Aftermath

The plot seem to be all over the place.

Not in a good way.

So many scenes made no sense.

The poster to the movie was far cooler than the movie itself.

It feels like the filmmakers allowed their love of Zombie films to influence the movie they made. The plot is about a nuclear holocaust that seem to come out of nowhere hitting on American soil and focuses on a handful of people who are dealing with the whole thing.

The cast of characters are all locked in a seller waiting for the radiation to clear up enough for them to surface. Like most small movies of it's caliber, the movie focuses mostly on the inner turmoil between the characters, who I did not find that interesting. This small crew also had to deal with others from the outside who minds have been altered do to what's happening on the surface.

Not much to the story but it did not need to be, but I my interest in the characters was lacking.

Apocalypse movies are meant to have explosions, huge special effects and people fleeing from one place to the next to survive!!!....well if you are looking for that sort of apocalyptic survival movie you have stumbled to the wrong place. Ultimately the movie stars 9 peps in a cellar for one and half hours...which is quite realistic I suppose but realism is kinda boring hence the point of watch a movie to "escape from reality" Kudos to the make up team - the actors and actresses did look like they were slow succumbing to the effects of radiation. However the acting at times was just strange, especially when they are fighting off people - they seem to go all Rambo then at other times they seem quite timid. So if you want to watch a movie and have all hope washed away then sit back and enjoy the micro-scale fall of humanity.

I want to give it a higher rating. They got so many things right. Script, direction acting all well done. The top review had a good summary, except that he thought some engineers would be able to tell him where the movie was wrong about radiation. They wouldn't. One of the few times that the cinema ever got remotely close, and this by far was the closest. The things some might want to quibble about would go the way depicted if people didn't know what they were doing. Which is the case here. No one for a change is given the role of brainiac of the universe. They really don't know what they're doing. They also don't have a prepper/survivalist who has been training for this contingency to help them out. Just some regular folks who are trying to deal. Supply issues are glossed over, but so are most character introductions because in the real world people don't run and announce their profession/helpful hobbies and quirky humanizing interests to those they've known for a long time, and even less so to strangers.

A+ for apocalypse vs humanity. A- for humanity survival needs. A for not hand holding the nincompoops who need every little detail explained to the. Although with all the good effort, and work in this wrongly maligned little gem, somehow it never gels to be more of a movie than an apocalypse movie. In that niche genre, where it doesn't intersect with action (cough The Road Warrior cough) it's the best you'll find.

I am usually one who will see a flood of 1/10 stars, then a few 10/10s and typically believe the 1/10s are being more honest...but in this occasion, I have no clue what anyone who hates this film was thinking!

As someone who grew up with a, "prepper" Father (he even had a small cinderblock fall out shelter in our basement) I feel like I've alwats had a better idea than the average person on what would happen in the event of a nuclear attack, and how to handle it (the best we can...)

That said, this movie hits pretty much all the DOs and DONTs of what would be expected by people with a little knowledge, while of course keeping it a fictional, entertaining film at the same time...there is a balance that must be walked between a fun film, and reality...this film did it very well. So all those talking about the film or bashing its realism ..read a book. Those saying how it's too depressing...are you not aware a Nuclear holocaust is basically as close to "THE END" as we will likely ever get!?!?

So the review of the film itself as a film...it was very enjoyable!

Pacing It starts off immediately, infact it starts so fast that one of the few areas I could see someone be turned off by is he never really get to KNOW most of the people...but they do give us just enough info to care...I felt. And I'll take that trade off for no 30 minute boring build up! So for pacing I give it 9/10

Acting Like any low budget, the acting will never be A+ but it was more than passable, I very rarely had any frustrating moments with the cast 7/10

Story This is where it really shines, the story was very believable in my opinion. From the blindness of the flash, to the radiation sickness... to food and water being accounted for, lights, bathroom etc. all is accounted for which was impressive. Nothing was cheesy, nothing was over the top. However, keep in mind - this is NOT a "popcorn flick" or a date movie. Be prepared for depressive vibes. 10/10

If you're into end of the world types, or people holed up in a small space, or survival types (without all the corny battles, and zombies, etc. then I say give this a shot!! I honestly don't see how anyone can rate this BELOW a 6...