Before the fall aka Tre Dias(2008)

We've heard and seen this scenario before - A giant asteroid/comet is heading towards earth and the earths governments are doing everything they can to stop it, either destroy it och disrupt its heading. Before the fall takes this premise, and does something entirely different with it. Instead of chronicling the plans to stop the threat, the movie is set on Earth who is being told that all efforts have failed. The asteroid will hit the Earth in three days and there is nothing we can do. The hero of the movie, Alejandro, lives in a small spanish town and is seen as a lazy person, someone who is a bit slow in head, and who is always overshadowed by his brother - the hero of the village who in his youth helped the police catch a serial killer who was killing children in the area. Ale intends to spend his last days doing nothing while the rest of the world tries to find some safe place even though there is no chance of survival but his mother believes that the killer that his brother helped put away has escaped from prison to get revenge. She forces him to drive to the countryhouse where his brothers children are spending their summer. When they arrive they realize that the children know nothing of the coming end and Ales mother intends to keep it that way. The next morning, Ales mother is found dead, drowned in a nearby stream. Then a stranger arrives, claiming to be a friend of their father...

Yes, this is no ordinary End of the world flick. There is some of the looting and killing that you might expect, but only in small scenes that never really interfer with the mainstory. Instead, we follow Ale on his journey from the black sheep of the family to the protector as he tries to keep the children in the dark and at the same time protect them from the stranger who may or may not be the escaped killer. This is a moody drama/thriller as we follow Ales awkard attempts to keep the siblings from finding out what is going on and keeping the stranger out. Towards the end the movie kicks into another gear which works just fine and as long as you dont expect a high concept scifithriller, you will be rewarded with a somewhat slow moving but tense thriller. The acting is good throughout, the movie, especially the lead actor who plays a character who everyone has very low expectations of and who seems to have resigned himself to being just that loser everyone thinks he is, and he has a problem with being someone else, someones hero. He just doesnt know how to. The fine script keeps you on your toes from the beginning to the end, with just one mistake - a really stupid and unnecessary scene just before the ending. You know it when you see it. Other than that this is slowmoving but good thriller with an original story and a professional execution. Rewarding.