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Anchor Bay Films
In "The Divide" (from l.) Courtney Vance, Michael Biehn, Ivan Gonzalez, Lauren German, Ashton Holmes, Milo Ventimiglia, and Michael Eklund are forced to play "Survivor: Basement Edition."
Things go from bad to worse for both the bedraggled characters and the audience in Xavier Gens’ grungy, post-apocalyptic thriller that uses the plight of a group of troubled survivors of a nuclear attack as a microcosm of the breakdown of civilization. Relentlessly unpleasant and nihilistic in its approach and execution, "The Divide" is best appreciated as a virtual instruction manual on how not to behave during a crisis. Theatrical prospects look appropriately bleak.
Set in the basement of a Manhattan building (why are NYC and LA always on the front lines?), the story concerns nine strangers who find themselves violently at odds as their outlook for survival looks increasingly grim. At first, the building’s superintendent (Michael Biehn), a 9/11 survivor who had both the foresight and paranoia to stock his boiler room like a bomb shelter, takes charge. But his macho authority dissipates as the rest of the stock characters eventually become unhinged.
Things go from bad to worse when a team of menacing Hazmat suit-wearing figures burst in and steal a hysterical mother’s (Rosanna Arquette) young daughter for unexplained reasons. To cope with her grief, the mother smears lipstick all over her face and begins having wanton sex with the two young thugs (Milo Ventimiglia, Michael Eklund) who have taken charge after a violent coup.
Ultimately leading to a climax featuring unrelieved brutality and stomach-churning filth -- to say that a septic tank plays a major role here is an understatement -- "The Divide" takes a painfully long time to get there. And while the actors deserve some credit for enduring what must have been highly unpleasant shooting conditions, that doesn’t excuse the unrestrained hamminess of their performances. Surely, such veterans as Vance and Arquette deserve better material, not to mention Biehn, who must be wistfully recalling the glory days of "The Terminator" and "Aliens."
A small group of people manage to find refuge from a nuclear attack in their apartment building's basement, but soon struggle with a dwindling food supply, each other and threats from the outside world. Opens Jan. 13.
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