Normally when I encounter a film that appears as though it is going to be a teenage romance film of sorts I tend to give it a miss but the visual effects in the trailer looked so good that I figured I would give it a chance and it ended up being one of the better apocalypse films that I have seen. Thankfully, there were no zombies involved but instead it involved mutated creatures that became that was due to nuclear fallout initiated by the world government destroying an asteroid that was headed towards earth.
Don't worry they don't get all "Armageddon" on you, that part of the film is only told in a past-tense way and is not heavily focused on.
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The story is told in a way that the main character is also the narrator, and this is a lazy way of storytelling but honestly, there is so much backstory to cover before we get to the "meat and potatoes" of the plot that if they didn't use this method, the film would be 5 hours long... So I understand why they did it.
This was an ambitious project that first started all the way back in 2012 but due to many factors, including the fact that the visual effects were obviously going to be very difficult and expensive, it was shelved multiple times. Eventually it was finished in 2020 and just like any film, the producers would have much rather it gone through a massive movie theater release on a global scale that would have almost certainly would have resulted in them getting back their surprisingly low budget of $30 million. But thanks to Covid, no such theater release ever happened and because they were concerned that the film would leak if they sat on it, they decided to release it on demand where it managed to pull in a paltry $1.1 million.
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The creatures they feature are all gigantic mutated versions of common creatures such as bugs, frogs, and crabs but it is a rather major plot hole that cutesy animals like dogs, cats, and hamsters and what not, do not seem to have been part of this mutation. There is a dog in the film and well, this doesn't make a great deal of sense but was still a welcome addition because who doesn't like a doggo sidekick?
The few people that are left on earth all live underground out of fear of the gigantic creatures, but again, there are plenty of creatures that live underground and yet again, it is not explained why it is that they are not routinely invaded by mutant ants or grubs. I suppose I should stop trying to create realism where it isn't needed.
Our main character Joel Dawson (Dylan O'Brien) is considered the pussy of his underground camp and is rarely used for any sort of combat mission or gathering detail. Instead, he is the camp cook and he regrets the fact that he seems to lack the courage necessary to be a more useful member of his group. That is until he finds the girl he was involved with before the fallout and decides that he is going to travel to her, even if it means potential / likely death.
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The journey is action packed and how they were able to create a dystopian world like this with such a small budget is something that really impresses me about this film. $30 million is NOT a lot of money when you consider all that this movie contains and it makes me wonder if the budgets of other films that have such a heavy reliance on CGI might be inflating their budgets for tax purposes.
Should I watch it?
I enjoyed it a lot and even though it has the appearance of being a teenage romance, it isn't really. Sure, there are elements of that but it is more of a coming-of-age story and a story about how someone can find courage when the right motivation is presented to make that happen. I am sure, at least to some certain extent, that all of us can relate to that to a certain degree and that is a big part of why the film was great.
Even though apocalyptic movies are a dime a dozen over the past decade or so, this film kept me entertained for the entire 100 minutes of runtime. I don't think I looked at my phone more than 2 or 3 times and that is always a good sign that what I am watching is worthwhile. I believe that this film will appeal to almost anyone and it was nominated for an Oscar for best visual effects.
