THE COLLAPSED (Justin McConnell). 80 minutes. Opens Friday (May 27). See listing. Rating: NN
Viewing an unexplained global catastrophe through the experience of a handful of survivors is a great dynamic for a thriller. Think of Michael Haneke’s Time Of The Wolf or John Hillcoat’s The Road – or the first half of Night Of The Living Dead, actually.
Justin McConnell’s The Collapsed would like to be in the company of such films, but it just doesn’t deliver on its own premise.
The apocalypse is already in progress as the traumatized Weaver clan – father (John Fantasia), mother (Lise Moule) and grown children Aaron (Steve Vieira) and Rebecca (Anna Ross) – make their way out of the devastated city toward a smaller town in hopes of finding another relative still alive.
McConnell creates a nice sense of desolation in the opening moments, but once the Weavers get out into the countryside and have to start talking to one another, the movie bogs down in a series of starkly photographed but dramatically inert scenes.
The characters aren’t defined strongly enough to grip us, and the -actors aren’t exactly electrifying either. When the end finally comes, it’s more of a relief for us than it is for the Weavers.
