I have to say I enjoyed this immensely. It's a character drama rather than an action-fest, though there is action.
Focusing around a small group of survivors, the movie develops their personalities rather than settling for just eye candy effects. Think more "The Road" than "Mad Max" and you won't go far wrong.
There are a couple of moments, towards the end, where I expected things to slip into Hollywood cliché mode. But, thankfully, both times (especially the very last scene), the movie refused the obvious storytelling development in favor of something better. You'll have to watch it to see what I mean.
The nature of the apocalypse is never explained, just as in "The Road". Its just something that has happened and, frankly, it isn't important. It serves the purpose of putting people in difficult situations. It isn't the focus of the film whatsoever.
The characters are developed nicely and there is a real nasty section in the middle of the film that will make you go right off one of the characters.
But, essentially its a story of human nature and what people will do when pushed to the limit. There are also themes of redemption running throughout.
It's not big budget and the minimal effects work reasonably well. There is a terrible CGI blood moment right at the end, so I expect there were others that I missed. But the action sequences are quick and so any mistakes are not likely to be noticed.
All in all, I enjoyed this movie, though some might want to beware of the grimmer moments in the film (I don't mean the violence or the gore, either, but human nature).
I recommend watching this if you like post-apocalyptic fare in general, especially those with a more grim and realistic tone.
Focusing around a small group of survivors, the movie develops their personalities rather than settling for just eye candy effects. Think more "The Road" than "Mad Max" and you won't go far wrong.
There are a couple of moments, towards the end, where I expected things to slip into Hollywood cliché mode. But, thankfully, both times (especially the very last scene), the movie refused the obvious storytelling development in favor of something better. You'll have to watch it to see what I mean.
The nature of the apocalypse is never explained, just as in "The Road". Its just something that has happened and, frankly, it isn't important. It serves the purpose of putting people in difficult situations. It isn't the focus of the film whatsoever.
The characters are developed nicely and there is a real nasty section in the middle of the film that will make you go right off one of the characters.
But, essentially its a story of human nature and what people will do when pushed to the limit. There are also themes of redemption running throughout.
It's not big budget and the minimal effects work reasonably well. There is a terrible CGI blood moment right at the end, so I expect there were others that I missed. But the action sequences are quick and so any mistakes are not likely to be noticed.
All in all, I enjoyed this movie, though some might want to beware of the grimmer moments in the film (I don't mean the violence or the gore, either, but human nature).
I recommend watching this if you like post-apocalyptic fare in general, especially those with a more grim and realistic tone.