After Darkness

Okay so, to be fair, there are worse films one could point to than this odd snoozefest, but make no mistake, from start to finish you will find yourself wondering if your 98 minutes could be better spent doing something else. Nevermind the affront to science, there are bigger problems. The acting isn't the worst but it's pretty bad, maybe slightly better than an after school special but I'll admit I might be giving it too much credit. The characters are more like caricatures, and it's hard to care what happens to such shallow, exaggerated cliches. I wouldn't even really call this a scifi, more like a drama with science fiction undertones, and a bad one at that.

I watched this movie clear through so you don't have to, and don't endure to the end expecting to be rewarded for your sacrifice. I've seen some films that started out terrible but ended up surprising me. This was not one of those films. My suggestion is this: If after the first five minutes you find yourself hoping it gets better, know that it won't and stop wasting your time - I wish that I had. On the other hand if you're bored to tears and there's nothing else to watch, you could do worse (just not by much). I realize not everyone is going to agree with my low markings but if I really liked this movie I'd avoid going all in on five stars because it's so clearly bad that I'd look like a shill.

So I feel like IMdB ratings are 80% accurate. Think because of the production quality and the actors/actresses featured this was amongst the 20% wrong rating but 4 is absolutely fair. Never once was I drawn into what was happening on the screen. I just kept waiting for something, anything, interesting to happen and yeah no. Scenes that were supposed to be climatic came off as forced. I typically watch movies distracted and if they make me say, wait what - I will give it my undivided attention. I cannot even remember the characters names.

The sun is going dark for an unknown reason. The Beaty family has gathered at home waiting for rescue that may not come.

This movie has a big idea but the question is what it does with it. It does very little with it. It turns the camera inwards upon this family. It's asking all the small questions. It ignores the one big question. The characters don't deal with it. I also question that the earth is still warm somehow. It should get cold much faster. It should be nuclear winter. Science is not the first concern in this movie with the big sci-fi idea. I'm not even going to question the green grass. At the end of the day, the family drama holds no real drama. Without actual drama, the movie struggles to gain traction.

The acting is solid here and that's about the only positive I can come up with for this most depressing and distressing apocalyptic film. Aside from the veteran pros Tim Daly and Kyra Sedgwick, young Natalia Dyer and John Patrick Amedori give excellent portrayals.

The sun is burning itself out and a highly dysfunctional family gathers in the hopes their politically connected father (Daly) can get them safe passage to "the caves" where the elite will go in case of natural catastrophe. The family though, will not only have to contend with the end of the world but with Daly's dictatorial and emotionally abusive self, as well as Sedgwick's mental unbalance.

As I see it, the viewer is just subjected here to a continuous bleak slog as the story plays out, which can be most difficult to watch at times. But then after all this, here comes one of the biggest cop-out endings I've seen in a long time. Do yourself a favor and avoid this mess of a movie.

Like watching paint dry. I like these actors so gave it the benefit of the doubt. Wish I had cleaned out the refrigerator instead.