Director: Andrew Robertson
Writer: Lilly Kanso, Andrew Robertson (Screenplay)
Starring: Carter Roy, Amy Rutberg, Eva Grave Kellner, Chris Kies, Sebastian Beacon, Travis Grant
Plot: Refuge is a suspense-thriller about a family struggling to survive in the wake of a great catastrophic event.
Runtime: 1 Hour 14 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Gritty Thriller
Story: Refuge starts as we learn of the mysterious virus which has spread across America, there is no cure, you just need to survive away from people, we meet one family Jack (Roy) Nell (Rutberg), Birdie (Kellner) and Kyle (Kies) do what they can to survive, while giving Birdie some sort of childhood.
When the threat or marauders comes to the home, the family must make the rash decision to go in search of a new sanctuary through the woods which is where they will face a new amount of threats.
Thoughts on Refuge
Characters – The characters focus on a family, Jack the father, the man that will do everything to keep his family safe, even if it means taking risks by saving strangers, he doesn’t back down from enemies or threats, but is forced into decisions he doesn’t want to make. Nell is the wife and mother, we don’t really learn too much about her though, she falls in the woman being protected circle. Birdie is the daughter that doesn’t fully understand the world and wants to just be a child in this world. Kyle is one of the people that Jack has saved in the past.
Performances – The performances from the cast are great throughout, we feel their bleak outlook on the life they are living which is what we want to see, the final act shows them at their best too.
Story – The story here follows a family in a post-apocalyptic world where the biggest threats marauders and the virus that has wiped out most of the world. This is a bleak story that helps show us just how desperate the world now is and not having any sort of zombie side to everything giving us the only enemy the human one. This keeps everything simple because it is all we need, even though it does follow the typical mistakes being made by the characters.
Thriller – This does try to keep us on the edge of our seats about whether our characters will survive and what is next in line for them.
Settings – The film keeps us in the bleak locations from start to finish, they show where people will survive and keeps us away from the big city.
Scene of the Movie – The break in.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Just shot them.
Final Thoughts – This is one of the best looking bleak virus outbreak movies, it does have questionable character decisions but that does add to the drama.
Overall: Simple and effective.
Rating
