Dr Zaius
Chief Defender of the Faith
- Joined
- May 1, 2001
- Messages
- 8,902
- Reaction score
- 408
- Location
- The Forbidden Zone
- First name
- Don
- Country
Spoiler alert! Kind of. I can't really spoil that much because not a whole lot actually happens in this film.
Another disaster apocalypse where the world is coming to an end. Check.
Forest Whitaker was intense, as usual. But his talents are somewhat wasted here, as his character is sort of a hardass that never really gets into gear. Instead, he just sneers and his wheels get knocked out from underneath him before he has much of a chance to do anything memorable. Still, he's generally the bright spot here as Theo James is kind of impotent in the face of impending disaster. Is anything more useless than a corporate lawyer when the world is coming to and end? One wonders if there's some nebulous social commentary at work here.
There are a couple of chase scenes and gun battles, but don't expect too much from the action sequences because this is more of a movie about how ordinary people react in the face of extraordinary circumstances rather than an action flick like Day Z or something like that.
Ironically, for a movie titled 'How it Ends,' I'm not entirely certain this movie actually has an ending. Instead, it just sort of, well, stopped. Or something. It's as if the production ran out of money and they just decided to release it with no ending.
Sadly, as I've said previously, this is getting to be a bit of a trend with Netflix productions -- they're long on build-up and short on delivery. Mind you, I'm not against slow-burn sci-fi or disaster drama, yet this one somehow just never manages to go anywhere.
But at least the characters weren't all blind, deaf, forced to live in silence or darkness like 'Bird Box' and all the other recent Netflix offerings. I know producers are trying to do something new and different, and I'm willing to give some credit for that where it's deserved. But damn it, just tell a good story and make a solid film first, then worry about trying to be groundbreaking later! A Quiet Place, Bird Box, The Happening, and Blindness -- to be honest, all these films are starting to feel a little bit desperate. More like glorified fan faction than serious productions.
Perhaps a better title would have been, 'How it Didn't End.'
Another disaster apocalypse where the world is coming to an end. Check.
Forest Whitaker was intense, as usual. But his talents are somewhat wasted here, as his character is sort of a hardass that never really gets into gear. Instead, he just sneers and his wheels get knocked out from underneath him before he has much of a chance to do anything memorable. Still, he's generally the bright spot here as Theo James is kind of impotent in the face of impending disaster. Is anything more useless than a corporate lawyer when the world is coming to and end? One wonders if there's some nebulous social commentary at work here.
There are a couple of chase scenes and gun battles, but don't expect too much from the action sequences because this is more of a movie about how ordinary people react in the face of extraordinary circumstances rather than an action flick like Day Z or something like that.
Ironically, for a movie titled 'How it Ends,' I'm not entirely certain this movie actually has an ending. Instead, it just sort of, well, stopped. Or something. It's as if the production ran out of money and they just decided to release it with no ending.
Sadly, as I've said previously, this is getting to be a bit of a trend with Netflix productions -- they're long on build-up and short on delivery. Mind you, I'm not against slow-burn sci-fi or disaster drama, yet this one somehow just never manages to go anywhere.
But at least the characters weren't all blind, deaf, forced to live in silence or darkness like 'Bird Box' and all the other recent Netflix offerings. I know producers are trying to do something new and different, and I'm willing to give some credit for that where it's deserved. But damn it, just tell a good story and make a solid film first, then worry about trying to be groundbreaking later! A Quiet Place, Bird Box, The Happening, and Blindness -- to be honest, all these films are starting to feel a little bit desperate. More like glorified fan faction than serious productions.
Perhaps a better title would have been, 'How it Didn't End.'