Modern take on Noahs Ark

Rating: 1/10 (30 December 2007)

The film is an apocalyptic tale about the potential pitfalls of modern science. It is set in New York and told from the perspective of the only remaining inhabitant in a city ravished by a virulent plague.
It is a well constructed and well acted film, sucking the viewer into the world they construct however the premise itself has been covered before and to a much higher standard, 12 Monkeys and 28 Days Later to name but two superior examples.
The special effects are somewhat disappointing and distract the viewer from being able to believe it what is ultimately an all too believable premise.
It is this believability which is ultimately the films undoing. The film starts slowly, setting up the classic Hollywood hero and treating us to some familiar shots of New York in an unfamiliar and desolate setting and plays on the base fears we all have of science run amuck.
Seemingly having given us our Hollywood sugar it then dishes out the medicine by transforming into a religious parable which appears to be loosely based on the biblical tale of Noah's Ark.
The ultimate message of the film ends up being that science is wrong and that salvation can only be found in trusting to faith. It disregards human endeavour and the desire to help cure horrible disease and suffering as somehow morally reprehensible without justification. Instead it suggests we trust that mass destruction and suffering is part of a larger grand design and that we should absolve ourselves from blame and responsibility and lay down our arms to that plan.
When human intelligence and science finally do offer a solution the film insists that the solution must come at a terrible price.
Like all creationism, which however cloaked is what the film ultimately represents, the film abhors science and ignores the idea that science can play a part in belief systems because whilst science can be reconciled with modern religion it can not be reconciled fundamental interpretations of religious doctrine since science by definition is the exact opposite of fundamentalism.
I advise viewers to watch the film with caution lest they get sucked into the dubious morality this film expounds.
The fact that this film had had such a successful release is perhaps the most disturbing point of all and whilst it may deserve 4/5 out of 10 for film making alone, I can not bring myself to give it anything other than 1 due to the story itself.