"It's always the same dream. I'm wondering- naked, in this strange maze of hallways, and I feel this creeping sense of impending doom, like something terrible is about to happen. I pass my room mate, my Mom, my best friend Stella. Basically every significant person in my life. And they're all just staring at me like I'm some kind of museum display behind glass. And then I see two people I have never met before- A mysterious, unearthly, beautiful woman, and this read haired girl. And they both seem to be leading me deeper into the corridor. This is when I notice the black door. And I'm not sure why, but some how I know that I've got to find out what's behind it. So I grab hold of the knob, open the door and discover... A dumpster."
I watched the film Kaboom on Sunday, with my boyfriend and his friend. Below is the official HD trailer. The breif synopsis from IMDB read as follows:
Smith's everyday life in the dorm - hanging out with his arty, sarcastic best friend Stella, hooking up with a beautiful free spirit named London, lusting for his gorgeous but dim surfer roommate Thor - all gets turned upside-down after one fateful, terrifying night.
With a name like Kaboom, and a synopsis like that, you would expect it to be some random, highschool teen film. But it was actually extremely good! Not only did it have quite a hot cast (Particularly Juno Temple and Thomas Dekker) the story was actually quite interesting. It looked at the way we behave in college (or university as we would call it). In fact, Stella describes it as follows:
"Smith, college is just an intermission between high school and the rest of your life. Four years of having sex, making stupid mistakes, and experiencing stuff. It's a pit stop, not the second coming of the Messiah."
But in fact, you've guessed it, it was. All of a sudden the film goes from being hillariously funny, somewhat truthful and quite sexy, to being somewhat trippy and strange. All of a sudden there is a witch, who can give fantastic orgasms, unlike nothing you will find on earth, and there are men running around in black outfits and animal masks. And magical cookies. Oh... and Incest...
OK, so I probably should expain that last one. Basically (and this is only a brief summary) It turns out Smith's dad, who is supposed to be dead, isnt. Infact, not only is he not dead - he is the leader of a mental cult that sacrafices young girls. He also has several wives in several places, and the mother of the girl Smith has been sleeping with - London - happens to be one of them.
To continue the summary, Smith happens to be the first born boy of this Cult leader, and his 19th birthday starts the end of the world as we know it. On his 19th birthday, it is decreed that he will return to his father, and when he returns, all humans on the face of the earth will be destroyed. With a push of the button, only to be executed by the father, nukes will be launched from every major country on the planet, with the aim of destroying eveything on the surface. Those who are part of the cult will be safe in a mass underground shelter, which will protect them from the blast. Then, when the deed is done, those members will arise, and a new era will begin. And the leader of the people will be Smith.
WHAT A LOAD OF RUBISH!
This raises a number of social, economical and health issues. Not least, if they blow up the entirity of the surface with nukes, there will be no animals to provide meat and clothing, no crops to eat, no shelter to live in. even what has survived would be incredibly irradiated, and therefore, unfit for consuption without the risk of mutation. However, this was not an issue that needed to be looked at. At the end of the film, on tyhe pressing of the launch button, the whole world just exploded...
Thats right. It EXPLODED. i.e. Kaboom. No climax. No saviour. Just a miscalculation that sees the world entirely obliterated. it wasnt even that well executed (in a production and SFX term). It didnt work within the context of the film. infact, it looks like they run out of money with 15 minutes of production left, so found the cheapest way of ending the film. Had the film lasted for another 10 minutes, there would have been planty of time for Smith, his mother and London, along with those opposed to the cult to make it to the shelter before the destruction took place. Maybe they would have talked the leader out of it. Maybe there would have been a touchy feely reunited scene. Maybe the world would have ended even so, but at least the story would have been wrapped up a little better. but no. with no explination, and no lead up, a funny looking man pressed the button. What an abrupt and cheap ending.
