Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2010

Carriers: ©MMVIII by PARAMOUNT VANTAGE, A Division of PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION All Rights Reserved

This bleak vision of a post-pandemic world is fairly effective, as far as it goes. It follows the wanderings of four uninfected young people (Lou Taylor Pucci, Chris Pine, Piper Perabo and Emily Van Camp) through a deserted Southwest, scavenging what they can. This is not a zombie movie; the infected don’t bite or even move much, just sit around gasping and being highly contagious. Or dead. Overall, it’s a fairly realistic depiction of how humanity would react when faced with extinction. And while it brings up a few perplexing moral quandaries, bottom line is that it’s just not that interesting. Japanese title: Phase 6.