The film starts with an unassuming blue-collar family man Curtis (Michael Shannon) who is going about his life when he suddenly starts seeing these visions of the end of the world. What begins as a simple hallucination of his dog attacking his young child turns into horrible visions of zombies and blood raining from the sky. These visions soon begin to consume his life, causing numerous problems in his home and professional lives. He eventually decides that he simply must make appropriate preparations for the impending disaster; he must build a storm shelter. The challenge is getting his family onboard as he whittles away their life savings in pursuit of this shelter. To make this task even more complicated, his mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia at an age close to his.
The film is lengthy and is slow to start but it reaches out and grabs the viewer to get him not only engaged with the film but also to emphasize with the main character. Michael Shannon delivers a stunning performance that is truly convincing to the audience. The acting in this film is superb and really meshes with the screenplay. The dialogue is convincing and felt exceptionally natural. The writers here really seemed to capture the emotions of a family coming to grips with the probably mental breakdown of their patriarch. The cinematography is also top-notch and is done well enough to really draw the audience in and create a sense of realism that almost anyone would be able to relate to. The trouble this film will have with a wide-release is that it lacks any sense of action or mystery. It’s absolutely engaging and fun to watch, particularly for someone looking to truly enjoy their movie experience. However, for someone looking for something “fun” or exciting, this is probably one to pass over.
I’m convinced this film will be a hit with the critics but I think it’s going to lack mass appeal. This just isn’t something you can watch over and over or throw on the TV as you’re doing your school work. This movie requires a commitment and appreciation that will likely be lost on the average viewer. It’s the sort of film where you have to establish an emotional connection to the characters to really get anything out of it and if you miss that connection you’ll lose focus on the film.
