Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 14+
Gloom, not thrills, in sci-fi drama of worldwide plague.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this downbeat tale of an unstoppable plague virus has a strong atmosphere of hopelessness and doom, with occasional dead/decaying bodies show (the only time a big pile of corpses appears, they're all encased in opaque bags). Violence includes several shootings, some at close range with blood. Swearing is PG-13 level, with one use of the F-word. Main boyfriend-girlfriend characters have obviously been sexually active, though no sex is actually shown. Parents have apparently been abandoned to perish, and we see small children who are similary destined for death. The main characters commit acts of vandalism, drunkenness, and recklessness.
- Families can talk about the way the main characters behave. Do you think their reaction to a virtual end-of-the-world situation is realistic or not?
- Ask which characters, if any, are worthy of emulation. Bad-boy Brian suggests that his seemingly more sensitive brother Daniel is no less ruthless than he is, just smarter in letting others do the dirty work and appearing guiltless himself. Is this so?
- What do you think might happen to the characters left alive at the ending? How would one go about dwelling in an empty country?
The good stuff
-
Positive messages: Premise evokes an environment in which acts of compassion and mercy usually end in infection and death. Much is made of brotherly loyalty and sibling love (real-life brothers created this movie). But none of it proves strong enough to overcome the selfish, life-or-death choices here forced by a deadly virus.
-
Positive role models: The script has very few characters who areall heroic or entirely villainous; in fact, borderline-hoodlum Brian and unassertive Daniel might be considered closer to the bad-guy spectrum, all in all. The noblest character is a middle-aged dad protectinghis contaminated daughter to the end (and he exits the storyline midway through). Brian, ironically, is the onlyone showing any respect for religion; he seems to think God has protected him personally. Two doomed characters who are conspicuously Christian are shown heartlessly manipulated over their faith.
What to watch for
-
Violence: Fatal and non-fatal shootings draw blood, including the death of a dog. Gruesome corpses, as characters infected with the disease bleed and die, and one is shown after being burned on a pyre.
-
Sexy stuff: Suggestive talk ("eat me") between boyfriend and girlfriend. They start to strip for sex but get interrupted. A band of male survivors threaten to take the leading ladies, for their own unstated (but easy to guess) purposes, make them strip to their underwear for inspection.
-
Language: Use of the s-word in varied permutations, "ass," "piss," "S.O.B." A written racial slur. One utterance of the F-word.
-
Consumerism: Car models, Jack Daniels whiskey on display. Mention of SpongeBob Squarepants.
-
Drinking, drugs and smoking: Mention of "weed" (chiefly its absence). Drinking of beer and liquor until drunkenness sets in.