Immune (2016)
Gareth Jones
|
Starring Christopher Clarke, Simon Jarrett, Steven Rostance
Directed by Steven Tayler
Distributed by Halogen Entertainment
It’s been 9 months since a new GMO pesticide – created through the fusion of mammalian and plant DNA – turned almost the entire population of the UK into zombie-like creatures. Now, survivor James (Clarke) roams alone amidst the streets of Coventry, scavenging his way through a meaningless, empty existence.
In a turn reminiscent of similar fare such as I Am Legend and The Last Man on Earth, the daylight is the creatures’ worst enemy – causing these ‘deadheads’, as they’re referred to, to burst into flame (interesting given the part-plant origins of their creation).
Making his way through his daily trials, James is surprised to come across fellow survivor Tommy – a man who was beaten and unceremoniously dumped in the streets following a disagreement with the despotic ruler of a colony in a neighbouring city.
Immune starts off well enough, with a brief but entertaining rendition of the zombie breakout offering a few pieces of carnage and some ambitious but obvious CGI mayhem, showing us that not even children are safe in director Steven Tayler’s genre sensibilities. Once things move to the present time, however, it all becomes very morose indeed.
Performances from our main leads are up and down – but mostly down. Ranging from pleasantly naturalistic to achingly forced, Clarke and Jarrett are definitely giving the material a good effort… but a dense fog hangs over the proceedings, like they’ve been told to behave and deliver their lines with as little energy as possible in order to feed the mood. Unfortunately, said mood feels less introspective and thoughtful than it does dreary and lifeless. The less said about the supporting cast, the better, with some truly awful line delivery in the opening minutes significantly marring expectations of what’s to come.
A friendship flourishes between the pair as they do what they must to survive and avoid the mobs of undead that own the streets at night – but Immune‘s biggest problem is that there doesn’t actually appear to be a driving narrative for these characters to inhabit. Goals are stated – such as returning to the colony Tommy once inhabited – but nothing ever comes of it.
It’s essentially a series of excursions and random encounters, drawn out with leaden pacing and heading toward a game-changing final twist that signals the film’s complete non-ending of a denouement. Perhaps this is intended to provide something of a setup or origin story for a franchise following these new friends on their travels, but even an origin story needs to fulfill its own arc. In this regard, Immune merely flatlines.
Inconsistencies in visual language – editing is regularly choppy, some shots held slightly too long and action is often interrupted or robbed of flow by inserts or truncation – and logical leaps that are treated sincerely (how the hell has James managed to survive 9 months in a zombie-ridden city without learning that he really should bring something other than a butter knife to protect himself?!) drag Immune down to off-putting standards.
Which is sad, quite frankly, because there’s obvious enthusiasm here and a couple of great shots (one of a transforming zombie in the opening is a cracker), but ultimately the film is rendered DOA by its refusal not only to offer the genre something new, but to offer much in the way of an actual story at all.
-
Film
Categorized:Reviews
