New Life Review: Apocalyptic Thriller Burns Bright Before Sputtering Out By John Rosman’s takes the apocalyptic thriller template, reshapes it, and takes it in a different direction than you’d expect. Is that enough to keep it running? The end result is probably a tad too predictable, but writer and director Rosman makes a smart move by dropping us into the story with no context and a whole lot of ambiguity. Needless to say, this is one of those movies that works best when the viewer goes in with minimal knowledge of what’s happening beforehand.
We join the story as a blood-splattered woman (Hayley Erin) hurriedly ransacks a seemingly empty house before armed pursuers enter. She escapes through a window, and it’s clear she’s on the run. But from who and what for are still the great unknown.
The first half of New Life pieces this together with both flashbacks and information drips from the agent (Sonya Walger) tasked with pursuing her. The woman on the run is revealed to be Jessica Murdock. The lion’s share of the runtime is focused on her and the people she encounters on her journey North.
However, both main characters share a unifying sense of finality the closer their paths come to crossing. By the time we know the truth of their underlying issues, the outcome is inevitable. The issue here is that New Life loses a lot of steam at that point.
It’s relying on empathy and emotion to drive home the pointless cruelty of the world for these two women. Unfortunately,.