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Final Days
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| Year: |
2020
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Director: |
Johnny Martin
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| Stars: |
Tyler Posey, Summer Spiro, Donald Sutherland, Robert Ri'chard, John Posey, Maya Karin, Josey Martin, Jenny Martin, Brooke Swallow, Kjerstin Bell, Josh Harp, Eric Etebari, Ghania Makarem, Debbie Martinelli Swallow, Greg Fitzpatrick
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| Genre: |
Horror, Science Fiction, Romance |
| Rating: |
  6 (from 1 vote) |
| Review: |
Aidan (Tyler Posey) is a twentysomething man who wakes up in his apartment beside his latest conquest, though she gets out of bed before he does and makes a quick exit. Now fully conscious, he walks out of the bedroom and looks out of the window, venturing onto the balcony where suddenly a door is smashed open across the courtyard, and to his amazement, a military helicopter spins out of control in the skies above to crash into a building some distance away. Down below things are not much better, as a crowd races away from a bloodstained mob that is trying to take bites out of them to infect them with what the rolling news says is a new virus. What can Aidan do now he is trapped in his home?
His answer to everything seems to be "Take your shirt off" as his chiselled torso and sick tats were almost another character in the movie, but if you could take this shameless exhibitionism regularly interrupting the plot, then what else did Final Days have to offer? It was zombie time again, so we were faced with yet another cinematic apocalypse from a script by Matt Naylor who had seen his endeavours adapted by American and South Korean filmmakers practically simultaneously, the latter only marginally beating its Transpacific cousin to the screen, though admittedly most would probably see either over the streaming services rather than in a theatre. The wisdom of settling down with this subject matter during a pandemic was questionable, as always.
Although the way the real-life pandemic had played out was different to a massed zombie attack, and Steven Soderberg's Contagion had been the go-to movie for the world labouring under this tragedy, the more fantastical concepts of what would happen if it all went to shit, or even more to shit, remained popular as well. Indeed, destruction on a vast scale gave the era of the virus one of its biggest hits when Godzilla vs Kong was as big a success as the conditions allowed, suggesting a masochist streak in humanity when current events were so distressing, providing you did not have your head in the sand. So would a lower budget effort be able to make an impact, or did audiences still crave the thrill of a blockbuster, albeit largely on your television for most of us, assuming your country had not managed the crisis better than some?
Although the action was understandably limited, director Johnny Martin, a stunt co-ordinator when not directing, did have enough experience to make the best of what he had available to him, and rustled up some pretty decent sequences with stunt guys flinging themselves around corridors or up and down the balconies in an attempt to spread the virus. Think of them as superspreaders writ large, those reckless mask or vaccine refuseniks who ignored advice and sank their teeth into the bodies of those they encountered - well, OK, maybe they didn't go that far, but this was a zombie flick. Though mostly in the way 28 Days Later... was a zombie flick, lots of running about when we were not stuck inside with Aidan, who does find a friend (Summer Spiro) across the way for meet cute budding romance under pressure. Donald Sutherland showed up as another survivor, though you could guess how he was going to go within seconds, actually you could say that about the whole movie. Sometimes predictability in the apocalypse can be a weird comfort. Music by Frederik Wiedmann.
[Signature Entertainment presents Final Days (aka Alone) on DVD and Digital Platforms 12th April.]
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| Reviewer: |
Graeme Clark
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