My Review of "This is how it ends"

I have to admit this movie deceived me. I was scrolling through Netflix to find a good disaster movie to watch and I saw How It Ends. It looked pretty similar to the Rock's San Andreas movie but I was hoping for aliens.

I noticed that it came out in 2018 yet I haven't even heard of it. I should have saw this as a sign of a B-movie. Usually when something that's that old and you haven't heard of it, then it's kind of a 50-50 coin toss. It could be really good or really bad.

So I start watching this movie and it goes according to plan. The main character is Will, played by Theo James. He and his girlfriend Sam, played by Kat Graham, are expecting a baby. So I guess Will decides to go visit Sam's parents to ask for their blessing to marry Sam.

Sam's father, Tom, played by Forest Whitaker, happens to be ex-military and is very protective of his daughter. So obviously Tom is extremely hard on Will. They have these little inside jokes that will eventually be revealed at the end.

Next thing you know there's a disaster and Sam disappears. Will goes back to tell Tom and they both go on this adventure to find Sam. Sam is on the other side of the country so it's going to be extra daunting as they're driving from one end to the other.

That's where I thought hey this movie might be pretty good. Then the relationship stuff started to happen. This movie isn't about the disaster at all. It's more about a friendship bond that Will and Tom are going to have as they cross America during such turbulent times.

At no part of the movie do I even see what the heck is happening or what the disaster is. I mean you sort of get glimpses but you don't really have a full understanding of what it is. This could have been a TV series instead of a movie. I actually think it would be a better TV series than a movie.

There's parts close to the end that I thought could have been a movie on it's own. The ending was a bit rushed and that's really unfortunate. They added this character at the end that I don't even see any use for. I guess to give it the movie a little more at the edge of your seat to wonder if there's going to be a twist at the end or not. I thought it was really unnecessary.

What did work was the relationship with Will and Tom. I thought this relationship was pretty well done. You get to see them change over the time they spend together.

The only thing is that there are a few characters in the movie that enter their lives and don't really serve any purpose to the story. I guess they serve some little addition but it's almost like some side quest in a role playing video game that they had to complete before they continued their adventure.

It was a nice attempt at putting a twist to a disaster movie but they added a few too many unnecessary details that just extended the movie for no reason.

Overall, I thought it was an enjoyable film but nothing stellar. Forest Whitaker is again amazing. This guy really is underappreciated. I think it was kind of a ho-hum movie. It's there for killing time. I have to give this movie a 6 out of 10. If there is absolutely nothing to watch, check it out. Otherwise, steer clear of this movie.