Particularly noteworthy is Ashley Bell (The Last Exorcism), who plays Mary. Her expressions and movements convey a lot without saying much, bringing a lot of emotion and strength to the screen. Likewise, Shawn Ashmore (The Ruins) gives a solid performance as Adam, a man forced to make some difficult choices.
There is great use of atmosphere. Everything is shot in a washed-out, nearly black and white fashion, making everything that much colder and foreboding. It has this great worn down look, as if it was really sitting around for decades without being touched. Believe me, believable atmosphere goes a long way in making a movie like this work.
Again, is The Day original? Not really, but so what? If a story is good and the execution is strong, a movie can work. This one does. It has characters worth spending time with and gives just enough to make you wonder what happened. You become invested in this world, I know I wanted to see and learn more about it.
Audio/Video. The movie is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Shot digitally on the RED camera, the movie looks good. It has gone through major filtering and post-production color changes, and the resulting image borders on black and white. The washed out palette is dominated by steel grey/blue. Detail is good, particularly in close ups. There are a few dark night scenes that get a little muddy, but overall nothing to really complain about.
The audio is a Dolby Digital TrueHD 5.1 tack. It is a good sounding track, mostly front and center, there are some nice sound effects that flow all the way around you. Directionality is good and the dialogue is always understandable. Certainly a solid tack.
Extras. There is not much to speak of.
- Commentary. The track features director Doug Aarniokoski, producer Guy Donella, and writer Luke Passmore. It is a fun track, they clearly enjoyed making his movie and it was fun to listen to them all about it.
- Trailer.
Bottomline. The Day is certainly better than what I was expecting. I thought the post-apocalyptic tale was handled well and it is involving all around. You are given just enough to know what is going on and not enough to keep you from theorizing about what happened to the world and where these people came from.
Recommended.
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