O Mundo Depois de Nós

A prophetical nightmare about the inevitable consequences of our way of living in the 21st century.

A dysfunctional family with emotionally drained bonds between them, with patterns of social arrogance, mistrust and racism in their relation to another couple, each trapped in a doom-like situation, without a point of return to normal. The way they successfully describe the evolution of a global apocalypse here is disturbing, but absolutely true. It's likely that it won't come with a Big Bang, but with a whimper, a creeping process, which no one is able to understand or control, during everything looks like normal, but under the surface, invisible, everything has already changed with fatal consequences. The occuring events are enigmatic and the uneasiness resulting from that is perfectly shown by camera movements, montage of sequences and sound design.

Nature is out of balance, natural and technical ressources come to an end, our total slavish dependance on digital gadgets makes us vulnerable, a perfect target. Ignorance won't help us out. It's devastating that many of the viewers are already unable to get the crystal clear message of this movie. They prefer to continue, ignore and entertain themselves with stupid sitcoms.

That's what the end is telling us! And that's why they don't get it.

Facing the apocalypse in a unique way is not an easy thing to do in movies, but director/screenwriter Sam Esmail takes Rumaan Alam's 2020 novel and turns it into an unrelenting 2023 psychological thriller that captures the current extremist political landscape and isolationist world view with sharp acuity. No one real is explicitly mentioned, but so much of the threat presented in the spiraling plot felt not only relevant but palpable. It starts with a last-minute family vacation in a Long Island mansion and the two strangers who enter their lives. Julia Roberts plays an unapologetically mistrustful woman with familiar conviction, while Ethan Hawke does what he can as her laid-back husband. As the mysterious stranger, Mahershala Ali has to play it close to the vest, while Kevin Bacon has an effective turn late in the story. I could've done without some of the contrived camera angles and predictable music cues, but overall the film got me thinking what I would do under similar circumstances.

After just a few minutes, we (wife and I) were pulled into the suspense and drama of this movie. For over two hours we followed the tense, taut events with several 'whoa!!' moments.

And then it just ended. With all the effort in building up the complex, intriguing plot, I can see how a definitive ending would be difficult or impossible to create. It felt like rather than make any attempt, they just chose an abrupt, inexplicable stopping point versus an actual ending. Many plot elements were developed and left hanging.

The first two hours I'd rate this an 8 or a 9. The last 10 minutes a 2 at most.

Why is it irritating? Because this movie doesn't know what it wants to be. It wants to be everything, it is everything but then it's nothing. It just doesn't payoff any of the things that it lead you to believe that it is. You can't give it 0 stars because it feels like it's way better than that but you can't give it 10 stars because it feels like it doesn't deserve any stars. You just feel empty and irritated after watching it. At the end of the movie you just feel like you studied for the wrong test. If this movie would have finished any of the twist it started it would be a solid 8 but yet nothing.

Started out with lots of promise for a thoughtful, tense thriller. But unfortunately that didn't come to pass. And unfortunately the ending didn't make up for the thin soup we were asked to digest for the previous hour and a half.

I can't even say the acting was terrific, because it just seemed so . . . Adequate. And the direction was off and on, with some really good moments but way too many closeups of faces just wordlessly. . . Looking.

Bless them all for trying but it just didn't hold my attention. Although I hung in there until what I hoped would be a revelatory and redeeming ending. But alas, no.