The tediously drifting story and familiar apocalyptic themes leave this feeling like low-shelf Ridley Scott, despite the compellingly unstable future he’s created. Yes, sadly, this is not going to rank among the more celebrated highlights of the director’s filmography. But, it’s not all bad. For one, the cast clearly understood the assignment, making the most of this bleak, lawless future landscape and giving the material more life than it often deserves. And while Jacob Elordi is effective in all his moping, brooding glory, it’s Josh Brolin who really steals the show as the gruff, no-nonsense Bangley. He brings the kind of weathered, take-no-prisoners energy that makes you wish the movie would just stop what it’s doing and follow him around instead. Instead, what we get is an often jarringly mismatched blend of genres, with Elordi and Margaret Qualley attempting to find romance amidst gun battles, explosions and the overall general chaos. And while the tonal unevenness can certainly be distracting, it’s not the movie’s biggest problem. That would be the meandering story, which really wanders, taking more than a few unnecessary detours along the way. Still, there’s an interesting, lived-in quality to this apocalyptic future, and the film does enough world-building to keep us curious about the lawless place its characters inhabit. But, if you’re looking for anything particularly new in the way of themes, well, you’ll be out of luck. Yep, it’s another dive into grasping for hope, surviving isolation, overcoming grief and searching for human connection in a broken world. We’ve seen them explored countless times before, and this movie doesn’t bring enough of a fresh perspective to make them resonate. Ultimately, there’s a fascinating world here, a committed cast and a few genuinely compelling characters - but they’re all trapped inside a story that takes far too long to figure out where it’s going.