Chell is still alive...

Fan fiction and home made short films. You either love them or you hate them. Some are hugely popular, professionally produced masterpieces, while some are just a couple of guys having fun. This latest offering definitely falls into the first category. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, Portal: No Escape is a breathtaking and beautiful imagining of events in the Portal universe.

The most noticeable thing about this video is its very high quality, in terms of both sets and effects. This is the first time I have seen portals used convincingly in a live action film, and the CG on the portal gun itself is especially stunning.

The director, Mr. Trachtenberg, will probably already be know to a lot of you. He directed 'More than you can chew' for Black Box TV back in May, and it got a lot of people talking. He is also behind the very successful online show 'The Totally Rad Show'.  The actress may also be familiar to you, she's Danielle Rayne, and has been a reoccurring character on All My Children, and played Sarah Conner in Terminator: 3D at Universal Studios. The score was even created by Mike Zarin, who did the music for that unforgettable first trailer for Inception. 

You had better just watch the video now, it really is something special.

Woah. Quite the ride isn't it? Just so you know, there will be spoilers from this point on.

The first thing to be said about the short is how real and tangible it makes the Portal universe seem. Granted, it only shows a very small portion of it, but that has always been what the series was about, showing you a glimpse of the world around you, whilst keeping you firmly imprisoned. The final moments of the short are especially poignant, with the reveal of it all just being another elaborate test chamber.

The question that this leaves hanging in the air is 'could Portal be a film?'. The first Portal, while being a near-perfect game, didn't have a lot of hope for itself cinematically. But since Portal 2, and more specifically, the excellent addition of Wheatley, and the considerable expansion of GLaDOS' character and background, the idea definitely has more weight behind it. This short may well be the final push people need to get interested.

The only problem is, with the current standard of frankly lazy game-to-movie adaptations, would any of the fans really want to see a Portal movie? And could it really be good? Or would it just be an hour and a half of build up to someone making a cake reference?

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