Apocalypse Now and Then
Escape From New York
The Road
Shifting ever-so-slightly from the easy, cheesy films of the last two weeks, I decided to view selections from a genre of film that positions their stories in a setting that has always felt realistic and plausible—the end of the world. This is a subject that has long-occupied the minds of some of our greatest storytellers, probably because at any given time in the history of the human race, it feels like the apocalypse is coming. And while the complete and utter decline of our society seems to be happening slowly rather than all at once, stories about the end of the world always seem timely. Before the pandemic, there were times when it felt like the world was ending, and several times throughout the pandemic I was certain that dooms day was on its way. Now that quarantining and bold displays of human indecency are the new normal, I find a strange sense of peace in watching depictions of the world ending. These stories can certainly be frightening, anxiety-inducing, and at the very least, bummers, but they can also teach us valuable lessons when we’re too desensitized to learn from our own collective societal failures. You may not feel the same catharsis as I do watching movies about the apocalypse, but if you get nothing else from this evening’s films, I hope you enjoy the eye candy at the helm of each of one. The Road, adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s novel, was just as suspenseful, terrifying, and dark as the book. After reading The Road for a class in college (and creating a shitty short film sequel to it 😳) I knew I couldn’t dive into this movie right away—I was still coming to grips with the troubled and tenebrous story that I’d read. Viggo Mortensen (a regular here at Double Feature Thursday) stars as an unnamed, uncharacterized man, attempting to survive with his son (Kodi-Smit McPhee) after the world has all but ended. Viggo, in an expectedly excellent manner, gave a full-bodied, fully-committed performance that felt raw, intentional, and genuine. The overall tone, subject matter, and execution of this movie was decidedly bleak—with a soundtrack the closed captions could only describe as “somber music”—but the moments of tenderness and quiet stood out, for better or for worse. I’m glad to know that even in the darkest of Viggo movies, he’s still willing to be erotic and sensitive and dedicated to the role without going too Daniel Day Lewis. I audibly gasped when I realized this was yet another film where Viggo would go nude—this three-time Oscar nominee loves to show his ass and I think that’s beautiful. This harrowing story of survival and the endurance of love still had room to be funny, as when Viggo pulls a photo of his now-dead wife (Charlize Theron) out of his wallet and it’s actually a picture of her fully made-up face from some red carpet event. There were some surprises in this movie, including the random cameos of Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce, and Michael K Williams (in too small a role for his theatric capabilities and yet he delivered an unforgettable performance, nonetheless), and though I knew how this story was going to go, nothing could’ve prepared me for seeing certain parts of this story play out. This movie is as gripping as the novel is because the dialogue is taken straight from the pages—which always works best, in my opinion. If you’re into grim kinds of stories about what happens if you survive the apocalypse, I highly suggest reading The Road before you watch it, but if you really want to get a feel for McCarthy’s magnificently morose mumbling, start with No Country For Old Men. Make no mistake, this film is gloomy as fuck, but I would actually argue that the imdb fun facts page for this movie is more shocking and distressing than the movie itself. Moving away from the hellish world of The Road brought me to the hellish world of Escape From New York—a similar tale of humanity on the brink of destruction, told with just a little more flair. There’s so much to love about this movie: like its cast of dreamy himbo icon Kurt Russell, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau, Mermaid Man aka Ernest Borgnine, Halloween veteran Donald Pleasence, and music superstar Isaac Hayes as one of the coolest bad guys you’ve ever seen. John Carpenter’s ambitious direction kept this film interesting, along with the music he created for it. I love the soothing sounds of a John Carpenter score—his impactful use of archetypal 80s electronica mixed with screaming synths and a bass that envelops you completely. Carpenter’s soundtracks only ever add more suspense, drama, and electricity to the atmosphere he creates, whether we’re watching Laurie Strode run from Michael Meyers or Kurt Russell fire a machine gun into the darkness of an empty street. Escape From New York had all of the staples of a John Carpenter film, all enhanced by an irresistibly anti-government, anti-imperialist, anti-fascist angle. Carpenter wrote this movie amid the Watergate scandal, and you can feel how supremely over the American government he was—from Donald Pleasence’s Nixon-esque accent to the overtly negative but honest depiction of the police. This story, while somewhat far-fetched and hyperbolic in its rendering, was so far ahead of its time, and never felt completely out of our reality’s reach. Escape From New York and The Road both served as salient reminders of how fragile our (somewhat) civilized life is and how feasible it is that humanity would turn on each other once things go to shit. COVID has proven that when we need basic human decency the most, when we need to rely on one another the most, the human race cannot be trusted to do the right thing. These movies, filmed within different eras and points of view, are symbols of the bitterness of our (particularly American) society, and of the weakness of the powers that be. But as Viggo echoed the wise words of Cormac McCarthy, “we must always carry the fire” I was reminded of the tenacity of the human spirit—the fire that keeps us alive and aware, and ever-diligent in this uncertain world. Keep carrying the fire, my friends, and maybe we’ll get back to some lighthearted cinema next week.
