SPOILERS. What a disappointment. After hearing much about this blink-and-you-missed it 80s apocalyptic love-story thriller, I finally managed to track down a battered old VHS copy, but my feeling now was I needn't have made the effort; it's been hard to find for a reason.
Anthony Edwards gives a credible performance in an otherwise ridiculous film. The director seemed intent on delivering the antithesis of the fluffy neon 80s teen fare but in the process blew up his own film by throwing logic and plot out of the window. It starts well enough and the middle section of the film is quite exciting, especially as the time begins to tick away and Harry is hampered at every corner from achieving what he sets out to do. Sadly it never progresses from there, as the constant set-backs just get annoying in their obvious contrivance and the film descends into ludicrousness.
Ultimately this is a seriously bleak film, especially as the "point" of this is the eternal nature of love, even one hour with your true love is better than nothing etc etc etc. This entirely fails to pay off as the script for the lovers is risible (they won't be diamonds, they'll be soup) and Mare Winningham is not up to the task of proving to us that she genuinely loves this man in the closing moments, rather that she is scared out of her mind (who wouldn't be) and will say anything. No one apart from Edwards gets to advance their character anyway, so Winningham is just dragged through the streets at 4am in a daze. A better tagline for the film would have been "If you had one hour left to live, would you waste it like Harry and Julie?".
I can't help thinking what a fascinating film this could have been if Harry had started all the panic and bloodshed only to discover he'd been wrong all along - that would have been a far more interesting ending to the one we're presented with. I found myself praying for a "it was only a dream" sequence at the end, and I deeply loathe those, so that only goes to show how little I appreciated this film. Avoid this like fallout.
Anthony Edwards gives a credible performance in an otherwise ridiculous film. The director seemed intent on delivering the antithesis of the fluffy neon 80s teen fare but in the process blew up his own film by throwing logic and plot out of the window. It starts well enough and the middle section of the film is quite exciting, especially as the time begins to tick away and Harry is hampered at every corner from achieving what he sets out to do. Sadly it never progresses from there, as the constant set-backs just get annoying in their obvious contrivance and the film descends into ludicrousness.
Ultimately this is a seriously bleak film, especially as the "point" of this is the eternal nature of love, even one hour with your true love is better than nothing etc etc etc. This entirely fails to pay off as the script for the lovers is risible (they won't be diamonds, they'll be soup) and Mare Winningham is not up to the task of proving to us that she genuinely loves this man in the closing moments, rather that she is scared out of her mind (who wouldn't be) and will say anything. No one apart from Edwards gets to advance their character anyway, so Winningham is just dragged through the streets at 4am in a daze. A better tagline for the film would have been "If you had one hour left to live, would you waste it like Harry and Julie?".
I can't help thinking what a fascinating film this could have been if Harry had started all the panic and bloodshed only to discover he'd been wrong all along - that would have been a far more interesting ending to the one we're presented with. I found myself praying for a "it was only a dream" sequence at the end, and I deeply loathe those, so that only goes to show how little I appreciated this film. Avoid this like fallout.