Tuesday 18 September 2012

Carriers

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:2009
Country of origin:USA
Director:David Pastor, Àlex Pastor
Genre:Viral pandemic calamity
Starring:Lou Taylor Pucci, Chris Pine, Piper Perabo, Emily VanCamp
Rating:4/5
IMDB link:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0806203/
Tagline:The rules are simple. You break them, you die...
Favourite line:"Sometimes choosing life is just choosing a more painful form of death."

Yep, it’s another post-apocalyptic road movie.

The plot:
Four survivors of a viral pandemic are on the road, no real clue as to where they can go, who they can trust, or what they will do when they eventually arrive.
All they do know is this: strangers means danger.
The virus, striking swiftly, first affects the skin, causing reddened blotches and blemishes to appear, before targeting the pulmonary system, destroying internal organs so that you die slowly, spraying blood into the air with each exhalation.
Transmitted by fluids, as an aerosol if in close proximity, the rules are clear: stay away from strangers; abandon friends if infected; kill if necessary.
When a chance encounter with a father and his infected daughter brings the infection into their midst, it soon becomes clear that the rules they have laid down will be harder to obey than they could ever have imagined.

Decent enough this, if a little generic.
Following a similar principle to the excellent Zombieland, though in a less stylised way, the suspicion at first is that this is a rip-off. The idea of ‘the rules’ seems too close but, a quick check of dates reveals that they were both in production at the same time, so no problem there. Just one of those things. Two groups of people. Same idea. Shit happens.
With a bleakness at its heart that is both appropriate to the topic and welcome, this should be that little bit special. Trouble is, it all feels a little tame When the game changer came along, and showed the world how to do post-apocalyptic – I’m talking 28 Days Later, of course, for the slow ones at the back – it brought with it not only a melancholy, poignant vision of a decimated humanity, but also a vicious blood-thirsty element to please the gore-hounds. Even Zombieland, though a lower rating, still has a pleasing amount of dismemberment. Here, no such luck as the closest we get to something truly gruelly is a spot of blood dripping from someone’s mouth.
Hardly the stuff of nightmares.
Still, the young cast perform well enough, with future Captain Kirk Chris Pine the standout in terms of fame, but probably not in terms of stature in this movie. No, that accolade goes to Emily VanCamp as Kate, who does a nice line in hardened vulnerability, if that makes any kind of sense.
Still, the sorrowful tone was sufficient to hold the interest to the end, just don’t expect anything truly outstanding.

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