I'll say right off the bat that I'm spoiled by big budget cinema and I never watch low budget movies. With that said, I thought I'd give this movie a chance as the idea intrigued me. I'm prior military, law enforcement and an early adopter, techie. I'm a fan of "prepper" shows and I've often considered the repercussions natural disasters, cyber terrorism, zombie like viruses, etc., would have on modern day life and the role I'd play as a first responder. I watched about half of this movie and I started to skip ahead but never found a point where I could watch for more than a couple of minutes and so I finally withdrew. My main issue with the movie wasn't the mediocre acting or the bad editing but the obvious technical errors and script.
***spoiler alert*** First off, the movie doesn't explain whether or not the protagonist was an NSA employee or a sub contractor. It appears he is laid off but even before that he has overdue bill notices lying around. Having credit issues is an automatic red flag for someone with a security clearance and would be a reason for termination not a lay off. It should have clearly indicated that he was NSA and that he was laid off (like 90% of SysAdmins in real life earlier this year). This could of led to a downward spiral where we could of seen some emotion.
The next issue I had was the "visit" to his father's cabin. It seemed like a day trip or vacation, but the foreclosure sign suggested otherwise. Maybe there was a thought of selling the property but I didn't get that. Addressing these issues could of lead to some character development, maybe some flashbacks of the protagonist with his father being lectured about the dangers of "technology". The movie pushes too fast to get to "doomsday" and tries to hit on too many topics therein (loss of tech, loss of government, social DE-evolution, etc. It leaves you unattached to the characters and ask more questions than it answers.
I also had an issue with the attack. Planes start crashing, cars shut off mid drive and the electricity goes out. Vehicles that predate computer chips continue to drive. This suggest an EMP. However, after the cars "shut down", the ignition still had power and the starters attempted to send the spark. I'm no expert, but it seems a complete electronic shut down would have been more realistic. Also, the vehicles in the area, would have all suffered the break down simultaneously, not hours after each other. That leads me to the scene where the Sheriff commandeers the old truck. Would he really have taken the time to arrest the protagonist?
Also, why did "the renter" hide in the closet when the family arrived at the house? Was it because he was paying rent to a dead guy? The scene indicated that the Sheriff and his deputy (not "officer" as the actor calls him) were racist implying that the renter was illegal. That scene only served to waste time and further stereotypes.
On to the more technical issues. Even if a cyber terrorist network hacked and completely gained access to "all" cell phone networks, there wouldn't be a splash screen instantaneously displayed. Nor would there be one on a laptop before even booting (I really dislike it when Hollywood pulls stuff like that. Even my 12 year old knew that was fake). And why would the protagonist smash the phones? Simply removing the battery would disable GPS, if they had a signal in the mountains to begin with. Later, instead of using the cell or laptop batteries he wires hundreds of potatoes together in order to "fix" the transistor radio. That was laughable and reminded me of 4th grade science projects from the 70's.
The wristband of death was another unbelievable add on I could of done without. At any rate, I could go on and on. I really wish they would have put more thought into these issues and spent more time in making me care about the characters.
Overall, Hollywood needs to make this movie with about a 50 million budget and a realistic script.
***spoiler alert*** First off, the movie doesn't explain whether or not the protagonist was an NSA employee or a sub contractor. It appears he is laid off but even before that he has overdue bill notices lying around. Having credit issues is an automatic red flag for someone with a security clearance and would be a reason for termination not a lay off. It should have clearly indicated that he was NSA and that he was laid off (like 90% of SysAdmins in real life earlier this year). This could of led to a downward spiral where we could of seen some emotion.
The next issue I had was the "visit" to his father's cabin. It seemed like a day trip or vacation, but the foreclosure sign suggested otherwise. Maybe there was a thought of selling the property but I didn't get that. Addressing these issues could of lead to some character development, maybe some flashbacks of the protagonist with his father being lectured about the dangers of "technology". The movie pushes too fast to get to "doomsday" and tries to hit on too many topics therein (loss of tech, loss of government, social DE-evolution, etc. It leaves you unattached to the characters and ask more questions than it answers.
I also had an issue with the attack. Planes start crashing, cars shut off mid drive and the electricity goes out. Vehicles that predate computer chips continue to drive. This suggest an EMP. However, after the cars "shut down", the ignition still had power and the starters attempted to send the spark. I'm no expert, but it seems a complete electronic shut down would have been more realistic. Also, the vehicles in the area, would have all suffered the break down simultaneously, not hours after each other. That leads me to the scene where the Sheriff commandeers the old truck. Would he really have taken the time to arrest the protagonist?
Also, why did "the renter" hide in the closet when the family arrived at the house? Was it because he was paying rent to a dead guy? The scene indicated that the Sheriff and his deputy (not "officer" as the actor calls him) were racist implying that the renter was illegal. That scene only served to waste time and further stereotypes.
On to the more technical issues. Even if a cyber terrorist network hacked and completely gained access to "all" cell phone networks, there wouldn't be a splash screen instantaneously displayed. Nor would there be one on a laptop before even booting (I really dislike it when Hollywood pulls stuff like that. Even my 12 year old knew that was fake). And why would the protagonist smash the phones? Simply removing the battery would disable GPS, if they had a signal in the mountains to begin with. Later, instead of using the cell or laptop batteries he wires hundreds of potatoes together in order to "fix" the transistor radio. That was laughable and reminded me of 4th grade science projects from the 70's.
The wristband of death was another unbelievable add on I could of done without. At any rate, I could go on and on. I really wish they would have put more thought into these issues and spent more time in making me care about the characters.
Overall, Hollywood needs to make this movie with about a 50 million budget and a realistic script.