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Review: What We Become (2015) ★★½

&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"s1">Apparently&comma; filmmakers are not concerned with showing the best and brightest humanity has to offer during a zombie apocalypse&semi; instead&comma; we are left only with protagonists who make incredibly poor decisions&comma; and are then completely flummoxed when things don’t go their way&period; The horror genre as a whole has been accused of exploiting dumb characters for the sake of narrative flow&comma; and it is just as true for zombie films as it is for the rest&period; It makes it difficult to critique a story when the characters lack common sense&comma; pulling us out of the story and forcing us to stack their decisions against the theoretical ones of normal&comma; sane&comma; self-preserving people in the real world&period; In their defense&comma; these kinds of films are not without value&comma; they just hinder themselves with such overused and lazy characterization&period; If one can get past the occasional stupidity of the characters&comma; Bo Mikkelson’s <em>What We Become<&sol;em> is not a terrible film&comma; but merely an adequate one&comma; hitting all of the points necessary to be passable&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"s1">Set in the neighborhood of Sorgenfri in Copenhagen&comma; this Danish horror follows the Johansson family and their idyllic life in the suburbs&period; However&comma; what begins as a pleasant summer turns into something much darker&comma; as a virus sweeps through their neighborhood&comma; decimating the local population and initiating a national emergency&period; The government swiftly jumps into action&comma; sealing off all houses in the area and refusing to let anyone leave&period; When the Johansson’s teenage son&comma; Gustav &lpar;Benjamin Engell&rpar;&comma; sneaks out to investigate the situation&comma; he makes some shocking discoveries about the nature of the virus and the reactionary response of the Danish government&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"s1">Though none of the characters display much intelligence when dealing with their new circumstances&comma; it is Gustav that bears the blame for exacerbating an already horrific situation&period; Like most teenagers in films &lpar;horror or otherwise&rpar;&comma; Gustav acts rashly&comma; in defiance of his parent’s&comma; and even the government’s directives&period; This could be forgiven if it wasn’t so distracting&semi; stupid people exist&comma; so&comma; if realism is the ultimate goal&comma; these kinds of characters still have a place&period; However&comma; when Gustav continues to do dumb things&comma; even after seeing the horrible consequences of his actions&comma; he ceases to be merely stupid and begins his descent into complete absurdity&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"s1">Inane choices aside&comma; the story has a generally entertaining&comma; albeit predictable flow&period; A family is trapped in their house&comma; unsure of the exact nature of the threat&comma; and unsure if they can actually trust the military personnel who are meant to protect them&period; Other characters come into the mix&comma; as the family attempts to escape their prison&comma; but they add little to the overarching plot&period; There is nothing noteworthy about <em>What We Become<&sol;em>’s story&comma; but it manages to create the proper mood and tension&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large wp-image-1415"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;03&sol;what-we-become-1200-1200-675-675-crop-000000-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"What We Become 2015" class&equals;"wp-image-2579"&sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-element-caption"><em>What We Become<&sol;em> &lpar;2015&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"s1">One aspect of <em>What We Become<&sol;em> that takes away from the overall experience is the set decoration&period; Usually&comma; when mise en scène is constructed in a very specific&comma; methodical way&comma; it serves a larger purpose&period; Perhaps the visuals are meant to echo thematic elements of the story&comma; or symbolize concepts that transcend the plot&comma; but were nonetheless important to the filmmaker&period; In&nbsp&semi;<em>What We Become<&sol;em>&comma; everything looks very cleanly reproduced&comma; but without any meaning or direction&period; The sets look like just that&colon; sets&period; Even when the Johansson’s are seen sneaking through trash-strewn streets&comma; each individual piece of garbage looks carefully curated and placed in a way that is very clearly meant to set the visual tone&period; As a result&comma; the film loses any sense of visual realism&comma; and instead looks like a cheaply crafted group of set-pieces&comma; far to clean-cut and manicured to be convincing&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"s1">Though some will find value in the juxtaposition of an intimate family drama with the backdrop of a zombie epidemic&comma; <em>What We Become<&sol;em> covers no new territory&period; It is entertaining&comma; and there are instances of genuine horror&comma; but its weaknesses overshadow its strengths&comma; which takes spectators out of the narrative&period; What we are left with is a rather bland attempt to rework the genre that accomplishes none of its lofty goals&comma; and only manages to be an adequate zombie film in the process&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h3 class&equals;"has-medium-font-size wp-block-heading"><span class&equals;"s1">What We Become &lpar;2015&rpar; Movie Rating&colon; <&sol;span><span class&equals;"s2">&starf;&starf;<&sol;span><span class&equals;"s1">&half; out of 5<&sol;span><&sol;h3>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>If you&&num;8217&semi;d like to watch <span class&equals;"s1"><em>What We Become<&sol;em> &lpar;2015&rpar;&comma; it is available to rent or purchase <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B01FGN04D8&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B01FGN04D8&amp&semi;linkId&equals;6268af243d35de3e2831e7d989754970">via Amazon here<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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