By: JWBM
What length would you go to for a loved one? Would you wait it out? Would you weigh your options? To some, those are important questions to sit on. To others, the answers are already rapidly checked off as they're walking out the door no matter the stakes.
After an unexplained event cuts all communications, a do-what-it-takes retired Marine and a suit-and-tie lawyer take a cross country trip to the west coast to be reunited with their loved one. There they encounter the slow erosion of not only the landscapes, but also a chip away at humanity.
The film gives different perspectives: from various shots of how vacant the world has become; such as the beauty of nature, to its more perilous side. It's also haunting how different inventions and contraptions cease to have use; or how humans are still holding on to material things, or going for the throat when it comes to resources.
This is more a tried and true tale of survival for a small group of people than it is about showing a moment-by-moment 360 degree viewpoint of the concept such as "Outbreak" or "2012." Like "The Road," hints are given, but nothing is outright outlined to maintain the perspective as the characters would experience it: as a loss of control of everything they know through confusion and chaos. To some, they may feel robbed for their patience, to others they may be rewarded for the thrills and more emotional investment the story delivers. As far as apocalyptic films, there are a few scenes that require you to dust off the ol' brain and read between the lines. There are also a few other scenes that are about as over-the-top as they come.
The film does a decent job balancing a mix of drama, suspense, and action without doing one just for the sake of it or getting stuck in a certain mode. The characters grow from the outset and use the journey as a crutch to move on and then settle some differences. It's essentially a race to get over a series of hurdles while running blindly in the dark, with you the audience to root them on.
The most stand out performance is Forest Whitaker, which gives the film a certain intensity and driving point. It's the kind of story where things are handled and get done, but then the emotional toil and impact comes rearing its head after the fact. The leading character, the lawyer who's determined to get to his gal, straddles between blending in to the background, to being the ordinary man doing extraordinary things.
While "How It Ends" isn't something to throw on more than once, or hand out moral questions or poignant commentary that will keep you up at night, the film does what it set out to do: to deliver a simple story with human characters with gravitating determination and willpower, and to drop reminders as to why we carry on. It's the kind of film that can be torn apart for its easy to spot formula and more stripped down delivery. Or it can become a basic and diverting form of entertainment if you let your guard down and absorb it for what it is.
Rating: 6/10
Director: David M. Rosenthal (A Single Shot; The Perfect Guy)
Actors: Theo James, Forest Whitaker
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube trailer
No comments:
Post a Comment