I had seen the trailer for this movie on another DVD, and it seemed like it was a really interesting and thought-provoking movie. While certainly thought provoking, it's only interesting in parts with a twist ending that, while interesting, has plenty of holes in it. I'll be discussing some plot points and the ending, so stop reading if you don't want to know how it ends.
The movie centers around Brad, an out-of-work musician, who sees his wife, Lexi, off to work. Soon after she leaves, Brad hears that several dirty bombs have been detonated in the city (Los Angeles). He goes outside and notices several clouds of smoke in the air. Thinking of his wife, he tries to call her while driving to where she might be. It seems the dirty bombs have a combination of toxic chemicals and an unknown viral agent. Not being able to get through and turned back by police, who he saw kill a man that was contaminated, he rushes back home while trying to call his wife several times. He also stops at the hardware store and steals a boat load of plastic sheeting and duct tape.
At home, he and the next-door handy man seal up the house while they wait for Lexi come home. He waits to do the front door last, but when it looks like she won't make it before the cloud of smoke overtakes the house, he puts clothes, food and water in a box for Lexi by the back of the house and seals up the front door.
What's supposed to be interesting is his decision to not let his wife into the house. She does show up and is mighty pissed when he won't let her in. His reasoning is that Fox News said not to come in contact with exposed people as they may be deadly. Her response is kind of funny: "What the f^&* does Fox News know?" There's a bit of back and forth as they argue about her getting into the house. She also tries to break into the back of the house by throwing her cell phone through a window. In the end, she resolves to her fate of being outside.
The rest of the movie drags and drags with the couple arguing between windows and plastic sheeting. There's also a lot of swear words that really detract from the story. At one point, Lexi says something like, "Well, they're not the f-wording one that's f-wording dying! F-word!" To which her husband pounds a wall and yells, "F-word!" I realize that this is a pretty stressful situation, but surely, they have a bigger swear-word thesaurus out there?
Like any movie out there, there are some head-scratching turns in the plot. As Brad is sealing up his house, I kept thinking, "Why doesn't he just seal off a room for his wife?" Sure enough, he finally does just that, but not until some intense arguing between the couple with F-bombs being thrown around, a character shows up, a character leaves and masked health officials show up a few times.
At one point, Brad stands in his bathtub and dumbs a whole bottle of bleach all over him because... well I'm guessing because he's paranoid about being contaminated. Curiously enough, he doesn't get any chemical burns, nor does his skin or hair turn colors. I don't care how toxic the environment is, washing yourself with a toxic chemical isn't the answer.
The 'shocking' ending comes when health officials show up and drag his wife away. Then the masked health officials inform Brad that the air in his house that they tested (he gave them a sample of something in the house) showed that the house was full of toxic air. Because he sealed up the house, he wasn't getting any fresh air and he's received a deadly dose of the toxin. They aren't letting him out and tell him not to struggle. They nail boards over every window and door and start filling the house with gas. He's killed to stop the possible viral spread of the toxin. Outside, the officials inform Lexi that because she was shut outside, she will likely survive the exposure.
This is where I didn't get the movie. I'm pretty sure health officials aren't just going to kill someone in a house because they believe that he's a goner already. They can probably quarantine someone if they have to. I'd hate to be the official that called for the mass extinction of everyone that sealed up their house only to find out that they might have acted too fast if people survive.
All in all, it's an okay movie. It has a definite point about whether or not we're prepared for a terrorist attack, but it's message is muddled by its plot holes and the coarse language.
No comments:
Post a Comment