4:44: Last Day on Earth

Though it begins with some promise, 4:44: Last Day on Earth quickly devolves into an absolutely endless piece of work that’s rife with laughably avant-garde elements and underdeveloped, one-dimensional characters. The thin narrative follows bohemian couple Cisco (Willem Dafoe) and Skye (Shanyn Leigh) as they prepare for the literal end of the world, with the deteriorating ozone layer scheduled to incinerate the planet at exactly 4:44 A.M. It’s an almost inherently engrossing premise that is, at the outset, employed to compelling effect by writer/director Abel Ferrara, as the filmmaker, in sharp contrast to most similarly-themed efforts, doesn’t shy away from explaining just why this calamitous event is occurring – which, in turn, lends the proceedings a frighteningly plausible feel that is, unfortunately, all-too-short-lived. The movie’s staggeringly deliberate pace holds the viewer at arm’s length to an increasingly problematic degree, with the less-than-engrossing atmosphere compounded by Ferrara’s ongoing emphasis on aggressively pointless elements (eg the consistent incorporation of incongruous stock footage into the proceedings). And although Ferrara has peppered the film with a few compelling moments – eg an anchorman signs off for the last time – 4:44: Last Day on Earth suffers from a progressively uneventful feel that prevents the viewer from working up an ounce of interest in or sympathy for the protagonists’ meandering exploits. By the time the underwhelming and eye-rollingly pretentious final stretch rolls around, 4:44: Last Day on Earth has definitively established itself as a hopeless waste of time that squanders both its setup and Dafoe’s typically intense performance – with Ferrara’s relentlessly misguided choices transforming the movie into an interminable cinematic endurance test.

no stars out of ****