tinywoodentree

Not a great movie. It is okay for what it is (a mindless action flick) but there were just too many plotholes and highly unreasonable and "unrealistic" (aka not consistent with the world they set up in the beginning) scenes.

It is an interesting premise - post apocalyptic ice and snow covered earth after humans have meddled one too many times and the remnants are hiding in bunkers. However, the plot itselfs leave something to be desired. The characters make questionable desicions, for example jumping/walking over brittle concrete slabs while ignoring the completely intact steel beams next to them. The internal logic of the world changes repeatedly, especially regarding elements of survival - characters in the beginning are walking around covered head to toe with gear whereas later they wander into the snow with cargo pants and without head coverings which would kill them within the hour. They are well prepared and equipped for a 2-day trip to another bunker but don't bring safety gear for crossing an unstable bridge.

The characters motivations are often very cliche-y and pretty much everyone except the main characters are very 2-dimensional (and at times they are as well). And unless human physiology and physics work very differently in that world, the movie should have been over after the first discovery in the other bunker.

Nevertheless, the camera work was okay, the performances could have been worse and the dialog was fine(ish). It felt quite half hearted at times regarding the plot but some elements were done well. The landscape did look good for something so obviously low budget. If you don't think about any of it too much (especially the ending), it can be an enjoyable movie.

The movie is alright, not great but not bad either. The acting is good as well... again, not amazing but solid performance overall. The kids are well cast and have a good chemistry.

Overall, it had me too often scratching my head because the tone switched so often. It is marked as a thriller but in parts it was almost like one of those 80ies kids' adventure movies. Apart form that in parts it was suddenly very dramatic and touching a variety of subjects and then it was back to action. I liked the story overall but they seemed to try to cram to much into the 110 minutes. Many (often quite serious subjects) were touched upon but didn't go anywhere, backstories of characters were told but did not really impact the story in any way. This made the movie feel stuffed but empty.. like white bread without any toppings. Some aspects of police work seemed exceptionally realistic and others like how a kid imagines police work. The score seemed a bit over the top and very disconnected which enforced the different impressions between scenes (lighthearted, comedic piece for the mobile scene, dramatic orchestra for the police captain's backstory). The camera work was good (to my untrained eye) and the editing seemed fine (apart from a few strange cuts here and there).

Basically, the movie was okay but it pulled me out of my willing suspension of disbelief way too often. I can't recommend or not recommend because judging from other reviews, some people clearly enjoyed it enough. You should watch it and.form your own opinion. Just be aware that it's not a masterpiece. All in all it did make me watch, even though it was a carousel of being.tense/thrilled, amused and slighty perplexed.