I’d seen the previous two movies in this franchise, so I was immediately interested in seeing this prequel movie. I will say that, based on the trailer, I thought that Sam was going to be a completely different character to the one that actually appeared in the movie. I wasn’t expecting the movie to open with a group of terminally ill cancer patients, including Sam, in a hospice…but with that opening scene and that understanding that Sam was going to die very soon, it allowed me to have a better, deeper understanding of her character…and what motivated her throughout the movie. I listened to a review earlier where the reviewer seemed confused about why Sam was so desperate to get pizza…but to me, it made perfect sense. She was already dying; with the whole world ending around her, she’d never get another chance to have that pizza…to have that memory of her father, which the movie shows was a big reason for her wanting to go and get pizza.
I did really enjoy the friendship that formed between Sam and Eric, even though it was sometimes difficult to hear what they were saying to each other. While I understand needing to keep the atmosphere of near-silence in the movie, I feel like there was too much quiet and that some of the character development was lost during those moments, where the conversation was too quiet to really figure out what was going on.
I obviously loved Frodo the cat in this movie…and if you don’t mind a minor spoiler and, like me, love cats, I can safely say that the cat is fine. There is a bit…okay, a lot…suspension of disbelied required, as even the best trained animal isn’t likely to just be absolutely fine with humans being killed all around him, but I could do that for the sake of, ‘At least the cat is fine!’
I thought there were some really nice scenes in this movie, such as the one where Sam is walking through the street right after the bus she’s on is blown up. I also really liked the scene where she dreams the world is back to normal. I actually believed the world was back to normal for a second…until the obligatory jump scare.
I also really appreciated that, despite the fact there were a lot of people dying through the movie, there wasn’t a lot of detail shown. It’s really good that this movie actually paid attention to the idea that less is more.
I will say that the only real nitpick I have is…how did everyone figure out that the aliens were hunting by sound? I know that the helicopters were broadcasting this message, but it went from the aliens killing people to everyone then being as quiet as possible…and that didn’t really make much sense.
Despite the problem mentioned above, though, I did really enjoy this movie and found the three main characters engaging and interesting (cat included). I don’t think you need to have watched the previous two movies to enjoy this one, but if you have seen them, I do recommend seeing this one too.
Ink of Blood 