BEFORE: I did an "End of the World" chain before, in 2011, back when we thought the Mayan calendar would run out in 2012 and the solar flares would take us to the Rapture - God, we were such silly people way back then. The topic was, of course, hot in movies last year and I'm just getting to those now. Linking from "Melancholia" was tough, but not impossible - Kiefer Sutherland was also in a film called "Truth or Consequences, N.M." with Martin Sheen (last seen in "Catch Me If You Can").
THE PLOT: As an asteroid nears Earth, a man finds himself alone after his wife leaves in a panic. He decides to take a road trip to reunite with his high school sweetheart, and with him is a neighbor who inadvertently puts a wrench in his plan.
AFTER: Two very different films, "Melancholia" and this one - but on nearly the same topic, which is how people react when the end is near. Their end, the world's end, it makes little difference - you have to ask yourself what would you do if you knew you only had a little bit of time left. Would you frantically try to get to the things on your "Bucket List"? Or just chuck it all and have two weeks of wanton abandon - a bender of alcohol, drugs and shameless sex? Or would you track down the people who potentially mean the most to you and savor every last moment with them?
There's no one correct answer, it's sort of an open-ended question, but your answer reveals a lot about who you are at the core. This is the story of a man who decides to track down his lost love, presumably trekking across some distance at a time when air travel is defunct and cell phone service unavailable. (A little convenient for story purposes, as this sets up the cross-state quest.)
It's somewhat noble to want to "Live life like you're dyin'", but nobody ever thought of the implications of everyone trying to do that all at once. And to a certain extent we're all fooling ourselves, because not thinking about impending doom or our eventual deaths could be the only thing that keeps us on track, doing a thankless job day after day - or thinking that our lives will someday get better somehow if we just stay the course. If we each had a countdown clock in our arms like the people in "In Time", think how much we'd get done each day, out of desperation alone.
I grew up during the Cold War, and we learned about Mutual Assured Destruction as kids - and films like "Wargames" and "The Day After" put the notion in our heads that our society could come to an end at any time. So that's how we lived, with the constant threat of death via ICBM, and I have to wonder if that led to a generation of people who feel entitled in some way, that life owes them some certain measure of success before the clock runs out.
But the Cold War ended, and except for a few pockets of nuclear mischief, we've replaced the bad guys across the ocean with the bad guys across the gulf of space - be it alien invasion or a rogue asteroid, we still imagine it could all get taken away at any time. Oh, wait, I forgot greenhouse gases, global warming, plastic filling up the ocean or any of a dozen other environmental threats. Again, somehow this led to a generation of hipsters who feel entitled and are rushing to get their screenplays written before the end times, while couch-surfing and hacky-sacking across the country.
I think we all agree, though, that the end will come, but probably in the most ironic way possible. Like we'll finally sign those global peace accords or outlaw cancer or something, and then the next day they'll spot the asteroid on a collision course. Wouldn't that just be the way? Or we'll send up the space shuttle to repair the hole in the ozone layer, and it will crash and burn a bigger hole - or it will succeed and it will turn out that plugging the hole will actually suffocate us all.
(ASIDE: Does anyone really get ozone? I know there's a big hole in the ozone layer, which is bad because it means too many UV rays are hitting Earth. But whenever I hear about smog and summer temperatures, it sounds like there's too MUCH ozone above our major cities, and that's bad too, because it's a pollutant and a greenhouse gas. So, which is it? And can someone invent a doohickey that gathers up the ozone from the cities and brings it to the hole over the icecaps, where it's needed? No need to thank me, just send me my Nobel Prize when the time comes.)
When the big day comes, I guess I favor a big blowout party over being depressed about the whole thing, but that day's not here yet - so get back to work, everyone!
Also starring Steve Carell (last seen in "Crazy, Stupid, Love."), Keira Knightley (last seen in "A Dangerous Method"), Adam Brody (last seen in "Cop Out"), Connie Britton (last seen in "Friday Night Lights"), Melanie Lynskey, with cameos from Rob Corddry (last seen in "Cedar Rapids"), Patton Oswalt (last seen in "Big Fan"), Amy Schumer, Rob Huebel, TJ Miller (last seen in "Our Idiot Brother"), Gillian Jacobs, William Petersen (last seen in "Mulholland Falls"), Nancy Carell.
RATING: 5 out of 10 Smart cars
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