In Central Park, everyone starts committing suicide one day, and this suicidal behavior soon becomes an epidemic spreading around the northeast. Elliot Moore, a science teacher, wants to go investigate, so he grabs his wife Alma, and along with his friend Julian and Julian's young daughter Jess, they hop on a train into Pennsylvania. Suddenly, the train stops, because they've lost contact with everyone everywhere. People begin to wonder whether this is somehow caused by terrorists using a toxin in the air. Julian's wife was supposed to come from Philadelphia to meet them, but they hear Philly was struck by this series of suicides, so Julian decides to travel there himself, leaving Jess with Elliot and Alma. Shortly after leaving, they too are overcome with this violent urge, and both Julian and the man who gave him a ride kill themselves. Elliot, Alma, and Jess get a ride into a small town with a man who runs a plant nursery, who hits them with a theory: plants in nature can occasionally release chemicals when they perceive a threat they want to defend themselves from, so perhaps it's plant life, trying to fend off the threat that humanity causes. Elliot notices that large groups of people are struck by the desire to commit suicide first, so he believes that plants are more threatened by gangs of people than they are small groups. They shelter themselves in a home with an old lady, but when the old lady grows suddenly violent, Elliot realizes it must have made its way through groups and be attacking each individual person now. He locks himself away from Alma and Jess, and he must decide whether to join the girls for some final moments of peace or to try to protect them from himself by staying on his own.
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Best part of story, including ending:
This is a ridiculous film, with no real sense of tension or storytelling, and certainly no interesting characters worth our time.
Best scene in story:
There is some impressive violence, such as a scene at a zoo, in which a man willingly walks into a lion's den and allows a lion to rip his arms out.
Opinion about the main character:
Elliot doesn't have really any personality whatsoever, so Mark Wahlberg is given an impossible task to have to try to carry the movie by himself.
