Try to keep the review under 8,000 words.
Why?
…I don’t know.
Seems like a plot device to me.
Just get on with it.
Let’s start with the monsters (aka the Reapers). You actually get to see them! I wondered at first if they’d always be blurry or seen only a little at night. Then they had that angler fish light, so I thought that’d be all you’d see. But, no, you actually fully see them! They were cool looking.
A good looking monster is important. Are you going to get into spoilers now?
Probably. I have to say the Reapers blow up really well.
A sign of any good monster.
You gotta have an explosion; and if possible, have the creature’s guts cover the protagonists.
The acting was well done. The movie was very immersive.
However, the “depressed/reluctant hero because their loved one was killed” trope is wearing thin.
Not to mention the “drinking themselves to death because they are inadvertently responsible for someone’s death (even though it was the monsters that are responsible)” character.
The places really looked deserted. I also liked that the settlements weren’t bleak. They weren’t modern cities, but they weren’t something from the Middle Ages. It wasn’t like all technology ceased to exist. Vehicles still ran. Guns still went bam-bam.
It was a little convenient that places weren’t picked over, like when John and Nina manage to find a box of Mac & Cheese in a random house.
John did mention that people didn’t have time to loot.
Which was a great way to explain it. It made sense. Places were left untouched because the Reapers came out of nowhere and left no time for reaction. It wasn’t like a pretty clever way of explaining a classic plot hole (i.e. why is the one item they need somehow still there).
I am glad that they explained (somewhat) the origins of the Reapers. Though I think the why the Reapers can’t go past 8,000 feet elevation was just a plot device. I wonder if the creators even came up with a reason.
Maybe they’re saving it for the sequel.
They sure hinted at one.
So, did I do it? Am I under 8,000 words?
Don’t know. Does it really matter? It was still a good review.
4.7/5
Joe Rover 
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