How It Ends (2018)

Director: David M Rosenthal

Writer: Brooks McLaren (Screenplay)

Starring: Theo James, Kat Graham, Forest Whitaker, Kerry Bishe, Nicole Ari Parker, Grace Dove, Lanie McAuley

 

Plot: A desperate father tries to return home to his pregnant wife after a mysterious apocalyptic event turns everything to chaos.

Tagline –  No One Survives Alone

Runtime: 1 Hour 53 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Terrible Leading Character, Interesting Story

 

Story: How it Ends starts as we meet couple Will (James) and Samantha (Graham) who are trying to break the news to her father Tom (Whitaker) about wanting to get married, let alone that she is pregnant. With Will in New York to try and break the news Sam is left in Seattle.

The morning after an unknown event happens on the West coast of America, which leads to Will and Tom putting aside their differences to drive cross country to try and save Sam from whatever has happened.

 

Thoughts on How It Ends

 

Characters – Will is a lawyer I think, he has a job where he wants to start his own practise, he is dating Samantha and the two are now expecting a baby, when the event happens, he must travel across country with his potential new father-in-law, this character could well be the very worst of the year, he makes SOOOOOOOOOO many terrible decisions along the way, you will actually hate this character by the end of the film. Tom is the father of Samantha, he has spent years in the marines and seemingly is the only prepared for an event like this happening, he wants to keep things together on the journey, willing to do anything to save his daughter. Samantha is the daughter left to experience the event, we don’t know what she has gone through, she offers the motivation to go on the journey. Ricki is the engineer the guys pick up along the way, she offers moments of comedy in what is a serious film.

Performances – Theo James is an actor that hasn’t struck much gold through the years, mostly because the characters he plays are awful, this is one of his better performances even if you hate his character. Forest Whitaker is good as the one prepared for everything, he gives us the calm persona we know him for. When we look at the rest of the cast we get solid enough performances with the actors doing the best they can with the time they are given.

Story – The story here follows two men that must travel across America to save their daughter and girlfriend after an unknown event happens off the Western Coast of America. The side of the film that takes us to down the unknown mystery about what happened is the highlight of the story because we get filled with the speculation like you would imagine. As for the journey, well it is basic, travel, bump into group mostly likely trouble and have to figure out how to get out of the situation. This will pass for the fans of the potential end of the world films, even if it doesn’t address just what happened.

Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi – The action is by the book which is the odd chase and gun showdowns, we get to see the idea of an adventure of the two men travelling across the country. The sci-fi side of the film shows us just what would happen if an event could take out a whole coast in an instant.

Settings – The film takes us on a road-trip after an unknown event, we get to see the back country between the two locations, nothing stands out as memorable even if the shots of the city look bleak.

Special Effects – The effects in the film are solid, they are never turned to, too often and when they do they come off short.

Scene of the Movie – The visual of Seattle.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not knowing what caused the incident.

Final Thoughts – This is a good idea for a film that doesn’t hit the levels it could do.

 

Overall: Strong idea that just doesn’t hit the marks.

Rating