I
Am
Predictable
When I saw the promos for this
movie for the first time, a few months
back, my first reaction was, “wow!
They actually made a movie based on Y,
the last man!” Y being an ongoing
series by Wyndham Price, which tells
the story of a guy named Y who is
apparently the last surviving man on
earth, since some virus wiped out all
men. And now he is the single guy
left, amongst a few billion women.
Great concept that, and I would have
loved to see this on screen. But all
my hopes vanished, when I read about
the pre-release. So I was bracing
myself for yet another zombie movie,
which is exactly what this is.
The movie tells the story of a
military scientist, who is supposed to
be the last surviving human being on
earth (also the only hope, AND immune
to this deadly virus,) since some
anti-cancer virus went rogue, and
wiped out all humans, leaving a few
million light-weight zombies, animals,
and birds. So our military boy has
stacked tons of food, and lots of
guns, and ammo for survival. He steps
out at the first ray of light (since
like all zombies, the zombies in this
movie are sensitive to sunlight),
forages for food, supplies and stuff,
sends a daily message about him being
the only survivor and whoever is
listening can come and have a party
with him and so on, and goes back home
before sunset, and barricades his
doors and sleeps inside a bathtub with
his finger on the gun trigger. He is
accompanied by his Alsatian dog, which
is pretty much devoted to him.
The first half of the movie is more
or less interesting, with long shots
of the New York city and the Times
Square being empty and littered with
cars, with not a soul to be seen,
except some antelopes running amok,
and the scientist trying to take
potshots at them. The shots are nice,
but not breathtaking, since it has
been done in many more movies, like 28
Days Later from the brilliant film
maker Danny Boyle (Trainspotting too),
so it adds nothing new but maybe a bit
more polished look. Boyle’s movie was
on a much lesser budget, so it didn’t
have the frills, but it had that feel
of a hand held camera in dark corners,
which gives me the chills.
After the
first half, the movie goes downhill,
as predicted. Since the man has a
faithful and loving companion, it has
to die. So, the dog dies horribly
(being attacked by the zombie dogs,
and becoming a zombie herself). Smith
is heartbroken and wants to kill
himself, and is about to do the same,
but is saved by another survivor at
the last moment. After that, all I did
was groan.
Smith is a fine actor, no
doubt, but I prefer him in funny
roles. I am really tired of that
Oh-I-am-stuck-and-what-am-I-gonna-do-now-frown,
which he does so very often. I mean,
he kept that face on in Pursuit of
Happyness, but since it WAS a sob
story, I didn’t mind that at all.
Also, the director screrwed up by
showing weightless, agile zombies, who
are almost superhuman, but are killed
instantly when out in the sun. They
also do grouping, have a leader, and
can plot. I like my zombies to be slow
and stupid, and easy to kill.
Still, its not too bad, if you are
looking for some mindless
entertainment. But I will still
recommend movies like 28 days later,
and Shawn of the Dead, the latter
being a complete spoof on all zombie
movies put together – absolutely
brilliant, and not to be missed. And
now I will go, boot up my copy of The
Dead Zone, and do some mindless zombie
killing – often with a chainsaw.
‘nuff said.
