Watch Here Alone For Free

As Good As It Gets

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Short review here as most other reviewers have covered the film in detail. I will just say that the entire film was gripping and brilliant. The performances by all involved were some of the best I've seen in this type of film: completely organic and believable.That is, until, the final 15-20 minutes of the film. The ending, and the events directly leading up to it, are so obviously an attempt by the filmmakers to subvert the audience's expectations, that the whole plot takes a drastic turn toward the impossible. The final actions of all 3 of the main characters are completely out-of-character with everything we had seen up until that point.Therefore, all of the goodwill the filmmakers built until then is completely lost. As such, a film that could have easily been a 9 to me has now become a very low 6. For those considering watching this, don't bother. The emotional investment you'll gladly share in the first 2 acts does NOT have a payoff and you'll end the film completely disappointed. What a shame and what a waste.

From the beginning, this is clearly some kind of post-apocalyptic story featuring Ann (Lucy Walters) suffering the indignities of a world without amenities: a world that is starkly beautiful and deadly dangerous. Director Rod Blackhurst takes full advantage of the mesmerising locations and presents us with a convincingly isolated existence. Indeed, for a good while, the only dialogue is featured in flashbacks to a more fruitful past. The music too, by Eric D. Johnson, is suitably morose and ambient.Whilst the going is undoubtedly and convincingly tough for Ann and those few she meets up with, it's pretty galling for the viewer too. For a long time, the trivialities that make up their existence become pretty wearing and the (understandably) melancholy dialogue gets rather dull.Love is found within the desolation between Ann and Chris (Adam Thompson) and not even the overdue reveal of members of the living dead spices things up hugely. Chris's step-daughter, teenage Olivia (Gina Piersanti), in shorts and a flimsy top, is chased through the woodlands before the creature is despatched, gore-free, and only then do we get a scenario that could fall under the horror banner. It's a long time coming.I'm quite surprised to read online reviews that praise the first two thirds of this only to be disappointed by the final act. For me, it is the other way round. Whilst I am a huge devotee of slow-burning horrors, the build-up is so morose and uneventful that the final act makes it worthwhile: the pay-off, although brief, is pretty effective and proof again that it isn't the monsters you need necessarily fear, it is the person standing at your side.

*MIGHT CONTAIN SLIGHTLY SPOILERY STUFF!* Don't be fooled by all the 10 star reviews. This movie is average at best. Maybe slightly above average. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars, or 6 out of 10. Had the ending not contained crap about some hormonal teenager, and some misplaced sense of saving the life of someone who wanted you dead and letting the one who loved you die, I'd have given it a solid 4 out of 5 or 8 out of 10. It's still watchable but like the more discerning reviewers have expressed, the ending does suck

A highly infectious pandemic has turned most of the population into mindless, violent plague bearers. A woman survives alone in the woods, consumed by thoughts of her family, until some strangers appear.This film is monumentally slow and a bit artsy. There are no set piece battles, but do expect lingering shots of people staring wistfully through car windows as rain drops thread their way down the misty glass.There is very little action, the story is very simple and not a whole lot goes on.I really enjoyed it though. I was in a patient mood when I watched this and it paid off. The characters are great, as is the acting and production. I enjoyed the way the back story was drip fed. Because the pace of the movie was so tentative, when the action did come it felt a lot more tense.This film will not be for everyone, and I understand why other reviewers have said they found this boring. But I didn't. I would recommend this if you have the time to sit and enjoy it.Hardly any violence, some nudity but it is all very innocent.