These Final Hours

Synopsis: Something very bad has happened and with 12 hours to go, the residents of Perth, Australia, await the end of the world. James (Nathan Phillips) decides to see it out at a party, but en route rescues a young girl Rose (Angourie Rice), who is being abducted by some men with vile intentions. Rose is desperate to find her father from whom she has been separated. And so begins a different end-of-the-world scenario to the one James had planned for himself.

Whilst comparisons to Stanley Kramer’s 1959 Melbourne-set end-of-days drama On The Beach will be inevitable, These Final Hours is something quite different. For starters we never find details of what has caused the fiery apocalypse which is moving its way south and wiping out humanity so suddenly (from the opening brief shot we assume it to be a meteor strike) but it really doesn’t matter. The point of the film is not the backstory but the characters and how they choose to face their inescapable demise. Through them, writer-director Zack Hilditch addresses the over-arching question of whether doing good is an absolute thing that must be observed irrespective of circumstances or self-interest is the ultimate human reality.

On the one hand we have a grim view of humanity. A society in which consequences no longer matter can be an ugly thing. Yet although outbursts of extreme violence, crazed random sex and mind-numbing substances are the order of the day, it is James’ redemptive journey that is the focus of the story. Whilst, somewhat bravely, Hilditch has a bleak, almost nihilistic response to his scenario, through James and his relationship with Rose he also gives us moments that reach out and touch us, leading us to speculate on how we would spend our final hours.

Performances are uniformly excellent, with Phillips giving a nuanced, mature powerhouse performance. Both script-wise and portrayal-wise all the women are completely credible in their characters with Kathryn Beck impressing as James's girlfriend, Vicky. Of special note is Lynette Curran as James’ mum in a small scene that wisely eschews sentimentality but packs a wallop nevertheless. The standout however is young Rice as Rose. This kid is a born actor, her character entrancing and, wisely, the script takes the less predictable path for her fate.

Despite being a genre movie, one that may be difficult for some to watch, These Final Hours has layers that lead one to contemplate some of life’s deeper issues and make it ultimately a more complex film than initially meets the eye. And best of all, it doesn’t labour anything, moving along at a cracking pace and wrapping up in a short, if-not-so-sweet 87 minutes. 

End-of-the-world films are rather common these days but with its recognisable setting of Perth and its characters hell-bent on partying in an inimitably Aussie style – loud, brash and blind drunk  - and with David Field’s never-seen ockerish radio announcer counting down the hours These Final Hours is distinctively Antipodean and an impressive debut for Hilditch.

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