The Survivalist

It's day 592 of Covid-19 Delta and the world has collapsed. Uninfected people were rounded up in camps which ended in disaster. The cities are devastated and bands of pirates are headed out into the country. Aaron (John Malkovich) leads one group searching for a young woman assumed to be immune. She finds a protector in Ben (Jonathan Rhys Meyers).

This is a low budget affair. Somebody found a location with a few buildings. They slap-dashed some stuff. Worst still, they slap-dashed a script. The biggest mistake is using the real world situation. They need to use a fictional virus so that they can create a fictional world. It's more than the worlds not matching. They can't possibly get the science right. They need a fictional virus to create movie-logic of their own. The directing is pretty bad. There are a few good actors here who probably had projects canceled on them and needed the work during the pandemic. Malkovich is trying his best but the camera work is bad. It's all pretty bad except for the professional actors working.

COVID is referenced throughout. Some carriers, some spreaders. Lots of death. A complete failure of leadership. This movie seems like it was made for $1000 over a long weekend. Boring and predictable. No upside.

Beware: this is a B-movie, cheaply made, with black and white (UNimpressive) photography.

I was drawn to this movie by the name of the magnificent actor John Malkovich. Why does he lower himself to these kind of movies? Perhaps he has hit lower ground financially, because such a terrific actor should not lower himself to these kind of cheaply made B-movies.

Everything about this movie looks and feels amateurish. Just watching the first 5 minutes gave me a sinking feeling in my stumach. John Malkovich only appears for a few minutes, so this seems to be that sort of movies some actors (desperately) agree to do out of financial dire straits.

Let's hope John Malkovich can still be given parts that give credit to his wonderfully gifted acting talents.

The story: forget about it. Forget about this movie alltogether...that would be best for everybody involved...

It's hard to fathom how Jonathan Rhys Meyers ends up in movies like these. He's so damn talented, so handsome, has that "it" factor, and yet time and again he ends up in pure trash. I mean, this guy was the lead in Matchpoint! It's almost like when I see him advertised in a film now, I assume it will be abysmal.

An actor can do a few clunkers without self destructing, but Rhys Meyers seems intent on blowing up what could have been a total A list career.

The Survivalist is another generic post-apocalypse movie with all the standard disease/zombie tropes (with COVID instead of zombies). There's even a girl who is allegedly the key to cure everyone.

The idea, I guess, was to throw in a few high-tier actors, mainly Rhys Meyers and Malkovich, and make them play out a highly emotional drama about human determination, weakness and self-sacrifice. At some points it works. But mostly it doesn't. Emotional moments look either hysterical or indifferent. And it's not the actors' fault.

Also, why do people in this movie shoot endlessly without aiming when they are SO low on ammo?