Kyle Kriner Reviews “The Divide”
The Divide releases this Friday, January 13th and boasts a strong cast made up of the likes of Michael Biehn (The Terminator), Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes), and Courtney B. Vance (Law & Order: Criminal Intent). Now if you guys know me, you know that I was stoked to go see this not only because it looked cool, but because I’m a big Heroes fan and in turn a big Milo fan. But let me tell you, he sure ain’t Peter Petrelli anymore.
The movie starts off with Lauren German watching the city explode from a skyscraper window. Obviously chaos ensues, everyone is running everywhere, cameras are shaking, but eventually we find our central cast of characters all together inside some sort of bunker. Michael Biehn quickly establishes himself as the boss, because he’s the super of the building (and a total badass) and all of the characters are in fact neighbors.
So we get a ton of trust issues and tension right from the jump. There is a minimal sense of hope in the beginning but it soon dwindles as time passes and paranoia rises. After a team of researchers/military troops come down into the bunker armed to the teeth, we get a great action scene of the group fighting back against them, but also realize that there is no escape for any of them. The troops weld the door shut soon after, and things rapidly go further down hill from there.
There are some twists and turns as the movie progresses, but it’s not very fast-paced. The structure brings to mind other one-room debate stories like 12 Angry Men but sadly falls a little closer to Stallone’s Daylight. Not to say the film is boring, because it’s actually interesting in parts, but things did seem kinda dull from time to time. There are strong acting performances all around, luckily. Milo specifically turns out to be extremely creepy, and the movie does a great job at making this claustrophobic situation totally disturbing. Even though we see the downward spiral of these characters into savages, we don’t get beat over the head with post-apocalyptic gospel. The movie gives the audience enough credit to know that people change, and people do what they can to survive. A lot of them will also do what they want when there’s no consequences. We don’t need them to spat about morals, or tell us who is better than who. It is conveyed by the filmmaking, and in the performances.
Even though The Divide is downright dark in some instances, at least for me, the film does manage to illicit quite an emotional response from me, which is a good thing. I’m actually still a bit uncomfortable thinking about it now. The concept isn’t anything completely fresh, but the acting is solid, and the tension and creepiness take this one a long way. If you want to be disturbed, or if you’re just in the mood for something crazy, give it a shot. It’s certainly worth a watch.
