I think a lot of the reviews have been pretty harsh on this small indie film. Does it have issues? Yes, but it has a lot of strengths, too.
The future imagined here seems kind of familiar - it isn't set too far apart from many other dystopian societies we've seen before - but the virus angle has a nice timeliness as we are suffering through a pandemic still. The filmmakers have made the most of their tiny budget by leveraging this.
Some of the performances are just fine. Malkovich is clearly having some fun with this role, though he is sidelined for much of the screen time (another wise film making decision to minimize his days on set, given he was undoubtedly the most expensive cast member). The main supporting cast is good, but becomes somewhat uneven with the lesser players. Still, they do a workable job supporting the story.
The biggest problem I have with this film is the backstory. It is poorly revealed through flashbacks, and I found it terribly distracting. Not only distracting, it is disappointing because it really doesn't pay off. The flashback story doesn't even relate to the outcome of the conflict, or the actions that the hero takes following the conflict.
But while that portion of the film didn't work for me, the performances in the flashback scenes were still pretty strong, perhaps weakened by some forced or obvious dialogue.
Also, the action scenes were quite well done, including the most western shoot-out you'll see in a movie that isn't a western this year.
The future imagined here seems kind of familiar - it isn't set too far apart from many other dystopian societies we've seen before - but the virus angle has a nice timeliness as we are suffering through a pandemic still. The filmmakers have made the most of their tiny budget by leveraging this.
Some of the performances are just fine. Malkovich is clearly having some fun with this role, though he is sidelined for much of the screen time (another wise film making decision to minimize his days on set, given he was undoubtedly the most expensive cast member). The main supporting cast is good, but becomes somewhat uneven with the lesser players. Still, they do a workable job supporting the story.
The biggest problem I have with this film is the backstory. It is poorly revealed through flashbacks, and I found it terribly distracting. Not only distracting, it is disappointing because it really doesn't pay off. The flashback story doesn't even relate to the outcome of the conflict, or the actions that the hero takes following the conflict.
But while that portion of the film didn't work for me, the performances in the flashback scenes were still pretty strong, perhaps weakened by some forced or obvious dialogue.
Also, the action scenes were quite well done, including the most western shoot-out you'll see in a movie that isn't a western this year.