I don't think i've ever seen a more violent or terrifying end of the world depicted on film before. You've seen Armageddon, 2012, Doomsday etc, but not quite like this. The fire cloud coming across the water at the end of this flick is something right out of hell itself, and absolutely petrifying. Hollywood VFX companies always make the tsunamis, meteors, and earthquakes look so ridiculous that they're about as frightening as a Disney park. This film does it differently, and presumably on a budget. What you're looking at is all-consuming evil; from the ash flakes to the seething temperature, to the bright atomic frenzy, to the inescapable powerlessness of it all. There is no fear in the event, just anticipating it as it burns closer and closer. The only sadness is the death wave only gets a minute of screen time, when it would be very powerful to have loaded it in much earlier to compound the powerlessness and fear. The heat and coloring reminds you of the physical fierceness of Danny Boyle's "Sunshine".
The Aussies enjoy their films like their drinks: strong. If you reveled in the sheer brutality of Wolf Creek, you'll like this. Redemption comes at a very painful price, and there's no science unit saving the day. I've always been convinced that the end of the world would showcase our worst, not our best; without any rules or limits, human nature is on full display: rape, murder, hedonism, selfishness, emptiness, abandonment - the revolting core of what we are. There's little good available here, and rightly so. The backstory is deliberately left out, and you can only assume that's because of the low-budget; wise storytellers know that when you don't have the cash, the smartest thing to do is focus on the human elements and use the ambiguity to heighten the mystery.
Ultimately, apocalyptic tales are about our powerlessness to stop them, and our nightmare- ish vulnerability. Hollywood, of course, has to placate the American public with a happy ending where NASA saves the day just-in-time, which negates the most dramatic part of the staging - we are not in control, nature is our destroyer, and the scariest thing is running out of options into unavoidable submission - that our favorite Beverly Hills capitalists cowardly abscond from. The drama is in the unfolding and inevitable tragedy, not childish Exceptionalism.
The film, in my view, is about fatherhood: the protagonist knows the girl he actually loves - but has abandoned - is pregnant, and it's a fascinating coming-of-age scenario that's bleak, dark, and as punchy as it gets. The sweltering heat only gets hotter, and you can almost feel the acrid, sweaty claustrophobia get worse and worse (never felt the Aussie sun, but apparently it's nasty and gets you good). Ironically, the filmmakers seemed to have set out to pin one story (e.g. redemption from selfishness), yet touched on other, more salient, themes instead: dignity in death, abandonment of morality, the sheer terror of the natural phenomena, and more. And the fact that the girl is more affected that he left her to die alone than her impending immolation, speaks volumes for the emotional depth of what's going on - when we're facing the end, all any of us are going to care about is who we love, and whether they are with us. The question art of all forms needs to ask is, -- why, if we're just apes? Are love, morality, justice, etc, transcendent by nature, and what happens when we are stripped down to what we are?
A solid flick that asks tough questions with wonderful Aussie forthrightness. And if Perth really even gets Armageddon 10hrs late, i'm bringing bottled water.
The Aussies enjoy their films like their drinks: strong. If you reveled in the sheer brutality of Wolf Creek, you'll like this. Redemption comes at a very painful price, and there's no science unit saving the day. I've always been convinced that the end of the world would showcase our worst, not our best; without any rules or limits, human nature is on full display: rape, murder, hedonism, selfishness, emptiness, abandonment - the revolting core of what we are. There's little good available here, and rightly so. The backstory is deliberately left out, and you can only assume that's because of the low-budget; wise storytellers know that when you don't have the cash, the smartest thing to do is focus on the human elements and use the ambiguity to heighten the mystery.
Ultimately, apocalyptic tales are about our powerlessness to stop them, and our nightmare- ish vulnerability. Hollywood, of course, has to placate the American public with a happy ending where NASA saves the day just-in-time, which negates the most dramatic part of the staging - we are not in control, nature is our destroyer, and the scariest thing is running out of options into unavoidable submission - that our favorite Beverly Hills capitalists cowardly abscond from. The drama is in the unfolding and inevitable tragedy, not childish Exceptionalism.
The film, in my view, is about fatherhood: the protagonist knows the girl he actually loves - but has abandoned - is pregnant, and it's a fascinating coming-of-age scenario that's bleak, dark, and as punchy as it gets. The sweltering heat only gets hotter, and you can almost feel the acrid, sweaty claustrophobia get worse and worse (never felt the Aussie sun, but apparently it's nasty and gets you good). Ironically, the filmmakers seemed to have set out to pin one story (e.g. redemption from selfishness), yet touched on other, more salient, themes instead: dignity in death, abandonment of morality, the sheer terror of the natural phenomena, and more. And the fact that the girl is more affected that he left her to die alone than her impending immolation, speaks volumes for the emotional depth of what's going on - when we're facing the end, all any of us are going to care about is who we love, and whether they are with us. The question art of all forms needs to ask is, -- why, if we're just apes? Are love, morality, justice, etc, transcendent by nature, and what happens when we are stripped down to what we are?
A solid flick that asks tough questions with wonderful Aussie forthrightness. And if Perth really even gets Armageddon 10hrs late, i'm bringing bottled water.