Can't say I expected a lot, but definitely a little more than I got. "Radioflash" is a tale of a young teenage girl and her challenges and adventures after an EMP kills power for more than 200 million people - it's a tale of many familiar themes, cliche characters, a familiar take on everything featuered. In other words, "Radioflash" falls short of everything but acting.
The first 5 minutes of "Radioflash" are the best its got - mildly intriguing, good looking, good sounding, maybe even the only original-ish thing in this flick. After that we jump into the 90 minutes of something that feels like a lamer recreation of many other known and better movies, and, in retrospect, those first 5 minutes provided only a very vague point in relation to the rest of the movie. So we start watching Reese's and her father Chris's journey to the girls grandpa through the now apocalyptic land & the many troubles and poeple they encounter along the way. Practically every plot device, every theme, the characters, even the technicalities (atmosphere building, painfully cliche cinematic sentimentalism, etc.) feel generic & very familiar, which results in a high predictability factor. We go from every apocalypse-starting movie ever to any rural survival thriller ever, to a "Wrong Turn" type of story without the disfigurations and any horror elements. One thing that didn't underwhelm me was the acting, both our main heroine and the supporting cast did their best, or so I feel. What truly grinds my gears is the cinematography, the fact that even the technical aspects are generic-feeling. Don't get me wrong, it looks good, it's just... so very routine.
Yes, that's how "Radioflash" felt for the most part - routine. I'm pretty sure it's going to find a slightly better reactions from the more average movie goers, but all the while trying to look for and enjoy qualities of "Radioflash", I struggled not to be bored. Boredom is the worst thing any movie can offer. My rating: 4/10.
