Parts Per Billion

I kept watching thinking surely this movie would develop and do something other than bad mush. The bubble gum philosophy was mangled to the point it begged to be put out of it's misery. The acting was first rate but the script doesn't even move enough to be coherent or incoherent. It just lays there softly whimpering and perhaps whimpering is too strong a word. It would be impossible to write a spoiler for this movie since something would need to happen to spoil. What a waste of a great cast. Give me a week and I could write something considerably better than this. Even the romantic angle was bled out so painfully slow with so many pointless interruptions that it does not even rate up with a trashy romance novel. Save your eyes, mind and any other organs you wish to spare the agony of enduring this movie.

"Parts Per Billion" is a film written and directed by Brian Horiuchi. It's very well made—with some really nice acting. However, it's also one of the most depressing films you could ever watch and I don't think most folks would want to see a film quite like this—especially since it seems very obvious where all this is headed.

When the film begins, you learn that some sort of biological weapon was unleashed in the Middle East. Soon, folks in that part of the world start dropping dead and it seems like the weapon will spare no one in the immediate area. However, when the effects start spreading globally, it seems like perhaps no one will be left alive. However, this film is not so much about this directly but how a few individuals react to all this. Some fight desperately to survive, some ignore the inevitable and some can't stand to face life in this post-apocalyptic world and are ready to just give up. Naturally, these scenarios are depressing and the film keeps cutting back from one story to the next.

The film stars a few famous folks—with some really nice performances by veteran actors Frank Langella and Gena Rowlands as well as Josh Hartnett and Rosario Dawson (among others). The direction is also good, though in a few scenes I was annoyed by a modern filming technique which I think is way overused—the unsteady cam (it can make you nauseous if you see too much of this on the big screen). But the combination of the music, writing, acting and director's touch is quite good.

I am going to make this review rather short. Suffice to say if you like Robin Cook stories about pandemics, then you'll probably enjoy "Parts Per Billion" (well, enjoy might not be the right word for this). However, it's a lot more depressing than most of Cook's doom and gloom scenarios—much! Well made but so thoroughly unpleasant I am not sure who would really want to see this one. My advice is see it if you want, but if you are suffering from depression or are worried that this one might make it tough for you to sleep, I suggest you try something else. Well done but awful to watch at times.

Parts Per Billion follows the intertwined stories of three couples at different stages in their lives who are dealing with their relationships during a time of global crisis. Each couple is dealing with their own issues within the context of larger events. Those seeking scenes of mass hysteria and destruction will be disappointed. This is a relationship movie, through and through.

It's no surprise that the cast is terrific, and do the best with what they have to work with. Whatever faults may exist, the writers and cast create believable and interesting characters. The non-linear nature of the story -- the scenes jump from couple to couple and from time to time -- can be a tad confusing at times, but it was probably necessary to provide a feeling that something is happening. This is important, because nothing actually is happening. To use a cliché, it's like the characters are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic without even acknowledging that its sinking. There is an unreal feel to how the looming external crisis is ignored by pretty much everyone until it is on top of them. For this reason, the film wastes the whole concept of impending doom and leaves us dealing with normal couples dealing with normal issues.

Perhaps it was the director's intent to show how we get so swept up in our own personal affairs that we can't see the big picture, but it just seems to me to be a waste of a good premise. I can't help but compare Parts Per Billion to Another Earth. Both are small-budget films that deal with tragic relationships in the shadow of bigger events, but the later film was able to tie the two things together. This, too, could have been a poignant film, but it comes up short.

Essentially, there is a virus that is gonna kill everyone. there are several couples in the film, and they tell each other how much they love each other, over and over again, for one and a half hours. I kept thinking something was going to happen.

The lines are pretty poor, they attempt to sound really deep and meaningful, but in reality, if you have seen a film about couples in love, you will have heard all the same garbage before.

It includes lines such as, I love you, I have never met anyone like you, I'm so lucky to have you, I never want to lose you. Yep, all classic lines that even someone who has just started learning English as a second language, could muster in an attempt to perform a Nigerian 419 Scam.

"Nothing is left. The radio stopped. There's no more planes or helicopters. When's the last time we heard anything other then birds?" After a man made virus escapes the entire world is threatened. The fast moving and fast acting bug is bringing about the end of the world with no hope for a cure. Three couples each deal with it in their own way. Even though their stories and experiences are different they realize that life revolves around one thing, love. For some reason ideas and plots for movies seem to come in clumps and no matter what they get made back to back to back. Armageddon and Deep Impact came out very close together. So did Volcano & Dante's Peak, Olympus Has Fallen & White House Down, and Legend Of Hercules and soon Hercules. This movie is part of the new up and coming trend, movies about a man made virus that causes the apocalypse. Contagion, It's A Disaster, Goodbye World and the more recent ones just to name a few. All of them have their good qualities but like so many copy cat movies they are never as good as the original. This one is no exception. Overall, good movie with a very good cast but it is very depressing so you must be in the mood for it. Not as good as Contagion. I give this a B-.