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A post-apocalyptic film that attempts to walk the line between being a sequel the previous films and laying the groundwork for a least one more film that works best when it tells its own story but falls flat when it ends up being more setup than payoff. While the story starts off well enough and keeps you interested, it takes till late in the first act or so before you get an idea what the plot is actually about. The middle portion of the movie is a little strange but also bittersweet in kind of a beautiful way. However, the final moments of the story are so tonally different and almost comical to the extent it basically turns into a different movie. (Evidently this is all setting up the already filmed sequel.) The acting is fine for what is needed, with the young lead Alfie Williams, giving a grounded and believable performance. There’s a lot of flashy directing choices like mirrored images, stock footage, strange cutaways and dream sequences. Some of this works and some of it doesn’t, especially when it’s overdone like the freeze frame kill shots. The scares are somewhat limited to people running from the infected, who feels less like people and more like a mix of feral beings and video game enemies, complete with different difficulty tiers.
** out of *****