"Ugh!" What a way to start a review; but in all honesty I cannot come up with a better word to use to express my thoughts on 4:44 Last Day on Earth, a rather dreadful indie film about "the last day on earth" as experienced by a successful actor played by Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man, The English Patient, Finding Nemo). He lives in a large/sprawling NYC high rise apartment with his much-younger artist girlfriend, Skye (an unknown Shanyn Leigh). The two spend their last day together making love, squabbling, using their computers a lot (as there is a LOT of Skype-ing we must be in the very NEAR future!), sleeping and eating (she also paints while wearing evening gowns - a LOT, which doesn't fit into the time scale of the film as they dry awfully quick(ly)!).
The film set-up is that at 4:44 the following morning life WILL end. It is the announced time of the end of the earth and therefore ALL life as we know it will be coming to an end! The film never goes into the definitive specifics of it all; but it has apparently been "proven" by science and so EVERYone has accepted this as fact (it is the general acceptance by all that is actually much-more outlandish than the end-of-the-earth scenario presented here). As one political party is beginning to pride themselves on the premise that they deny all-things-science this film is NOT allowed to work as is.
According to the film, Al Gore was right about global deterioration although he was horribly wrong forecasting how long our planet had before it would all come to an end (Gore is yet another reason this would be considered "hogwash!"). The ice caps aren't the problem in 4:44 -- the fully depleted ozone layer is! It will completely disappear at 4:44 Eastern Standard time (around the world all at ONCE as the film just uses the LOCAL time for the title --which is more conceivable than Harold Camping's implication that God needed 24 one-hour slots to end the world as we know it as He apparently isn't all-powerful!).
As you can tell, 4:44 tries to be heavy and meaningful (using many good/wise clips of the Dalai Lama shows how "serious" the film wants to be) but the film means nothing because it is outlandish and the characters aren't believable. I AM one who believes that eight billion (+) people on the planet with X-amount of them driving vehicles (meaning billions) does most-likely cause some kind of damage; but I do NOT buy the main premise presented here -- that of the ozone depleting ALL AT ONCE! It isn't the Rapture, an alien invasion, a nuclear meltdown or a planetary collision (see Melancholia) that brings about the end of humankind. ... and that the EXACT time is known makes it all the more IMplausible -- puh-lease! As for the story, Dafoe plays an actor named Cisco who is sooo worried about the end of everything he spends his final day with his young love but he also ventures out a few times to see some old friends. There are MANY problems with these visits such as Cisco never greeting one "friend" whose house he goes to because he coincidentally bumps into an old friend there and the scene turns into a fate/cosmic destiny speak-scene which rendered the initial flat-inhabitant (the actual visit-ee if you please) unnecessary. Another HUGE problem (probably my BIGGEST) I had with 4:44 is that I am assuming mankind had been given a head's up on "the end" and yet Cisco has decided that a three-minute Skype conversation with much-loved relatives is adequate to to say goodbye and that he loves them. IF this is how much he truly cares it is a good representation of how much I didn't care for anybody in 4:44 either.
The streets of NYC are always full of traffic and the sidewalks are well-populated ... and there seems to be no chaos! Dafoe does see a man plummet to his death; but that appears to be the only despair on display in 4:44. This is seriously ALL the film is about ... another ridiculous scene has the couple order Chinese food for delivery. If it is someone's favorite, I'd understand wanting it to be one's last meal; but would restaurants really be open a few mere hours before the END of ALL LIFE? And -- if they did deliver, what is the point of waiting around to get paid?! What is one going to do with that money TOMORROW? I oftentimes found myself chuckling and/or talking to the screen because so much of the film doesn't work and everyone on screen doesn't appear to understand this. Leigh is one of the worst actresses I have seen lately -- her faux giggles and scowls were irritating. Dafoe was dense and spoke in circles. And -- I didn't care about either of them. How BAD is it that one wishes they could fast-forward to the end of a film because he/she'd rather see MASS DEATH than experience any more of these two characters' mundane lives?! Ugh.
The film set-up is that at 4:44 the following morning life WILL end. It is the announced time of the end of the earth and therefore ALL life as we know it will be coming to an end! The film never goes into the definitive specifics of it all; but it has apparently been "proven" by science and so EVERYone has accepted this as fact (it is the general acceptance by all that is actually much-more outlandish than the end-of-the-earth scenario presented here). As one political party is beginning to pride themselves on the premise that they deny all-things-science this film is NOT allowed to work as is.
According to the film, Al Gore was right about global deterioration although he was horribly wrong forecasting how long our planet had before it would all come to an end (Gore is yet another reason this would be considered "hogwash!"). The ice caps aren't the problem in 4:44 -- the fully depleted ozone layer is! It will completely disappear at 4:44 Eastern Standard time (around the world all at ONCE as the film just uses the LOCAL time for the title --which is more conceivable than Harold Camping's implication that God needed 24 one-hour slots to end the world as we know it as He apparently isn't all-powerful!).
As you can tell, 4:44 tries to be heavy and meaningful (using many good/wise clips of the Dalai Lama shows how "serious" the film wants to be) but the film means nothing because it is outlandish and the characters aren't believable. I AM one who believes that eight billion (+) people on the planet with X-amount of them driving vehicles (meaning billions) does most-likely cause some kind of damage; but I do NOT buy the main premise presented here -- that of the ozone depleting ALL AT ONCE! It isn't the Rapture, an alien invasion, a nuclear meltdown or a planetary collision (see Melancholia) that brings about the end of humankind. ... and that the EXACT time is known makes it all the more IMplausible -- puh-lease! As for the story, Dafoe plays an actor named Cisco who is sooo worried about the end of everything he spends his final day with his young love but he also ventures out a few times to see some old friends. There are MANY problems with these visits such as Cisco never greeting one "friend" whose house he goes to because he coincidentally bumps into an old friend there and the scene turns into a fate/cosmic destiny speak-scene which rendered the initial flat-inhabitant (the actual visit-ee if you please) unnecessary. Another HUGE problem (probably my BIGGEST) I had with 4:44 is that I am assuming mankind had been given a head's up on "the end" and yet Cisco has decided that a three-minute Skype conversation with much-loved relatives is adequate to to say goodbye and that he loves them. IF this is how much he truly cares it is a good representation of how much I didn't care for anybody in 4:44 either.
The streets of NYC are always full of traffic and the sidewalks are well-populated ... and there seems to be no chaos! Dafoe does see a man plummet to his death; but that appears to be the only despair on display in 4:44. This is seriously ALL the film is about ... another ridiculous scene has the couple order Chinese food for delivery. If it is someone's favorite, I'd understand wanting it to be one's last meal; but would restaurants really be open a few mere hours before the END of ALL LIFE? And -- if they did deliver, what is the point of waiting around to get paid?! What is one going to do with that money TOMORROW? I oftentimes found myself chuckling and/or talking to the screen because so much of the film doesn't work and everyone on screen doesn't appear to understand this. Leigh is one of the worst actresses I have seen lately -- her faux giggles and scowls were irritating. Dafoe was dense and spoke in circles. And -- I didn't care about either of them. How BAD is it that one wishes they could fast-forward to the end of a film because he/she'd rather see MASS DEATH than experience any more of these two characters' mundane lives?! Ugh.