The planet has finally conked out; it went not with a boom or a bang, but choking on a last gasp of polluted air. This frighteningly plausible end-of-the-world scenario is probably the most convincing detail in this solidly acted but underwhelming post-apocalyptic thriller. It’s set in 2039, six years after the conk-out; in Brooklyn, one family is miraculously still alive in a bunker built by scientist and survivalist Darius (Common). He spent years planning for the end of the world; everyone thought he was a crackpot, says his teenage daughter Zora (Quvenzhané Wallis). “Too bad he wasn’t.” Handily, her mum is gardener Maya (Jennifer Hudson). So the three of them – along with Darius’s dad – keep healthy on homegrown greens.
The bunker is a fortress and whenever they step outside (to tinker with the solar panels or browse the deserted local bookshop) it’s with an oxygen tank. The rest of the world – all wrecked buildings and crumbling landmarks – is treated to an aggressively apocalyptic sepia tint by cinematographer Felipe Vara de Rey Zora. The family hasn’t seen another soul in three years. And aside from a few mother-daughter tiffs, they appear to be living in near-harmony – after six years being cooped up together.
To be honest, I didn’t really buy it. The script seems so focused on the family’s resilience it never really confronts the horror of surviving, and being alive in a world with no oxygen, where nothing grows. It gives a kind depthlessness to the emotional life of the characters; none of it felt real. Then things hot up when a woman called Tess (Milla Jovovich) shows up with a mean-faced sidekick (Sam Worthington). Tess claims to have worked with Darius. She wants to come in to see the air purification system. “You can trust me,” she says. Though anyone who’s ever seen a post-apocalyptic movie knows that in desperate times, no one can be trusted. The stand-off that follows is competently done, but not especially thrilling.
• Breathe is on UK digital platforms from 20 May.
