This is the type of film that creeps up on you, and you find yourself smiling at the end. David Arnott is a steriotypical unattractive, intellectual geek...Jeri Ryan is the attractive woman with issues, and David Montgomery Jr. is the uneducated but handsome hiker...all survivors of a mysterious, unexplained plague that has wiped out human kind, who meet up at various stages. Arnott is the narrator of this tale, as he video tapes his exploits and his personal accounts for any other survivors.
It's Arnott's performance that provides the tempo for this tale. He plays on his character's faults, showing how a man might feel to have the world dumped in his lap, and become more and more annoyed when things don't work out exactly as he perceives they should....as in his relationship with Ryan. The man now has his fantasy woman, but dealing with her individual emotions as a real human being is another story. And then of course being confronted when a third, better looking male survivor unexpectantly shows up.
Jeri Ryan (who does not appear in the form fitting jump suit on the VHS cover) gives a deft performance as a woman with relationship issues (as she warns future generations in her video legacy against "...women like me.")who wants to do the right thing, but just can't get past her obvious distaste for Arnott's physical and emotional being. Ryan once again shows that her acting skills are not soley based on her wearing tight clothes, and you might be surprised by some of her raw, emotional outbursts.
And although Montgomery's character doesn't have much to do, he nails his part as a fun loving guy who accepts the situation and let's nature take it course...as long as that course includes free drugs and a route into Ryan's pants.
Bottom line is you have a look at people who are given the world to start anew, and yet they just can't seem to kick the old habits and stereo-typed roles given to them by a society that no longer exists. Arnott shows deft comic timing as he jumps from dealing with his fellow survivors and then telling his side to his video recorder "audience", which is pretty much the focal point of much of the action. Don't expect gross out corpses or devastating scenes of dead cities or extreme violence...all the action takes place in what appears to be a desert area outside of California. The fun is watching these people come together. (...)
