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The End of All Things (2019)
Thought provoking and haunting. A post-apocalypse genre gem.
Firstly, the storyline description is really misleading and even a little off putting. It's loosely accurate but it does not capture, or even really describe, what this film is about. A more accurate take would perhaps be, "In a bleak post-apocalypse world, three survivors lives are altered when one of them has a life changing encounter with a pre-apocalypse piece of technology". At least that would give a more accurate sense of what this movie is about.
Realistically this is not a movie that you can describe in one or two sentences. It's a movie about visuals and ideas that really has to be watched to be understood. Even a scene by scene description of this movie still wouldn't capture it's power to engage the viewer. In a genre where so many of the offerings are so generic that they are forgotten as soon as they are finished this one will stick with you. My wife and I were still talking about this one for days after we watched it.
Having said all that, let's talk about the movie. It's a small movie. There are only six people on screen and three of them are there for only short times. This movie is all about the three main characters and their relationship and interactions. It takes place in just three settings, two ruined farmhouses and a few forested countryside spots. There aren't any zombies, or mutants, or killer robots, or cannibal hordes, or ruined cities, or aliens. It's just three people living in a bleak, cold, grey world where everyday requires grinding effort to survive.
The movie opens wordlessly with the viewer watching the three survivors (whose names we don't ever learn) going through what are clearly their well honed survival routines. It's a harsh life in a overcast, grey world and our survivors are clearly just barely getting by. There are no frills or extras in their life and while there is clearly some tensions between them they also seem deeply bonded and connected with each other. With minimal dialog the actors really convey the the tightly knit character of the relationship these three share. They may have been thrown together at random in the apocalypse but now they are a unit, "a family".
After a bad day of hunting rabbits (which seem to be the only game animal remaining) the "man" (who seems to be in his mid thirties) tells the "woman" (who seems to be in her mid twenties) that he and the "boy" (who seems to be in his late teens) need to go on a scavenging run. The next day the two men set off through an empty countryside to check out deserted houses they find along the way. Ultimately coming to the house where their lives will all be altered.
The "mysterious relic" should be obvious to the viewer, it's a computer tablet of some sort. The man and the boy are exploring a very large house and find what is clearly a nursery (there's a crib in the room). The man asks the boy to look around in there while he checks out the rest of the house. While he's sifting through the stuff in the room the boy picks up a small rectangular piece of what looks like clear glass (so we are talking near future tech, maybe 10 to 20 years in our future). While he's examining it, he turns it on and a program comes up. What he sees, in the few minutes the device stays on, changes him and that's what this movie is really about.
Saying anything more would spoil the movie. What comes next is gripping, thought provoking, surprising, and emotionally engaging. There are several twists that are really unexpected, but totally logical, and a devastating climax. The acting is really good and the production values are top quality. There are no snags or obvious flaws in the sets or scripts to make the viewer fall out of the spell being woven and in the end I think you will find yourself thinking about this movie long after the credits end.
Antisocial (2013)
An Outbreak movie that makes a stab at social satire
I watch a lot of Sci-fi movies and the harsh reviews for this movie surprise me. Sure, it's kinda low budget and totally derivative but it deserves better than a 2 or 3!
Patient Zero (2018)
Entertaining if you are a fan of the "Outbreak" genre but has a muddled plot "B-"
After a lifetime watching sci-fi movies I am bemused by some of the criticism that people heap on movies like this. It's a sci-fi "B" movie, for god's sake. What were you expecting? Movies like this are meant to entertain, amuse, make you jump a few times, and toss out some ideas that might make you think a bit. That's what sci-fi "B" movies do. Expecting much more than that is just setting yourself up for disappointment.
Having said that, this is objectively not a great movie. It has a really muddled story and a weak ending. However, it has some decent, at times even good, acting as well as a decent idea that the movie is built around. The writers were clearly trying to find something new to do in a genre that is about played out and they get some points for that. Plus the movie has good production values, sets, costuming, and some name actors. So, if you are a sci-fi fan and want some light entertainment for 90 minutes this is an "OK" option. If every movie you watch has to be "great" or you are going to whine about being robbed of 90 minutes of your life, then you should give this a pass.
************************ Spoiler Section **************
This is not a "zombie" virus movie and the infected are not "undead". In spirit this movie is much more like 28 Days Later in terms of the "look and feel" of the virus and the infected. Points for the writers for making the virus a variant of rabies. There was a Nat Geo special that was done after "Walking Dead" hit that tried to lay out a possible "plausible" zombie plague scenario. It used a "weaponized super rabies" as the most scientifically possible scenario so someone did their homework.
That being said, the speed of the infection taking hold is (like it was in 28 Days Later) ridiculous. No virus is going to hit your bloodstream and then turn you into a hyper-aggressive homicidal maniac in seconds. So, minus points for perpetuating this ridiculous meme of "instant infection" no matter how useful it is for an outbreak movie.
The idea of having an asymptomatic carrier be the hero of the story and be able to interact with the infected was a cool twist. Although if you saw the SyFy series "Z Nation" your first thought might have been, "OK he's just like Murphy". Which is one of the weaknesses of this movie. Almost everything in it will remind you of some other movie or series in this genre that has come out since 2000 or, even going further back to the grand daddy of the genre, the 1954 book "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson. There isn't really anything in this movie that feels fresh or new.
That being said, the interaction between our hero and the "King Zombie" played by Stanley Tucci is well done and a decent plot twist. Suddenly the viewer realizes that this is not going to be a post-apocalyptic road trip movie to find the "patient zero" unicorn. This is a much darker movie about the last vestiges of civilization being overrun by the barbarism and chaos that the infected symbolize. You thought you were watching an action, adventure, thriller movie but you were really watching a last stand movie the whole time. Surprise!
That's the best part of the movie. The rest of it, while decently done, is muddled and confused. One of the other reviewers noted that the movie felt like a failed series pilot and I agree. It makes me think that the writers were TV writers who cobbled together a screenplay. They had some decent ideas but they didn't know how to hone them into a tight movie.
So, in conclusion. If you like Outbreak or Apocalypse movies this one isn't bad. It has it's flaws but I found it entertaining and it had a few thought provoking moments. Put it in your "watch when nothing else is on" pile and you won't be disappointed.
Extinction (2018)
If You Like Sci-Fi You will Probably Like this Movie, A solid B+
Right out of the gate I want to say,"I like this movie". I found it well acted, with good special effects, and an interesting story that has some fun surprise twists and turns. It does everything a sci-fi movie is supposed to do and was entertaining, which is pretty much what I want in a sci-fi movie.
Having said that, it is fair to say that the movie does have some flaws. The biggest being that it is highly derivative. Almost everything in this movie will remind the dedicated sci-fi fan of something that they saw in some other movie. The father having visions of some "future" apocalyptic alien invasion and doubting his sanity echos the gripping 2011 gem "Take Shelter" with Michael Shannon. The opening "alien" invasion scenes echo the deeply flawed but interesting 2010 movie "Skyline" and the families journey across the city under attack almost seems like a reprise of "Battle for Los Angeles" for actor Michael Pena. Even the three major twists\reveals in the movie are derivative of other movies or TV series.
However, focusing on that is missing the point. Very little art is ever truly original. Almost all art is built on, or derived, from previous works and ideas. What's more important is if the movie has a fresh take, a new spin, or a new idea about the material it's built on. I thought this movie did that extremely well generating at least three WTF moments as it sped the viewer along it's roller coaster ride.
In this way the movie reminded me strongly of "Radius" from 2017. This was another of what I am calling "meta-movies". These are movies that seem like collages of earlier movies and shows and use that body of previous work to play with the viewers mind. They rely on the viewer being literate with the body of previous work in the genre so that they can "shorthand" concepts and ideas. You get a scene that feels familiar and you immediately have a sense of where things are going to go and how it's going to play out. Then, just when you settle in to comfortably watch it play out the way you expect, they mind bend you by jerking the rug out from under you with a WTF twist that leaves you gasping in admiration at it's unexpectedness and exclaiming,"I didn't see that coming"!
It is a tricky feat to pull off but I thought they did a pretty good job of it in this movie and, like I said at the start, I enjoyed the movie a great deal. There are many plot holes, unanswered questions, and improbable seeming explanations for some of the backstory in the movie that will greatly annoy a certain type of nit-picky sci-fi nerd who insists that everything has to "be realistic" (LOL) but even they should enjoy this movie. If for no other reason than for the chance to pick it apart.
In summary, I found "Extinction" to be a solid sci-fi B movie. I'd even go so far as to give it a B+. It's not original but it was fun and kept me guessing about how it was going to turn out right until the very end. After a lifetime of watching movies that is not easy to do these days and I appreciate it when I see it. Solid performances by all the actors (Michael Pena and Lizzy Caplan had good chemistry) and an interesting story should make this a worth seeing for anyone who considers them a sci-fi movie fan.
Spoiler Material - The Big Reveal
The big reveal is that the main characters, who we have been identifying with and rooting for, are androids or "synths" in the slang used in the movie. Clearly androids are having a moment in pop culture with the TV shows "Humans" and "Westworld" currently running. So the movie feels in some ways like an extended "what if" riff on them.
However, the inclusion of the "children" was really cool and harks back to the 2001 movie "A.I." and it's child replacement android played by Haley Joel Osment. Thinking about these ageless "children" living in this synth family is creepy, fascinating, and deeply poignant all at once. In some ways they are throwaway characters in the movie but in other ways they are central to it. The movie hinges on getting the audience to identify and empathize with a parent "protecting his family". It's the emotional hook of the movie because no one wants to see children hurt or killed. So how do you feel after you find out that they are "synths" and at least 50 years old?
In the current world where we casually rip children from their parents at our borders or regard them as collateral damage on our world wide drone strikes in the everlasting "War on Terrorism" the movie reminds viewers that any war no matter how "inhuman" we see our enemy is in some ways a war on children. The humanity of the terrifying alien invaders, who are revealed to be humans in one of the three WTF moments, is redeemed when the young soldier doesn't kill Lucy because he, "didn't sign on to kill children". It's an important message in the movie and gives it the thought provoking quality that sci-fi should aspire to.
Paradox (2009)
Gripping, intelligent sci-fi worth the time to watch
If you are any kind of sci-fi fan and have a spark of imagination then you will probably have enjoyed this episode and be looking forward to the next one. The show is being compared to Flashforward because of the "information from the future" idea that is at at the root of each show; however, the two are treating the topic in vastly different ways so comparing this show to FF is like comparing apples and oranges. Personally I find FF to be pretentious, preachy, and boring. I think that Paradox has the potential to be a vastly more interesting and compelling show. I found this episode to be actually gripping, and it has been a long time since any show has done that for me.
Some have commented that the show is slow and that it takes the main characters too long to "put the pieces together". Since impossible things are by definition "impossible" I find it much more realistic to believe that regular human beings would have a very hard time accepting an impossible event in their lives. The need to normalize the event and somehow explain it away would be almost overwhelming. To accept an impossible event such as images from the future as clues to a disaster that is about to happen as real would be a profoundly life changing occurrence. Most of us do not want our certainties destroyed and our core ideas challenged. I found it superb writing that the characters have to be dragged kicking and screaming into accepting that something impossible is happening to them. The scene at the end where the female detective grabs the other detective with desperate need rang true to me. When your world is shaken like this the need for human connection and comfort is profound. Like the death of the little girl on the train it reflects what I saw as adult, intelligent, scripting. Overall I thought it was a good start and I am looking forward to what this week brings.