He said
“Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End” is an uninspired, boring zombie film overflowing with genericity and tropes. I almost feel bad being so harsh on the film but throughout its two-hour run time it makes absolutely no effort to be original within the zombie genre.
I knew things were bad when the protagonist’s wife died in the first five minutes of the film. At least they didn’t refer to the zombies as “those…things,” but I held out hope that if a better story didn’t evolve beyond cliche it would at least be a tongue-in-cheek joyride.
Unfortunately “Apocalypse Z” does not evolve. Instead it feels like a pastiche of zombie and post-apocalyptic tropes. The only attempt to set itself apart is the gimmick of a cat who ultimately contributes nothing to the story.
From a technical standpoint the film is actually quite impressive; its cinematography and color grading are pleasant but its mundane plot and subpar spectacle sequences betray the skill of the camera crew.
The actors deliver good performances too, let down only by the fact that it is a Spanish film which Amazon defaults to the rough English dub. Perhaps it was the fact I started the film with subtitles which were mismatched with the dubbed dialogue, but the audio never quite felt right.
It’s a shame as I have enjoyed other programs from Spain such as Netflix’s “Money Heist” without the same uncanny dubbing issues, though perhaps that program’s interesting plot compensates for any technical issues.
The film screams low budget horror with few close ups on zombies and the greatest spectacle sequences likely having no more than 30 extras with just enough zombie makeup they pass at a distance.
The whole film I had a feeling of deja-vu. It is an amalgam of every post-apocalyptic piece of media I’ve ever been in the vicinity of.
Tonally the story reflects the generic story of a zombie game like “Dying Light” fit within the framework of a “Quiet Place Part II” and “Dawn of the Dead” remake plot where survivors try to escape to some place that ultimately isn’t safe either. However, unlike “Dying Light” I don’t get to kick zombie heads in, and unlike “Quiet Place” or the “Dawn of the Dead” remake it lacks the personality or subversion carried in those films.
I suppose it serves its purpose as it competently made Prime Video fodder, but in a streaming landscape so overflowing with good content I question the point in making a generic zombie film a half hour longer than necessary.
Garrett Hartman can be reached at [email protected].
She said
Monster films — zombie movies — are a hard thing to pull off nowadays thanks to great films and TV shows in the genre like “Zombieland,” “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” “The Walking Dead” and so on. I was hoping “Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End” would take the zombie story to another level, but it didn’t even surpass the most basic expectations.
First off, one of the most important parts of a film is the emotional appeal; it’s what makes the audience feel for the main character and root for them when they’re working to survive. This film’s emotional appeal was limited to one character — I would say the true main character: the cat.
Within the first ten minutes of the film the intended main character Manel — played by Francisco Ortiz — lost his girlfriend, which of course pushes him into a tailspin of depression and sadness for the next year leading up to the breakdown of society.
After this, Manel’s only emotional connection is with his cat, and his sister and nephew who he’s trying to meet up with on the Canary Islands after zombies break loose. However, his sister and nephew have very little character development, and the relationship between them is underdeveloped, leading to no real connection between them and the audience.
Out of all the characters, I was rooting for Lúculo the cat to survive. But even his connection with the cat was weak, nothing like the main character’s connection with the cat in “A Quiet Place: Day One.”
Leading up to the impending apocalypse and throughout the catastrophic event, there was nothing new. It’s the same generic illness that causes people to turn to zombies. It’s the same if you get bit you’re screwed arc, etc.
The zombies themselves aren’t out of the ordinary either. They are fast zombies like in “World War Z,” but can be killed without a head shot.
The only out-of-the-ordinary aspect was his decision to don a shark bite proof wetsuit to protect against zombies, which was effective. But this film wasn’t the first piece of media to think of this, “Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead” beat them to it.
For years I’ve seen posts on social media asking why characters in zombie movies don’t just head to a scuba diving or sporting store and get one of those suits, so at least Manel was smart enough to use one.
I will say technology was used a little more innovatively at the beginning of the film when Manel used YouTube videos to learn how to fortify his home. Of course, after that tech randomly started to fail him.
As for the gore, the zombies weren’t as disgusting as they could’ve been. And there was a CG zombie baby in one scene, but it was very poorly done and will never top the zombie baby in “Black Summer.”
“Apocalypse Z” ended with an apparent lead in to another film, but I really hope they don’t make another, please don’t bore me for another hour and a half.
Ariana Powell can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].
