No need for tricks or epic background, "The Clearing" is still fascinated by the father's fights among bloodthirsty zom...
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No need for tricks or epic background, "The Clearing" is still fascinated by the father's fights among bloodthirsty zombies to find his daughter.
The main character of The Clearing is Tom (Liam McIntyre). He had a bad relationship with his daughter Mira (Aundrea Smith). To improve their relationship, the two decide to go on a camping trip together in the wild. But the next morning, Tom woke up and could not see Mira anywhere. Right now, the zombie pandemic suddenly broke out, causing Tom to find a way to fight the zombies while hunting for his beloved daughter.
Choking battle against the zombies
Along with the theme of the zombies, The Clearing proved different when exploiting the context of Tom isolated in a car in the wilderness. He can not contact people to ask for help nor has a way to escape when zombies surround every corner. They are not slow like The Walking Dead, but agile and strong as Train to Busan (2016) or World War Z (2013).
The audience will feel the stifling and deadlock of Tom when the food is gone, but the zombies are also getting closer and closer as each window shattered. Every moment he waited, the danger of losing his daughter Mira forever was even more evident. From here, the work suddenly changed direction and brought long dramatic action sequences.
The battle took place fiercely when Tom had to face the zombies alone. He is always in a state of tension and running away continuously when each herd of zombies continuously pulls for no rest. Not only that, director David Matalon cleverly installed unexpected situations with many twisted scripts to attract viewers to the last minute.
The action element in the movie is very well done with genuine and bloody cuts. Tom is forced to use all familiar objects around to confront the ferocious zombies. The background is quite simple and narrow, but the close-up and shaking angles are properly applied to let viewers clearly see the fierce battle of survival.
Family meaning through impressive acting
In addition to the chasing and killing, The Clearing still has quiet moments for the father-daughter love of the two main characters. At first, the relationship between Tom and Mira was extremely strained when the two could not find a common voice. But when the pandemic broke out, what Tom wished for was just that Mira was safe. Right now, all the previous contradictions are no longer important.
The film has invested in building the character and psychological changes of the father and child very specifically. Thanks to that, viewers can easily get caught up in the story of each character, understand and sympathize with them. Thereby, the film has left a lesson for everyone to be tolerant and cherish the time with loved ones before it's too late. This is also a plus point that makes The Clearing emotional and different from other zombie movies.
Not only that, the acting in the movie is also very impressive. Famous for the violent Spartacus: War of the Damned series, Liam McIntyre obviously does a great job with his decisive and risky moves. However, Tom is not only a warrior but also a father suffering and despairing because he lost his child in the middle of the zombie epidemic. The audience will feel the grief, breakdown, and happiness of the character through a variety of amateurs' expressions. Child actor Aundrea Smith is also very round and brings many different emotions.
In general, The Clearing is a movie that is difficult to ignore for fans of the zombie series in particular and those who love action in general.
