Rating of
3.5/4
How survive attack by a giant frog or slug?
Indyfreak - wrote on 12/23/21
Shockingly good post-apocalypse adventure movie that also doubles as a heartwarming teen-family movie.
Dylan O’Brien shines as Joel, the lone bachelor in a colony of survivors trying to hide from colossal mutated animals. In this environment, literally every cold-blooded creature is enormous and trying to eat people. But this doesn’t stop Joel from making a dangerous trip by himself to reunite with his separated girlfriend (Jessica Henwick).
The design of the various monsters look incredibly imaginative. Th cgi is fantastic. And I don’t mean “oh this looks better than I expected”. I mean, it’s no wonder that the movie got an Oscar nomination for best visual effects. It’s that impressive.
The story is pretty simple but the pacing is excellent. The action isn’t shot with that horrible shakey-cam and there’s some neat set-pieces with the different monsters.
Dylan O’Brien is by himself for 3/4 of the movie and is carrying it all on his shoulders. He’s much better here than that other star vehicle American Assassin. Michael Rooker has a small role but gets some good lines. The script has a lot of heart and humor to it.
That’s something a bit refreshing with all these post-apocalyptic movies.
