Showing posts with label Lauren German. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lauren German. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Film Review - THE DIVIDE ★★☆☆☆

You have to hand it to The Divide for possibly presenting us with some of the most intense indie film moments we will see this year (yes, I know its only mid-January). This post-apocalyptic mind bender starts off with a bang (literally) and keeps captive in your throat a lump of impending dread. Dark, violent, and disturbing, you could call this a “Lord of the Flies” experiment in an age of third world nuclear threats.

Featuring a cast with a lot of genre street cred including Michael Biehn (Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss), Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes), and Lauren German (Hostel, Part II), the script allows them to dig deep into areas of the human condition one would rather not visit, much less be trapped underground with. I am not entering spoiler territory in revealing that New York City is vaporized by nukes in the opening moments of the film (the scene is viewable below), and it is a test of survival from that point on as violent tensions simmer in the bunker.

The plot follows nine tenants of a New York City apartment high rise who find shelter in the building’s underground safe house, which is lord and mastered by Mickey the superintendent (played by a tough and gruff cigar chomping Biehn). Quickly the burning question presents itself. Which will prove to be the greater immediate threat: The nuclear fallout or the survivors themselves?