Nissar Modi wrote the screenplay, altering much of the original novel by Robert C. O'Brien, and gave it to young Craig Zobel to direct his small 3 person cast in Iceland, Switzerland, New Zealand, and the USA. The result is a tiny Indie film that despite a cast of three fine actors the movie never quite gets off the ground.
First the synopsis: 'In the wake of a nuclear war, a young woman Ann Burden (Margot Robbie) survives on her own, fearing she may actually be the proverbial last woman on earth, until she discovers the most astonishing sight of her life: another human being John Loomis (Chiwetel Ejiofor). A distraught scientist, he's nearly been driven mad by radiation exposure and his desperate search for others. A fragile, imperative strand of trust connects them. But when a stranger Caleb (Chris Pine) enters the valley, their precarious bond begins to unravel into an emotionally charged love triangle as the last known survivors.'
We wonder how landscape so beautiful and fertile in the scenes where the trio relates could be so perfect if indeed there has been a nuclear war that destroyed everyone on the planet. But gradually interrelationships occur, a plan is made by Loomis to build a waterwheel to create electricity and Caleb aids his efforts. Loomis remains an enigma throughout, Caleb brings a little sense to the story, and Ann just adjusts day by day. Though we know how the triad likely ends we are not allowed the reasoning. The movie just sort of stops.
One aspect that makes the movie one of note is looking at the very possible concept of the end of the world in a less climactic way than the superheroes would play it. There are some lessons here – some subtle, most not.
First the synopsis: 'In the wake of a nuclear war, a young woman Ann Burden (Margot Robbie) survives on her own, fearing she may actually be the proverbial last woman on earth, until she discovers the most astonishing sight of her life: another human being John Loomis (Chiwetel Ejiofor). A distraught scientist, he's nearly been driven mad by radiation exposure and his desperate search for others. A fragile, imperative strand of trust connects them. But when a stranger Caleb (Chris Pine) enters the valley, their precarious bond begins to unravel into an emotionally charged love triangle as the last known survivors.'
We wonder how landscape so beautiful and fertile in the scenes where the trio relates could be so perfect if indeed there has been a nuclear war that destroyed everyone on the planet. But gradually interrelationships occur, a plan is made by Loomis to build a waterwheel to create electricity and Caleb aids his efforts. Loomis remains an enigma throughout, Caleb brings a little sense to the story, and Ann just adjusts day by day. Though we know how the triad likely ends we are not allowed the reasoning. The movie just sort of stops.
One aspect that makes the movie one of note is looking at the very possible concept of the end of the world in a less climactic way than the superheroes would play it. There are some lessons here – some subtle, most not.