A mysterious visitor arrives from the great beyond. One day, out of nowhere, a giant spike towers above the Earth. Measuring over ten thousand feet in height, this strange structure descends from the atmosphere but doesn’t stay put – it jumps between locations with no pattern or reason.
Where it lands, devastation follows. But it doesn’t end the world like some calamity in the movies. Life moves on in its shadow, even as the games continue with this alien interloper shifting the landscape at random.
Such is the premise of We’re All Gonna Die, the first feature film from directors Matthew Arnold and Freddie Wong. While it may sound like your typical sci-fi invasion flick, this low-budget indie is less about world-ending catastrophe than everyday existence when unexpected change throws a wrench in your plans.
Two souls struggling with loss find their diverging paths crossed, and not by accident. When the spike jumps, it takes their precious possessions too, leaving the pair to travel together in search of meaning after meaningless loss – and maybe find some solace in each other along the way.
An Unlikely Pairing
Life takes some strange turns, as our heroes Thalia and Kai discover. Thalia makes her living tending to bee hives, a profession that keeps her constantly mobile. She’s hauling her precious pollinators cross-country when her truck collides with an abandoned car parked hazardously on the road. Inside sits Kai, still reeling from a recent loss. Both have seen more than their share of sadness in a world grown unfamiliar.
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The arrival of the giant spike changes everything a dozen years ago. Now it continues confounding all with its bizarre appearing and disappearing acts. Just as Thalia and Kai exchange contact details, believing their chance meeting a mere accident, the spike interferes once more. In a flash it swaps their vehicles for strange new surroundings, leaving honey bees and hot rod suddenly stranded states apart.
With livelihoods and memories on the line, an unlikely pairing forms. Thalia needs her bees to stay afloat financially. Kai clings to the car as his final connection to the past. So together they hit the highway, bouncing from one lead to another across vast Pacific landscapes. Arguments erupt as often as awkward flirtations, yet underneath surfaces a kinship in grief.
On the road they cross paths with eccentrics, like the stoner duo biking straight to disaster. One aims to spread dad’s ashes at a baseball field; the other just wants chicken nuggets. Most colorfully, a man and his metal detector open doors with clues more valuable than any treasure found. But none know quite like Thalia and Kai the difficulty of accepting a world that marches on without loved ones.
This unlikely duo discover there may yet be reason for hope, if only in each other. Their journey finds purpose larger than any vehicle or hive, gaining clarity in voices from their past and a future now uncertain, but at least no longer alone. By journey’s end, healing looks differently than either imagined, taking wing on the open road together.
The Strange Spike
At the center of it all looms the giant spike. An alien monolith stretching skyward, it first made landfall over a decade before our story begins. But this is no simple obelisk—the spike engages in sporadic “jumping” between locations across the continent. Whenever it vanishes from one place only to reappear elsewhere, a strange transposing of landscapes occurs. Entire pieces of the physical world shift and swap in its wake. Now why or how it does this remains a mystery, one even the characters cannot solve.
We pick up in the year 2036, and flashes of news reports establish over 1,500 jumps have transpired so far. Life continues on, yet an air of unease and uncertainty persists with the spike always lurking in distant horizons. Details on exactly how society has restructured itself are left scarce, though the narratives imply surviving Western states and new territorial designations. Advanced technology still functions to a degree as well, with vehicles, phones, and infrastructure holding on despite over a decade of otherworldly disruptions.
The film establishes these sci-fi foundations early yet conversely keeps the spike as background decoration for most of the runtime. It serves more as a ominous ever-present unknown rather than driving the plot directly. Any consistency in its behaviors are ambiguous too—not fully explaining why jumping Thalia and Kai’s belongings brings them together. The climax ramps up its involvement but reveals little new context, maintaining an enigmatic quality befitting its alien nature.
While creative, this approach risks leaving unclear certain logical gaps. Viewers are left pondering open-ended questions around the spike’s full capabilities and motivations. Some wonder if human paths crossed by mere chance or part of a grander scheme beyond comprehension.
However, maintaining mystery fitting for an unfathomable extraterrestrial force while focusing more on impactful character journeys proves an interesting directorial choice overall. The strange spike leaves imagination room to roam as these impromptu travelers find solace in each other on a changing Earth.
Journeying Through Grief
In We’re All Gonna Die, the two main characters find themselves on parallel paths of grieving. Thalia shuts out the anniversary of her loved ones’ passing, while Kai remains stuck in his sadness. Both are lingering in places of past joy now turned empty. When chance brings them together, their journey opens doors for dealing with loss in new ways.
Thalia devotes herself to work as a beekeeper, perhaps using the busy routines as a means to not think. But through talking with Kai, she faces vivid memories that reopen wounds. Her pragmatic surface starts cracking to reveal profound hurt beneath. For his part, Kai admits to feeling untethered and alone, with only his friend’s abandoned car left as an anchor.
As the road trip continues, Thalia and Kai bond over sharing the intimate details of who they’ve lost. Simple conversations become cathartic sessions of shedding tears together. Where once stood a wall, understanding takes root between them—two solitary souls who had been shouldering unbearable burdens on their own.
By delving deeply into each other’s personal tragedies, the characters find solace and comfort. Faced with the immensity of another person knowing their pain so fully, they feel lessened isolation. A form of intimate healing arises that was previously unavailable to them in their insular states of mourning.
The film deserves credit for keeping a realistic scope in portraying grief. It intelligently focuses on two individuals learning to grieve as a process, not an event. But it falls short of truly capturing grief’s all-encompassing nature on a mass scale. With death perpetual across this future world, more could have been done to shine a light on society’s extensive scarring.
Overall, Thalia and Kai’s storylines touch on grief as a journey where darkness gradually lifts through human fellowship. Their relationship serves as an inspiring example of genuine empathy’s power to heal wounded hearts.
An Unexpected Connection
From their chance meeting on an isolated road, there’s an spark between Thalia and Kai in We’re All Gonna Die. She’s drawn to his charm despite efforts to keep distant, while he finds comfort in her dry wit. It’s clear they see in each other understanding where others fall short.
Their rapport develops playfully at first. Banter flies as they assess damage from Thalia’s crash into Kai’s stalled car. An immediate intimacy shines through despite walls both keep up. When the spike strands them together, an easy camaraderie takes hold, two damaged souls finding solace where least expected.
Ashly Burch and Jordan Rodrigues make the most of this dynamic. Their dialogue buzzes with chemistry, infusing simple exchanges with nuanced emotion. Whether bickering or sharing deep talks by the fire, the connection resonates.
Yet inconsistencies emerge too. Tensions turn forced as road-trip frustrations mount, with the characters trading snappy remarks where before there seemed to be care. The dialogue also falls repetitive, with wit giving way to wearisome griping that doesn’t match how real people would interact. The directors fail to effectively modulate the tones, similar to their failure to depict natural dialogue for people in the characters’ situations.
By film’s end, the relationship shifts unclear. Do these uneasy companions find understanding, or remain strangers circumstantially entwined? Despite visible sparks, mishandled scripting leaves their ending ambiguous – a missed chance for the characters’ growth to impactfully conclude threads woven through the narrative.
Ultimately, Burch and Rodrigues elevate material that risks diminishing what begins so compellingly. Their undeniable rapport keeps engaging where repetitive exchanges might have numbed. But opportunities were lost for the writing to strengthen bonds the acting works to build.
Moments that Resonate
One scene in We’re All Gonna Die really lingers is when Thalia opens up to Kai about struggling with grief. Sitting around their campfire, she describes how remembering her lost loved ones means “losing them all over again.” Ashly Burch delivers the line with raw, quiet emotion that stops the film in its tracks. Her vulnerability draws out Kai to open up too. Where before they bickered, here a genuine connection sparks—two damaged souls finding solace in shared understanding.
Another powerful moment comes after a spike jump strands the pair in a glass lake that was once a town. As colorful fish swim where houses stood, the surreal landscape underscores their own disorientation. Faced with the spike’s indifference to life, Thalia breaks down. Her matter-of-fact façade cracks amid the surreality, revealing a woman pushed to her limits by loss upon loss. This visceral reaction says more than any monologue about her bottled-up pain.
Regrettably, not all scenes resonate so strongly. The meet-cute playing out as Thalia crashes into Kai feels forced. And their bickering stretches long after charm fades, tensions turning shrill without cause. The potato chip lovers who later join them exemplify another issue—characters introduced solely to extend runtime, not progress the plot.
One moment does intrigue though it too goes nowhere: Kai discusses his absent family, a story left untold. Flashes of his past tease a deeper narrative left unfulfilled. Could exploring his and Thalia’s individual journeys have lent greater weight to their union? As is, we know them only through their interactions, not as multifaceted people in their own rights. More nuanced character development could have turned a road movie into a poignant exploration of hope against despair.
In the end, We’re All Gonna Die resonates most through its smaller, stiller scenes of simple, genuine humanity—like two lost souls opening their hearts to heal, if only for a moment, in a world determined to scatter them once more.
Assessing We’re All Gonna Die
So in the end, what to make of We’re All Gonna Die? The film tackles big themes of loss and finding purpose in a world turned upside down. On that front, it gets partway there. Scenes where Thalia and Kai open up about their grief shine real moments of humanity. You feel their pain and root for them to find solace. Yet other plots feel like filler, distracting from developing these meaningful arcs.
There’s also a frankly interesting concept at the core – what would we do with daily life if an alien force randomly rearranged our world? But the “spike” stays an enigma, despite its potential for exploring how we make meaning amid meaningless change. The film raises profound questions, then fails to dive very deep.
As a road trip comedy it entertains better, with likable leads’ charm carrying weaker scenes. Burch and Rodrigues share real chemistry, bringing flashes of humor and heart to their troubled characters. Their dynamic ultimately redeem scenes that otherwise fall flat.
So in the end, We’re All Gonna Die offers glimpses of brilliance amongst flaws. It aims high for commentary but settles often for casual fun. As a result, it may leave some unsatisfied and others just pleasantly diverted. Personally I found the intimacy of grief scenes most impactful, even if the overall story felt half-formed.
For those seeking thoughtful sci-fi with something to say, it provides just a taste, leaving you wanting more. But fans of quirky indie films with heart will find plenty to appreciate. Directors Arnold and Wong show real talent, though could tighten future works. There’s potential here for them to tell profoundly moving, mind-bending stories if future efforts can better balance lightness and depth.
In the end, We’re All Gonna Die represents a promising start for its young filmmakers, even if the finished package remains a bit uneven. With time and experience, Arnold and Wong could shape truly memorable visions from their imaginative concepts and authentic feel for character-driven stories. For their debut, flashes of brilliance shine through, leaving us hopeful for where they may yet go.
The Review
We're All Gonna Die
We're All Gonna Die shows glimpses of promise despite uneven execution of its engaging sci-fi concept and moving examination of grief. Directors Arnold and Wong craft likable characters and scenes of intimacy, though their debut suffers from an imbalance that favors casual humor over substantive exploration. Still, flashes of brilliance shine through in poignant moments, demonstrating the filmmakers' talent for crafting heartfelt, imaginative stories. The high points lift it above mediocre, but it never fully delivers on its potential. Still, this reviewer is hopeful for where Arnold and Wong may yet go as storytellers.
PROS
- Engaging sci-fi concept of an alien artifact randomly rearranging the world
- Charismatic lead performances by Ashly Burch and Jordan Rodrigues
- Poignant scenes exploring themes of grief and finding purpose
CONS
- Story feels unfocused and half-formed at times
- Underdeveloped characters outside the leads
- Fails to substantially explore its intriguing concept and premises
- Plot feels filler-heavy and comedic tones undermine dramatic potential
