The End (2025)

Joshua Oppenheimer returns to our screens with a two and a half hour musical set in a post-apocalyptic bunker- quite a left turn from someone who brought us such bleak previous projects as The Act of Killing (2012) and The Look of Silence (2014).

The bunker in question is owned by Michael Shannon's oligarch and his wife (Tilda Swinton); and after the historical event that forced them down there, they took with them their son (George McKay), their personal doctor (Lennie James), butler (Tim McInnerny) as well as Mom's best friend (Bronagh Gallagher).

Swinton's character in some ways is the central piece; lying to her son about various things to uphold some sense of purpose, and not simply for her benefit. By the same token she's also at times the one who's constantly on the verge of losing control- when Moses Ingram's survivor somehow finds her way into their presence. After they try to catch and kill her, and eventually decide to let her stay with them, Mom is the one who remains suspicious- but we eventually learn the reasons why her trust might be stretched.

Shannon and McKay are both on terrific form. McKay's son was born in the bunker so he knows no different; this is his world and and it's evidently been easy enough to mold him, but he's now old enough to feel that killing a seemingly innocent young girl isn't right. And naturally, he has his own feelings- he's never had the companionship of a female around his age.

The End is a very odd film, grandly ambitious in its scope, and throwing a musical into the mix adds another tricky element. Unlike many reviews I've read of the film, I actually rather enjoyed the music and thought the songs worked particularly well. The film's problems lie elsewhere.

In attempting to produce something with this range, it's extremely difficult to nail every element, and indeed Oppenheimer's vision doesn't hold together. For everything that works about it, it feels frustratingly hollow. Although the performances across the board are one of The End's great strengths, it's the characters themselves that left me cold. At the end of the day I just didn't care about any of them.

There's plenty to look at, plenty to listen to that holds your attention- the set design is hugely impressive and Oppenheimer does a great job of making you feel like you're trapped with this group of people deep underground. Part of the problem is that you don't want to be trapped with these people for two and a half hours, and by the time you reach the end you're glad of it's end- having said that, to say the film drags would be unfair.

The whole thing aches with ambition and that in itself is impressive. At the end of the day Oppenheimer's film is certainly worth watching- if only to form your own opinion on this sprawling, bleak, frustrating work. 6.9/10