While not as atmospheric and mysterious as Hit & Run, another Nick Maniatis brickfilm, Good Company isn't bad either. Actually the opposite... It's good. Really, really good. Great, even!
Little critique is necessary, since, Maniatis's brickfilm is pretty much perfect. At least in my opinion.
I really like the sets, and the assortment of characters really create the illusion of a real "world" or universe that's unique to the film. That's usually very hard to do in a story, nonetheless a feature film! The feat is nearly impossible to do well in a brickfilm, and, as far as I'm convinced, the only other brickfilm to capture such an aesthetic location and bustling movement of minifigures that feels really alive, yet still looks like it could be a display upon your shelf, is Nathan Well's Beast!
Story wise, I really like the flashbacks, as, they create a nice beat to the film - inching it forward just as the plot does so. Almost reminiscent to what was done on the TV show Longmire in season 1: Show a bit of the past, but only reveal bits and pieces with each flashback along the way. It's a technique I've like both times I've seen it, and, it's something I might even like to try myself in the future!
My only real complaints would be in the Redux. I know that Nathan has stated, in the description, that this version
Nathan Wells wrote:... is considered the definitive version of Good Company.
However, I prefer the original. Opening with a bit of text - reminiscent of the opening of Robinson Wood's Grace, in my opinion, sets a really great tone for the opening. However, Redux throws this out the window, and starts with some haphazardly edited stills of the "running" sequence that opens the brickfilm, and throws in the text a bit later, just for good measure.
On top of that, Redux doesn't really add anything new to what Good Company already offered. It only seems like the Special Editions of the Star Wars films. Sure, every director probably sees mistakes in their own work once it's been released, but, that doesn't necessarily mean they have to go back and change or add things, even if they might have been edited out for time originally... Long story short, it doesn't matter if the changes are necessary or not, overall, I usually prefer a film's inaugural version.
The extra three minutes certainly could have been uploaded privately, or as a redirect from the original, for the more hardcore fans. But, otherwise, I'd prefer to stick to watching the original. It's not split up into two parts, anyway, and, in my opinion, has a better pace.
Either way, both versions of Nick Maniatis's Good Company are stellar. I'd love to make it another brickfilm watching Halloween tradition in the future!
Though, honestly, I could watch this at just about any time. It's simply that good.