Matthew Turner | On 08, Dec 2023

Director: Sam Esmail
Cast: Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha’la, Farrah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans, Kevin Bacon
CertIficate: 15

There’s more than a hint of M Night Shyamalan in this engaging end-of-the-world tale from writer-director Sam Esmail. Based on the novel by Rumaan Alam and boasting a number of terrific set pieces, it’s a creepy, suspenseful and unsettling thriller about human behaviour in the face of the unknown.

The film begins with New York husband and wife Clay and Amanda Sandford (Ethan Hawke and Julia Roberts) beginning a vacation in a luxury home in the Hamptons with their two kids, teenage Archie (Charlie Evans) and young Rose (Farrah Mackenzie). However, on their first night, Amanda becomes disturbed when a well-dressed black man, GH Scott (Mahershala Ali), and his 20-something daughter, Ruth (Myha’la Herrold), show up at their front door, claiming to be the property’s owners, fleeing a potential disaster in New York.

With the TV signal and internet service down, the Sandfords and the Scotts come to an uneasy arrangement while they wait for news from the outside world, with the Scotts essentially agreeing to bed down in the not-so-luxurious basement of their own luxury house. Meanwhile, the apparent apocalypse encroaches ever further, as a country-wide systems failure leads to increasing disasters.

Esmail (who previously worked with Roberts on Amazon’s Homecoming and is best known for writing and directing Mr Robot) knows his way around a creepy set piece and he orchestrates a handful of terrific sequences, including an oil tanker slow-motion crashing onto a crowded beach (the first hint that something has gone wrong) and the amusing-yet-terrifying sight of a bunch of driverless Teslas all smashing into each other on the same spot, blocking the road.

However, it’s not just the electronic world that is affected by the apocalypse – Esmail stages equally memorable, visually striking sequences with animals, including a possibly malevolent herd of deer and the less threatening sight of a flock of flamingoes where there shouldn’t be a flock of flamingoes. He also has a neat line in relatable body horror, with one scene that is genuinely disturbing, like a recurring nightmare come to life.

The cast are superb throughout. Roberts, in particular, is on terrific form, playing effectively against type as a less-than-sympathetic figure who confesses to hating other people and doesn’t care about anyone but herself. Hawke is equally good in a low-key, Mr Nice Guy way – he’s weirdly relaxed in the face of a possible apocalypse – his true prejudices only revealing themselves in a shocking moment where he refuses to help someone clearly in need.

Similarly, Mahershala Ali is perfectly cast as Scott, initially giving creepy-but-charming home invasion vibes and keeping the audience guessing as to his true motivations. Myha’la is equally good as Scott’s no-nonsense daughter (she gets all the best lines) and there’s strong support from both Evans and Mackenzie as the kids, while Kevin Bacon has a great cameo as a local man who seems suspiciously well prepared for whatever is going on.
 
Ultimately, the film is more about human behaviour and the way the characters respond to their situation than it is about the situation itself and to that end, it’s consistently intriguing as the dynamics shift, especially when they start to head in a direction that could spell all sorts of trouble. On top of that, the script saves its best moment for last, with a terrific closing scene that pays off what is essentially a running gag that achieves unexpected poignancy – no spoilers, but you might shed a tear or two.

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