Director: Xavier Gens
Stars: Lauren German, Michael Biehn, Milo Ventimiglia, Rosanna Arquette, Ivan Gonzalez, Courtney B. Vance, Ashton Holmes, Michael Eklund.
Certificate: 18
Running Time: 110 Minutes.
Synopsis: As a nuclear attack obliterates a US city, a group of survivors hole up in the underground basement of their tower block. As time passes, realisation turns to desperation when supplies diminish along with any hopes of salvation…
Brutal, harsh, extreme and graphic. Just a few words to describe Xavier Gens 2007 French horror hit FRONTIER(S), a film about survival and the depths of human depravity. That film put Gens, like fellow countryman Alexandre Aja and his equally explicit SWITCHBLADE ROMANCE (aka HAUTE TENSION), on the Hollywood radar. Aja’s Hollywood debut THE HILLS HAVE EYES remake fit the directors style perfectly. However, Gens was handed the big-screen adaptation of video-game HITMAN, a disappointing and dire effort, that miscast the usually terrific Timothy Olyphant. Not surprisingly, Gens hasn’t directed a major film since… until now, and this effort, albeit lower-budget, sees him return to the survival genre that first made his name. So what does THN make of his latest…?
Brutal, harsh, extreme and graphic. Those words again. And THE DIVIDE does indeed do that in terms of story, as well as the film-making itself. It opens with the shot of a silent, blazing city skyline, reflecting in the window of an onlooking Lauren German. The sound of panic soon erupts, as a stairwell full of people rush to escape the onslaught of disaster. A number quickly notice Michael Biehn’s building superintendent attempting to close the door to the underground basement. A few force themselves through before the door is eventually bolted and sealed to stop potential nuclear contamination. It’s an effective attention-grabbing opening that makes you want to follow the journey to come.
It is a journey many will wish they had not ventured on, but for those that are able to stomach what is to come, they will find a powerful, thought-provoking story of desperation, hope, and human-nature. I mentioned that the title was apt; this also applies to the acting and the characters they play. Michael Biehn is always dependable and is once again great as the gruff Mickey. Rosanna Arquette’s descent into madness (and sex-slave after her daughter is taken by unknown assailants in bio-hazard suits), is sometimes overplayed. Milo Ventimiglia’s (TV’s HEROES) performance as Josh, is the movies most uneven; his tough guy character is campy and laughable in the first half, but his villainous transformation is scarily intense, the longer the film goes on. The same can be said of Michael Ekland’s Bobby, as Josh’s fiery best-friend.
One of film’s most impressive performances comes from Ashton Holmes, as Josh’s quiet and apprehensive half-brother, unable to stop his siblings’ brutal actions on the other survivors as he longs to be with Lauren German’s Eva. His respectful unwillingness to compete for her affections with boyfriend Sam (Ivan Gonzalez), even when Eva shows her desire, makes him weak in the eyes of Josh and Bobby. Speaking of German: she is a revelation in this, and is the film’s the stand-out performer. The HOSTEL: PART 2 actress has always impressed in the limited opportunities she has been given in Hollywood and her talent deserves a major role, in a major film.
Overall THE DIVIDE is a difficult watch and in all honesty not one to be enjoyed, which this critic certainly didn’t. However, it does linger in the memory, and has something to say about the nature of humanity, and all the responsibility that comes with it. It is an effective film in what it has to say. It falls into the category of the hard-to-watch efforts like HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER, MARTYRS and last year’s SNOWTOWN, films that are not meant to be enjoyed or re-watched time after time, but make a statement, one in permanent black marker.
Powerful but punishing!
THE DIVIDE is released in cinemas Friday 20th April
