[4.50/10] The Divide (2012)

The Divide (2012)

Brief review: "The Divide" is about nine strangers, all tenants of same apartment building, who manage to escape a nuclear attack by hiding in a bunker-like basement. The movie starts out intriguing enough with an opening scene of chaos and confusion, where people are running scared trying to find a shelter, but as soon as the nine strangers get into the basement, the movie turns into a talky, monotonous bore, where nervous, frustrated people are either yelling at each other or doing nasty things. Another problem with "The Divide" is that it often feels somewhat repetitive, probably due to the the limited setting and the sluggish pacing of the film. There are moments when it seems like the exact same scene is playing over and over again, and that makes the film a rather tedious experience, leaving the viewer in anticipation something to happen. It does, later on, but it's ugly, unpleasant and revolting. With "Frontier(s)", French director Xavier Gens showed us that he likes his movies graphic, brutal and violent, and "The Divide" is no exception - torment, murder, rape, gore, you name it, it's there. Although the performances range from decent to convincing, there's not a single likable character in the entire movie, nor one you could care about at least a bit. On a positive note, the final sequence is so brilliant and visually depressing, it makes "The Divide" worth-seeing for this very memorable scene alone.

Overall summary: Some passable acting and a beautifully bleak final act aside, "The Divide" is a graphic and violent, but quite dull apocalyptic thriller, that tries very hard to shock us and make us feel uncomfortable and claustrophobic, but instead it successfully put us to sleep.