There is impending doom. Don't worry - it's going to hit Australia. Unfortunately, by the time the movie started, it has already hit the US, and we're all pretty much dead. An asteroid has hit the earth near the eastern seaboard of the US, and the wave of destruction is slowly (relatively) making its fiery way across the land and sea, killing everything in its path. So, the movie starts off on a high note.
Life, it seems, loses most of its meaning, and most of the social taboos are pretty much ignored when there is a measurable, known, and finite amount of time left for everyone you've ever known on the planet. Lawlessness, killings, and theft are pretty much ubiquitous. People are killing themselves in spectacular ways, and that is where our main storyline picks up - with a guy who feels the need to run back to his girlfriend (leaving the woman he actually loves) and going to a massive party to end the world.
I'm not entirely sure that we should be supporting this kind of behavior, but he abandons the woman he loves (and his unborn child) to risk his life going to a party. On the way, he rescues a little girl from some terrible people, and the rest of the movie is him deciding how drunk and high he needs to be while still caring for the little girl. The Caligulaesque party is his real goal, but will he make it there? Will he help the girl get to her family? Will he go back to his love? Will there be enough alcohol at the party? Is his girlfriend as hot as his mistress?
Honestly, with the impending death of the entire planet, it's kind of hard to even care about any of these things. What is surprising is that I found yet another Australian movie that seems like it is written, directed, and acted better than most of the Hollywood movies I've seen lately. When did this happen? When did Australia become the place where writers could actually put together characters that you empathize with and where actors can show emotion well?
There are many hoops that our hero has to jump through in order to get a good conclusion out the movie, and I'm not going to spoil any of them for you. It's a fairly slow movie for one that has a built-in time limit, but it develops enough characters to make you want to see if there is any way to make it out alive. I will spoil part of it and say that his girlfriend is simply not as hot as the mother of his unborn child.
Direction was good
Effects were good enough
Acting was very good
Story was compelling
Dialogue was good
Bottom Line: Another winner from down under.
3.0/5