, a convict named Simon (Fischbach) is sent to search an ocean of blood discovered on a desolate moon, using a small submarine nicknamed the “Iron Lung”

Rated R for adult language, bloody images and some gore.

IRON LUNG Trailer (2026) Mark Fischbach, Troy Baker

POSITIVES

The number of Youtube content creators turned feature length directors has increased significantly over the last few years, but only with Fischbach (A.K.A Markiplier) has one delved head first into the difficult world of live action video game adaptation, a subgenre that Fischbach himself has plenty of experience in, as a playthrough streamer for the past thirteen years. So his first film feels like a bit of a passion project that feels fully realized not only in the depths of surprisingly exceptional production values, courtesy of an entirely independently-funded budgetary campaign, but also the intricate attention to detail that Fischbach conjures in bringing the world of this video game to life for adoring audiences, featuring striking imagery that shines as a result of the lack of limitations that Fischbach artistically refuses to settle for in such a claustrophobic one-stage confine. His direction effectively musters all of the isolated dread, tension, and of course claustrophobia that you would expect from a first-hand idolizer of the game, especially during those somberly stark moments when a troubled man like Simon is left alone with his thoughts, and Fischbach immerses us in the depths of his psychological plight alongside an unresolved personal conflict that weighs just as heavy as the mounting pressure of the blood river surrounding his inescapable confines, allowing us unfiltered access into the tortured truth of a protagonist with only his eventual freedom left to lose. As for the aforementioned authenticity of the imagery, Fischbach and cinematographer Phillip Roy captivate with a big stage presentation that plays effectively seamless on the silver screen, combining some cleverly chaotic first-person camera motions, expressional filters of the film, and meticulous camera placements to feed into this atmospheric element of increasing danger, all without detracting distractingly away from the foundation of the storytelling, and really for a first time filmmaker with only his interpretive experiences to fuel his creative fires, it’s quite impressive what he was able to accomplish against so many preconceived obstacles, cementing an optimistic future in the director’s chair, regardless of this film’s success level in the eye of the general public. Fischbach’s grasp as a director far exceeds his reach as a screenwriter, especially in an overarching narrative that requires more patience than necessary in a two hour runtime, but it feels like Mark finally sticks the landing during the film’s all-out third act climax, where so many of those initial seeds of character growth and confrontation properly materialize to unload a distinct vision that feels fiercely ferocious with buckets of blood (Outpouring 2013’s Evil Dead remake) and practical effects work unloading some unforeseen body horror to the film’s appeal. This is easily the highlight of the movie for me, both in entertaining and technical aspects, as it feels like a much-needed boost to a movie that was floating aimlessly to that point, but even in the polarizing decision to maintain the game’s controversially abrupt ending, the uncontrollable chaos of the ride to get there continuously built the pressure all the way to one gut-punching release, and it was those achievements during the film’s closing moments that raised my grade a bit higher to the final outcome, even at the cost of some audiences feeling inevitably let down by its abrupt credits scroll. Lastly, I find myself a bit conflicted on the execution of the monster, but what I do appreciate is that Fischbach’s eventual depictions of it come from these grainy and spontaneous sea-scoping photographs that periodically sneak up on you, maintaining the aura and mystique about the creature, almost in ways that felt very much like a “Cloverfield” movie 10,000 leagues under the sea.

NEGATIVES

Considering “Iron Lung” is a game requiring a lot of patience and strategy out of its players, it doesn’t always translate well to long-form storytelling, especially alongside a two hour runtime that feels so unnecessarily inflated by movie’s end, courtesy of such relaxed editing (Also by Fischbach) that doesn’t trim the sacrificial fat of this fleeting engagement. Far too often do scenes and sequences linger without any semblance of urgency or momentum to the storytelling, balanced by some egregious repetition in exposition or character actions that could easily subdue a good fifteen minutes from the finished product, as a result of a competent editor, but unfortunately this movie is boringly dull for most of the first hour of the engagement, and it left my patience and investment teetering on the brink of checking my phone, before the third act comes around and restores some good graces to the overall experience. Beyond this, I also think the script struggles with justifying its classification as a monster movie, primarily as a result of the lack influence that this mythic creature has on the expansion of Simon’s journey, featuring these wide gaps of distancing from it that nearly left me forgetting that it was even an unfortunate aspect of this plot. As previously assessed, I do appreciate that Fischbach keeps the depiction in these grainy photographs, in order to either maintain the mystique of this creature, or even maintain his grasp on the increases of the budget, but I wish there were far more instances of this creature tangling with the small submarine, especially considering the whole first half of the movie I found to be so uncompelling and even stagnant in its storytelling, making this feel like the 2014 “Godzilla”, and not in ways that are ever complimentary. This conflicting inconsistency trails over to the movie’s technical components, where particularly the sound mixing inspires an unappealing obscurity to the movie’s dialogue, causing the exposition of the movie’s two supporting characters to feel incoherent to detectable ears. When you consider that I watched this movie in a state of the art multiplex, featuring some of the best sound and video equipment that money can buy, it makes it feel nearly impossible that I would struggle with properly making out words of these vital interactions, and between its muffling lack of clarity against the dominance of Andrew Hulshult’s industrial score is made even more withering with the thickness of accents of these two supporting actors, it crafts an unnecessary obstacle against the movie’s connectivity, where something as simple as volume levels in post-production could render far more accessible interactions. Finally, while Fischbach is undoubtedly the movie’s single greatest influencer over its prominence, he might also be its most glaring detractor, with regards to the flat registry of his underwhelming performance, especially considering he’s at the forefront of the movie’s entirety, even when he shares the screen alongside the occasional pop-up presence of Elsie Lovelock or Troy Baker. To be fair, Fischbach has never acted on a stage as big as this one, all the while juggling so many responsibilities to the movie’s integrity, but even the lack of conviction that he brings to his deliveries convey a glaring detraction from the movie’s legitimacy that stands out like a sore thumb during it’s emotionally heavier sequences, conveying a flat intensity that works wonders empathetically against an already underdeveloped protagonist, a fact made all the more glaringly evident considering the entirety of the movie rests on the shoulders of his stoic one-man performance.

OVERALL
“Iron Lung” is an astonishingly ambitious debut directorial effort for Mark Fischbach, whose creepily tense, foreboding atmosphere and budgetary influence to push a dollar further than most nearly saves it from a laboriously dull and lumbering brand of storytelling laced with repetition and incoherent exposition dumps to the endless degree. While the Youtube content creator turned director shows a lot of promise in the outlook of his inevitable future in the industry, his passion project video game adaptation sinks under the pressure of anticipatory audience waiting that is more than two years in the making, and one that Fischbach would be better suited to smooth out the overwhelming responsibilities to accommodating outsiders.

My Grade: 5.3 or D+