Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I probably should of rated this movie an 8 instead of a seven but it wasn't an "A" movie ("A" movies start at an 8 rating for me or else they're not "A" movies... ) If you, as well as I, love: B-movies, independent films, low-budget movies, documentaries/docu-dramas and of course the "post-apocalyptic" genre then you will like this movie. It has a reality TV feel to it and is along the lines of the made for TV movie "The Day After" but with a smaller cast and budget etc.I've been watching the "Doomsday Prepper" shows on TV for the past season or so and know much about the survival situation that is to come after the bombs drop, esp now with us letting Iran get nukes and ICBM missiles to deliver them, in the next 5-10 years (as of 7-14-2015) and only a fool or extreme optimist can't see this coming. Well this movie has one leader who sort of knows some of the the things needed to survive at least the initial onslaught...By watching this movie I've learned that I'm not as prepared as I thought I was. I learned various things about not only vulnerabilities to exposure but how essential medical supplies and training are.This movie should be a wake up call for civilians to learn about how to survive large scale disasters. It's more a "warn-a-mentary" than an entertainment pill.

This movie makes "the attack of the killer tomatoes" seem like an Oscar winning movie anyone saying this is comparable to "the road" or that this is not a bad movie (because i've read the reviews here) is delusional. i've never written a review but for this movie i had too.the cinematography was good,as well as the make up. but within the opening 5 minutes you knew this was low budget but getting past the opening scene where "hunter" (C.J. Thomason) is standing there listening to the radio broadcast about the impending war you just know this is going to be cheese. for a little while it seems watchable but around the 29:33 mark where Jonathan (Ross Britz) who plays a "nerd" (think the love child of screech from saved by the bell and Forrest Gump) when you blurt out a guffaw at the incredibly bad acting (facial expression and crossing of the eyes from a scene i would assume is supposed to be touching) as he care's to his "gran-unc" you know this movie is irredeemable....but i made it past that part. some other drama happens and well i quit at the 1:01:50 mark....i cite stupidity for my reason for quitting watching this tripe it's not worth watching....i don't even want to know how it endsEastlake Films,and LightWave Entertainment owe me $10. not for the purchase price of watching this, but for wasting an hour of my time,because making it a hour into this movie was work....and if i was watching movies and reviewing them for minimum wage thats what the cost would be....so give me my $10

Escapist entertainment no – this film shows the 'original' sin of motion picture: it carries you away not to entertain you but eat you, chew you up and spit you out. Hollywood is not here with its heartthrob, its please you to buy a ticket, its placate your desire to see "everything is awesome," to quote from the Lego's movie. I do have to say if you want to slit your wrists don't watch this film tonight.I don't know if you've noticed it, but today especially there are a number of end of the world movies out. If you watch this one you'll probably not see the end of the world, but the end of a couple of cities as we know them – the closest look at apocalypse limited or otherwise in cinema thus far, hands down, unless you're old enough to remember Testament. Pity this film chooses a total U.S. nuclear holocaust as opposed to a limited nuclear disaster, but then so does dream, amplifies things so to show them, and this film does reach those engrossing depths of human nature, unknown actors though it has, unknown but lost in their parts, and, consequently, you too.You just think I'm in an armchair with my review rant, but in 1982 I parachuted with my A team into what was then West Germany with a tactical nuke (our captain carried), Donny Duke that Green Beret that found the world was not what it seemed, an unquestioning patriot from Texas. You don't know the carelessness with which we treat nukes. You don't know how close we come. Only weapons grade plutonium we lacked. Sound familiar?I wonder at the mistake Netflix made with this movie, releasing this one instead of the Polish movie of the same name and year it was supposed to release, how that happened, because without that glitch this unheard of film would not have gotten a wide audience. Who did it, purposefully I mean, man or fate? We only know that this film gives both knowledge and a warning both almost unpalatable to our movie going tastes. We are shown what we need to do in the event of a nuclear explosion, and we are shown more in the bargain, uncomfortably more than what we bargained for: ourselves at one and the same time the worm and the demigod. You have to watch intimately to see this film is not as hopeless as it seems, with the 'good doctor', the hero of the film, reduced to barbarity and the good people shown to be the animals they are.If you have an eye for the depths you'll hear the token Black, here well chosen, a cultural determinant thought to be a nobody, tell us what's up. Listen to his report, how the immigrants are lined up and shot, how people just give in to their inhumanity, how despite all that this is your moment in the sun with destiny, and you don't want to meet your maker a coward shaking in your boots. He gives us such an example of what humanity is more made of than the beast with his good death – his self-sacrifice to take the body of a child away so that it doesn't rot in the room of our hope hopeless though it is. See the old man die with such dignity not a burden but a blessing to all, the child die slowly not complaining at his pain, and watch the despicable man you want shot change into the man you want to be there when you need someone to depend on, and you will see the power of cinema, and maybe too a future for some unfortunate city or two somewhere or another on our crowded warring planet. Can you stand and face them?

Tonight, I watched "Aftermath"--a tense and scary film about a small group hunkered down in a basement after a nuclear apocalypse. While it's a pretty good film, the film I expected to see was "Aftermath"--a film about a Polish-American man who is returning to Poland for a visit. Somehow, Netflix just released the film...the wrong film. I called them and they said that the company NEVER ordered the apocalyptic film...and others are apparently reporting that they, too, got this film instead! Well, I guess it was just meant to be that I saw the other film instead!Both films were made in 2012--so I can understand the mix-up. The Aftermath I saw was directed by Peter Engert and stars a variety of talented but relatively unknown actors. This was a good thing, as the movie is about ordinary people and how they react to a nuclear war. Having Brad Pitt or Meryl Streep in the film might have been cool...but it wouldn't have worked with a picture like this.When the movie, you learn that several nations have begun detonating nuclear weapons on each other. Exactly how and why isn't important-- what IS important is that somehow a chain reaction occurred and nations are now nuking each other! The film is set in rural Texas and even there they are impacted as soon bombs start detonating all around them. A young doctor, Brad (C.J. Thomason) is backpacking when the bombs start going off nearby--and he and a woman and her blinded brother rush to find supplies and shelter before the effects of the blasts kill them. Finding the supplies is amazingly easy as is a vehicle, but the shelter is another thing. Brad and his two new friends aren't sure if they'll ever find a basement or bomb shelter, as the first place they try results in Brad getting shot! He's going to survive but what about the next place they try? And, even if they find a shelter, what will happen when the folks that remain start to behave like animals...as they most certainly will.If you are looking for a feel-good movie or a date film, then you need to keep looking. Not surprisingly, "Aftermath" is incredibly depressing and eventually looks a lot like a zombie movie in many ways. But that does not mean it's a bad film--and nuclear apocalypse, unless I am mistaken, SHOULD be incredibly depressing!! Christian McDonald's script is very intelligently written and SEEMS probable. While I am sure nuclear physicists and engineers would find lots of plot holes, it sure seemed real and kept my attention. I also appreciated it because it was a great look at human nature--at least for us pessimists who assume such a horrific event would be made even worse by many of the survivors and near-survivors. In some ways, the film reminded me a bit of the classic film "On the Beach"--but without all the movie star cameos. In this 1959, the world also starts to slowly die because of a widespread nuclear exchange but too many of the characters seemed amazingly nice, decent and orderly in the face of certain death. I am not knocking it--it's a good film despite this. But it lacks the grittiness and ugliness you see in "Aftermath". Ugly, tense and awful--all good reasons to give this independent film a chance. However, also very good reasons NOT to watch this with your kids!! In fact, I really think it's perhaps too tense, depressing and bloody for many adults--but it STILL is a very good film because it never falls back on sentiment or clichés. It's worth a look...for the right viewers.