Pandemic (2016) Review

Verdict
3

Summary

Filmed using a “first person” shooter gimmick through most of the movie, Pandemic might be notable for said gimmick, but otherwise it’s not a very distinct or altogether interesting riff on the zombie apocalypse sub-genre. It’s incredibly violent and bleak, but there’s enough here to recommend for the most devoted end-of-the-world movie fan. The landscapes are impressive, it has a fleet pace, and the action is almost unrelenting. It’s just not a barrel of laughs, and the ending is unsatisfying.

Synopsis: Pandemic is set in the near future, where a virus of epic proportions has overtaken the planet. There are more infected than uninfected, and humanity is losing its grip on survival. Its only hope is finding a cure and keeping the infected contained. Lauren (Rachel Nichols) is a doctor, who, after the fall of New York, comes to Los Angeles to lead a team to hunt for and rescue uninfected survivors.

Review: A virus that degenerates the human system in five vicious stages sweeps the globe in less than a month and major cities are thrashed and devastated in no time at all. The final stage of the virus renders people raging, cannibalistic savages who run, jump, and use weapons, and they even have some reason in them. A woman named Lauren (Rachel Nichols) finds a hazmat suit and quickly surmises that the only way she’s ever going to find her way back to her daughter still at home is to pose as a doctor and join a small recon team which is making their way across the city in a bus. The team has a mission: find some uninfected survivors wherever they might be and bring them back to a military guarded compound. Lauren is hopelessly over her head and the rest of the team (played by Missi Pyle, Alfie Allen, and Mekhi Phifer) figures out she’s not a doctor, but only posing as one, which puts them all at risk. Zombie / infecteds come rushing at them from every angle, and as the team is thinned out, Lauren realizes that the only way she’s ever going to make it to her daughter is to fight back and get real about surviving the gruesome trek onwards.

Filmed using a “first person” shooter gimmick through most of the movie, Pandemic might be notable for said gimmick, but otherwise it’s not a very distinct or altogether interesting riff on the zombie apocalypse subgenre. It’s incredibly violent and bleak, but there’s enough here to recommend for the most devoted end-of-the-world movie fan. The landscapes are impressive, it has a fleet pace, and the action is almost unrelenting. It’s just not a barrel of laughs, and the ending is unsatisfying. Directed by John Suits.

Pandemic will be released in theaters on April 1st and VOD and on iTunes on April 5th, courtesy of XLrator Media.