Enjoy this Monday with Mildred!
The Divide
As post-apocalyptic movies go, this one is especially depressing. I’m fairly certain it’s the reason I had really bad dreams all weekend. Set in New York City, it begins in the first seconds with a nuclear blast, and rolls briskly along for about half the film. Then, the makers begin to linger over some scenes. Then it gets really mean and claustrophobic and emotionally fraught, showing just how far down the Lord of the Flies rabbit hole the characters would go. This was where the movie lost it for me. I suppose they were trying for roller coaster excitement, a la James Cameron, but basically they just slowed things down and made them boring in preparation for the next descent.
It’s the most horrifying film of its type I’ve ever seen. Very disturbing. There’s also a large bit of mystery that the filmmakers never explain, and I liked that. From the vantage point of the main characters there was never a chance they’d know, so why should we?
Michael Biehn, a favorite of mine since Aliens, stars in this film and he hasn’t lost his touch so far as I’m concerned. His character is very enigmatic, and not fully revealed until the last part of the film. Lauren German is the central female figure and I had no problems with her. Rosanna Arquette…well…she had a hard row to hoe. I hated what they did with her character, and it would be a good reason to not watch the film for a lot of women.
If you’re looking for something solidly crafted for the most part but REALLY DEPRESSING, get this.
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