What could the world look like if hit by a another devastating pandemic?This post apocalyptic sci-fi saga is a brutally violent, and melodramatic story of survival. Ridley Scott depicts a dangerous, lonely, grief-ridden life on Earth, interspersing the story with visually stunning aerial scenes over picturesque landscapes.
Here, Jacob Elordi plays a nice guy instead of a monster or sexy heartthrob. He is often seen often, head in hands, agonizing how to get out of trouble flying his beat-up single engine plane. Josh Brolin and Guy Pearce are both tough as nails defending their turf to survive. Margaret Qualley was given enough to do in this film, however Allison Janney was given much too much in just one major, ultimately ridiculous sequence.
Dystopian themes have fascinated Scott for decades directing everything from Alien to Blade Runner. This one is based on the 2012 novel by Peter Heller and adapted by Mark L. Smith and Christopher Wilkinson. We didn’t think the dialogue was as well-written nor as creative as these actors deserve. And we didn’t think some of the characters were fully formed nor given enough to do or say bouncing in between the picturesque flight scenes.
This is set in Colorado after a flu epidemic has already eradicated most of humanity. We meet Hig, (Elordi) a former mechanic and single engine pilot whose protective cohort is his loyal dog Jasper. They live in a house with crusty, hard-ass former Marine Bangley (Brolin) at an old landing strip peppered with small, rusting planes.
They try to work together to find a better life to survive comfortably in this dystopian and dangerous environment stalked by with wild, ferrel humans. These are zombie-like people. At other times, Scott turns to a cowboys and Indians theme that has a bit of a fake feel for the genre. We thought they all seemed to act not only wild and sick, but stupid. We even thought the spectacular buffalo stampede comes out of nowhere in the beginning of the film.
Hig starts the story by taking off flying his small yellow Cessna over stunning forests and mountains. The visuals are exquisite, and watching his close relationship with loyal assistant dog, Jasper, becomes evident. They are definite besties who can read each other’s signals. Hig is a good guy. He’s flying to the destroyed Denver he used to live in to gather supplies for a group of Mennonite families in need led by Aaron (Benedict Wong- Weapons, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange). Bangley would rather he didn’t in case Hig’s followed, because there are groups of zombie-like renegades looking to kill and take whatever they can.
Flying back, he crash lands. He sees a donkey and follows it to a farm where he comes up against former Navy Seal Pops (Pearce), the super protector of his daughter Cima (Qualley). Their eventual relationship is so predictable that it’s just not very interesting.
Hig slowly gets Cima and Pops to help him fix his plane and clear a path for take off. Brolin and Pearce are bookends of tough and gruff survivalists, protecting and defending their lives. But the best character is Brolin who supposedly almost walked off the set the very first day of the shoot, not connecting with Scott’s way of directing. But he not only came to appreciate Ridley Scott’s process, he provides some welcome and unexpected self-deprecating comic relief in the 3rd act.
Allison Janney plays the most bizarre, cartoon character of them all, Darlene. She is so disturbing as the cult leader at Gene Junction, the only functioning airport staffed by a weird collection of her dedicated, violent screwups. She is all decked out as a mad throwback to 1950’s stewardesses with so much makeup and a throw-back uniform so overdone in oversaturated color. Scott’s closeups of her are way too scary.
The ending of this melodramatic dystopian sci-fi story is no surprise, and pretty sappy. Scott’s direction of the scenes in the air, much of which was shot over fantastic locations in Italy, are uplifting. But the film itself, fails to soar.
20th Century Studios 1 Hour 58 Minutes R
