PANDEMIC (2016)

Studio:       XLrator Media
Director:    John Suits
Writer:       Dustin T. Benson
Producer:  Gabriel Cowan, John Suits
Stars:     Rachel Nichols, Alfie Allen, Paul Guilfoyle, Pat Healy, Missi Pyle, Mekhi Phifer, Danielle Rose Russell, Robert Lewis Stephenson, Amanda Baker, Sara Tomko, Dominic Bogart

Review Score:

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Summary:

An inexperienced doctor is tasked to lead a team searching for survivors after a virus mutates most of Earth’s population.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

In the wake of a massive viral outbreak that causes humans to become feral across five stages of infection, Doctor Greer assigns Dr. Lauren Chase to rescue uninfected survivors outside the quarantine zone. Wheeler, Gunner, and Denise are assigned to navigate and protect Lauren.

Lauren’s team battles through a horde of infected and narrowly escapes a trap set by a group desperate to overtake their bus. Having long searched for information on his missing wife, Gunner finds his wife’s body while searching her team’s disabled bus.

After fending off another infected attack, Lauren’s team makes it to the abandoned school where they are to look for survivors. Lauren sneaks away during the sweep to call her daughter Megan and learns that her husband David is missing.

The team finds a delusional woman who believes her dead infant is still alive. Wheeler stabs the woman in the neck when her hysteria turns into physical aggression.

Finding a majority of survivors lying dead in the gymnasium, the team ends up overrun by infected. Separated from Gunner, Lauren and Denise make it outside. Wheeler goes off on his own.

Lauren confesses to Denise that she is actually Rebecca Thomas. She found Dr. Lauren Chase’s identification card and impersonated a doctor so she could get back to her family in Los Angeles after being stranded on a business trip in New York.

Wheeler returns to rescue the women from an infected attack. Wheeler has Lauren use her radio to contact Doctor Ward, who needs help extracting a group of eight survivors. Wheeler admits he was wounded and is in the first stage of infection.

Lauren, Denise, and Wheeler go on foot to Ward’s location. Denise is hit by a car and kidnapped when she stops to pick up a dropped photo of her dead son Josh. Denise is taken to a group of cannibals and eaten. Lauren follows and kills everyone.

Lauren and Wheeler make it to Ward’s location. Lauren fakes a blood test to convince Ward that Wheeler is not infected. Wheeler hotwires an ambulance and the survivors board. Having previously worked with Dr. Chase, Ward knows Lauren is not who she claims to be. Ward hits her with a shotgun and escapes in the ambulance, leaving Lauren and Wheeler behind.

Wheeler hotwires another ambulance. He and Lauren escape a swarming horde of infected and drive away. Wheeler tells Lauren that he knew she was impersonating a doctor. He also tells her that his real name is Frederick.

Wheeler takes Lauren to her house where she reunites with Megan. Lauren discovers her daughter is infected, but does not tell Megan. In the garage, Lauren finds her husband David dead.

Outside, Wheeler’s ambulance is overrun by infected. Wheeler runs inside as the house is also overrun. Everyone escapes, but Wheeler breaks his leg and has to be left behind.

Lauren and Megan flee in the ambulance. On their way to the safe zone, Lauren sees Ward’s ambulance engulfed in flames. Lauren and Megan make it past the gates of Dr. Greer’s compound, but Lauren in executed by a soldier as infected storm the perimeter. Megan is brought into the compound unconscious.

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Review:

In the big book of overused film criticism clichés, “doesn’t bring anything new to the table” ranks right up there with “must see,” “instant classic,” and “thrill ride.”  All four phrases ought to be permanently put out to pasture, which is a shame since one of them works perfectly for describing “Pandemic.”

Seeing as how the movie is itself comprised of commonplace tropes for a post-apocalyptic feature however, I suppose I can follow suit by not bothering to break new ground on the turn of phrase front, either.  In that case, “Pandemic” can be simply summarized as a slightly above average outbreak film, but one that “doesn’t bring anything new to the table.”

A virus has decimated the planet’s population.  Anyone not among the billions dead is either one of the scant few survivors or, more likely, suffering from one of five stages of infection.  Level 1 is “uh oh, this isn’t good.”  Level 5 is full blown “28 Days Later” ferocity.

Separated from a family trapped in the lawless suburbs of Sherman Oaks, Dr. Lauren Chase is anxious for a reunion with her husband and daughter.  First, she must lead a makeshift militia consisting of a navigator, gunner, and wheelman into a Los Angeles warzone on a desperate search for fellow survivors.  Lauren is ill-suited for the savage battle ahead against hordes of infected humans, though that might not be due to rattled nerves.  Rather, Lauren is hiding a surprising secret that could endanger everyone counting on her for their survival.

The usual assortment of archetypes populates the story’s “Escape from New York” meets “Dawn of the Dead” setup.  Dr. Lauren is inexperienced when it comes to weapons, more than once freezing in the face of danger to the dismay of those requiring her teamwork.  Then there is the grim gunner whose wife went missing in the melee and who is always looking for an opportunity to resume his search.  There is also a streetwise hard ass who has seen it all, dishing out disses to those who can’t stand the heat and first to the fray whenever it comes time to fight.

What keeps “Pandemic” from sinking under stereotypical construction is a roster of recognizable talent giving gravitas to an otherwise routine survival story.  Paul Guilfoyle as the man in charge of the mission has the gravelly demeanor to make inconsequential exposition sound important.  Alfie Allen trades his natural English accent to try being a Slim Shady soundalike.  It’s bizarrely not so hot, but such an unusual idea for Allen to make his part more interesting that it becomes fascinating.  Rachel Nichols makes the most of her lead role and together, the ensemble keeps the film afloat purely through presence.  A lesser cast and “Pandemic” would be forgotten in minutes.

“Pandemic” fits into the “found footage” category.  Kind of sort of, anyway.  Lauren and her team wear helmet cams on their biohazard suits with 95% of everything onscreen displayed from a POV perspective through those lenses.  The other 5% is shot from scattered surveillance cameras or seemingly unmotivated sources coming from who knows where.

There isn’t any actual fiction behind the footage being “found,” per se.  At least one shot even racks focus from background to foreground and back again, as though the helmet camera has its own 1st A.C. standing to the side working the lens.  Music cues also accompany key moments, so it isn’t entirely clear what the conceit of the “found footage” angle is intended to accomplish.

Whatever reason director John Suits and cinematographer Mark Putnam have for filming “Pandemic” in first-person appears unrelated to story, and more of an artistic choice to give the movie a pseudo-video game quality.  Nowhere is this more evident than in the “Doom”-inspired infected attack sequences where a shotgun barrel pokes conspicuously and continuously from the bottom of the screen.

If it isn’t employed purely for style, then the “found footage” framework makes even less functional sense.  Despite the first-person perspective, “Pandemic” rarely feels as immersive as “found footage” should primarily because the movie is edited with traditional action movie anxiousness.

When infected attack and guns start firing, rarely does a single shot last longer than two seconds before a frantic finger on the “Cut” button jumps to another herking and jerking helmet camera.  Good luck determining who is who or what exactly is going on while the picture induces whiplash whenever action intensifies.  When things aren’t too dark, the movie looks good visually, though a great deal of the duration is spent blurring things into a murky jumble.

It might not matter though, since whatever can be seen is something seen before if you’ve watched only one other viral outbreak sci-fi/horror movie.  From Allen’s odd accent to the curious choice to film in first-person when it serves no noticeable rhyme or reason, “Pandemic” can nevertheless be strangely engaging even though it isn’t impressive.  Thanks for that goes to a sharp-looking production and a spirited cast.

Just know that “Pandemic” doesn’t bring anything new to the table.  Oh, that was already said.  That’s okay, everything in “Pandemic” already has been, too.

Review Score:  55

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