Survive (2024)

Survive is a competently done survivalist, end of the world, action thriller, that feels incomplete.

This French film has all the right ingredients, a family boating vacation, a sudden, extreme change in the earths oceans and some crime/horror elements, that look promising. Regrettably, whilst this film is superficially, quite watchable, it feels less than satisfying when viewed as a whole. I think the main reason is it doesn't take key aspect of the film's story far enough, for it to amount to anything particularly substantial.

On the upside the acting is strong, the character development is reasonable if not exceptional, the core premise and setting is creative, plus the special effects are competently done.

In summary, a moderately watchable survivalist, apocalyptic action thriller from France that shows promise but just needed to further develop the key elements it introduces into the story. As it stands, an alright watch.

"Tom" (Andreas Pietschmann), wife "Julia" (Émilie Duquenne) and their two teenage kids are having a peaceful boating holiday when huge meteor-sized things start falling from the skies. Next thing - well where has the ocean gone? Their boat is now perched on what we assume is the sea bed, an arid desert like landscape, and the family are suitably perplexed. What now? Well they do manage to make contact with a nearby diver whose bell was stranded on the sea bed, and he tells them some stuff about the poles being reversed and the water all skedaddling to the far side of the Earth. Maybe go join up with him? Well before that can happen they encounter another survivor, but he's a nasty piece of work and soon the family are reduced in number and having to make their way on foot to find their radio contact before they are crab food. Yep, it's terrible. It's not that it's just entirely implausible from start to finish, it's that the acting is as bad as I've seen in ages and the fact that it is in French ought not to put you off unduly because there is precisely nothing at all in the dialogue that enhances either the film in general or any sense of peril that's distinctly absent throughout the entire ninety minutes. What was most worrying was that it ends as if there might be a sequel. As my annual Paramount+ subscription comes to an end, I really am wondering whether this really is the best they can do from a century of film-making.

The premise is intriguing, but the production lets it down. This is not how a voided ocean would look not behave, environmentally, and it takes away from the story when it becomes contradicted over and over. The antagonist presence is odd and disconcerting, but it does not build tension, and I find myself checking out while watching. It is proficient and well-acted, but the writing and staging lets it down.