markkbranson
Some of the user reviews raved about this film, while others trashed it. I' in between. There are some wonderful exterior shots. There is--at times--some well-earned tension. And there is an ending that might surprise some of you.On the other hand: the acting is not really that good. There are not startling or unique effects. The pacing--which was OK for my during my lunch break--might be painstakingly slow from some.Bottom line: If you have a free night and you can't find anything else that interests you, then check this one out. It isn't a complete waste of time (unlike "Aftershock" which I just saw and other than some laughs at some sick humor-e.g. a guy loses his hand--graphically--and his female partner picks it up and places it in her purse. On the way to the hospital with his injury, his female friend has her purse ripped off. Had to laugh at this bit--and a couple more.) So for an OK night, with an OK movie--you could certainly do far worse than "The Blackout."
Michael Ledo
The film focuses on 4 young adults hiking and camping on the Mohawk Trail in upstate NY. Meanwhile, Martin (Jordan Marder-writer, producer) and his expecting wife Julia (Lymari Nadal) return to his deceased parents' home in a plot to be developed. Frank (Bill Sage) is the local sheriff.When a poorly explained nation wide blackout, lasting several days happens, a group of people misbehave becoming looters, rapers, and killers as if this is the end of the world and the lights will never come back on. Eventually they, as expected, confront those in subplots A and B.That's about it. The rape is implied. The killings are not very graphic. The dialogue is boring and attempts to have a theme about light and darkness with a Genesis quote that didn't tie in that well. It didn't make me want to run out and buy duct tape and candles.Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.
rbstern
I enjoy this genre, so I decided to watch this film when it popped up on Amazon Prime, despite the mediocre reviews.Definitely has B-movie overtones: Script is a bit ham-fisted at times. Background sound effects are overdone, particularly the transitional "thunder." At volumes just loud enough to hear the dialogue, the sound effects were rattling my home theater. Definitely out of balance. Acting performances were acceptable, but it's clearly B-level talent.On the positive side, the cinematography is excellent. Not sure where it was filmed, but the backdrops are beautiful.Perhaps best of the film is that the screen writers depict what many preppers consider to be the expected reality for such a situation: The thin veneer of society will peel away quickly if the power goes out and stays off for more than a few days. The plot deals with this very effectively, and that alone will interest viewers who think about these situations.
GlukeMore
I rented this from a redbox on a whim one night, not really giving it much thought. When I picked it out, it reminded me of the TV movie "American Blackout" that came out on nat geo a while back, which had a very similar plot. But "The Blackout" surprised me, it looked good, had solid acting, and above all it had a story was realistic and not over the top. Even minor things really stood out to me, like how loud the gunshots were (it's a pet peeve of mine when gunshots are too quiet in movies). It gave that same feeling the TV show "Jericho" did, where you don't know what's going on, so the anxiety levels are up there. This movie gave me a pretty good adrenaline rush on more than one occasion. I would have liked to have seen a little more of how the survivalist made use of his preparations though, but that's not something that took away from the movie.
AD
