Made by a YouTuber with an evidently religious following and having gone largely ignored by the majority of professional outlets up to this point, it’s hard to find much information out there that can provide you with an accurate idea of whether Iron Lung is a legitimately quality film or not. I’ve never watched a Markiplier video before. Nor have I gotten around to playing the game this movie is based on yet. I went to see it simply because I’m a gamer who tries his best to check out every adaptation that hits the screen, the story behind its creation being quite frankly mind-blowing, and absolute shock that it was actually showing at my local theater. All that to say I don’t have any inherent bias that would cause me to place undue praise or criticism on it, and can therefore talk about it without some weird sense of personal investment influencing my review.

Written, directed, edited, and entirely self-funded by Mark Fischbach who also cast himself in the starring role, Iron Lung is essentially a fan flick that managed to secure an unprecedented global theatrical release. With exception to some subpar CGI which is mercifully used sparingly, when viewed from that perspective the production values are astonishing. The practical effects are great and there’s plenty of cool, stylish cinematography. It looks the part of a real, Hollywood-produced feature. Shoot, Fishbach’s acting is even pretty solid and convincing at points (others not so much..), which is fantastic considering this is largely a one-man show.

You can tell a lot of passion went into this. Unfortunately, passion alone does not a good film make. For proof, look no further than Return to Silent Hill which came out a mere week earlier and was positively brimming with it. Iron Lung does at least manage to be better than that tragic disappointment, but only marginally so. I’ve enjoyed movies in the past that similarly have you watching a single character trapped in one cramped environment for the entire runtime. 2010’s excellent Buried with Ryan Reynolds comes to mind. That wasn’t two freaking hours though. Seriously, this did not need to be as long as it is. The bulk of the scenes are either the protagonist fiddling around the submarine or engaging in screaming matches with people over the radio that feel weirdly melodramatic for a tale sporting the goofy premise of the last remnants of humanity exploring a planet that’s just a giant ocean of blood, despite the appropriately bleak and hopeless tone that’s established early on. It’s the kind of stuff that turns what should have been a slow-burn buildup of tension into instead a boring and dull slog that’s difficult to sit through. There is some compelling cosmic and body horror in the final act, but man is getting to it rough.

I think that has more to do with the source material than Fischbach himself, however. Honestly, even when things are at their worst his talent behind the camera remains evident throughout. To the degree that if you didn’t know any better you probably wouldn’t be able to tell this is his directorial debut. It’s genuinely impressive that he was able to pull this off and at such a large scale. Further proof that we’re living in an era where if you have a big enough social media following you can basically branch out into whatever industry you want regardless of lacking prior experience. Still, you’ll have to be a massive Markiplier stan to derive much enjoyment from this. It sadly stands as yet another dud in the recent run of video game adaptations. I’d nevertheless be down to give him a second chance should he ever choose to try this again, because with the potential he displays here it’s not hard to imagine that with a more exciting title to pull from the results could be phenomenal. Heck, someone wrestle Five Nights at Freddy’s away from Emma Tammi and Cawthon. He’d probably knock that out of the park.

5/10