I'm a little jaded by the current crop of movies. In an environment where Suicide Squad is a hit because movie goers are starved for something that is even the slightest bit different, we really have to start rethinking the corporate model of film making... That may have influenced my view of this little post-apocalyptic thriller. It is cheap. The film making and the special effects miss their mark quite often. There are weird time signatures every few scenes.
Here, on the other hand is what it is not: It is not about how dads should stay with their families because that is the strength that will save them all. It is not a found footage film about obnoxious teenagers who are picked off one by one amid gaggles of jump scares. It is not about the dangers of the internet. It contains no warnings about how getting laid will kill you. In short, it tries to be different, and for the most part, succeeds.
The story is about a sort of crusading student who may/may not be following his girlfriend to a sort of protest/love in. The world around this kid is dying as the soil is somehow too poisonous to grow food. People have shut themselves off in big walled cities, ala Priest, where, I guess they have some non-poison food. Outside, people eat each other. The kid's train is derailed by a bomb and he ends up hiding in a boarded up building, protected by a bunch of thugs who have equipment emblazoned with the same logo the kid found at the bomb site. The rest of the film is he and another prisoner trying to survive while waves of nasty guys try to get them.
The movie isn't afraid to get down and dirty (even when the effects are bit beyond the film makers.) Kids are taken down with head shots, a guy is forced to give oral sex to a knife while cannibals shout encouragement, punji sticks are employed, throats are cut. And most of that is done by the hero. Or at least the protagonist. I'm not sure I could identify a hero here, which was another kind of refreshing thing about this.
No real spoilers, but there is a twist. It's good. Maybe the best part of the movie. I will not ruin it for you.
This is obviously a first attempt at film making by guys without a whole lot of money. But, out of that outsider perspective comes a bunch of ideas I'd like to see explored. I'm kind of looking forward to what these guys do next.
So, as a film, this is maybe a 5. As a refreshing bunch of ideas, with a couple of good actors I've never seen, I'll add two more. And I'll add another two for people making a low budget horror film and deciding against found footage...