Rent 8 Days (2019)

A selection of unpleasant people do just about anything to make sure it isn't them that die - 8 Days review by DW

The entirety of continental Europe is about to be wiped out by a giant asteroid, and we are presented with a depressing array of characters (all of whom seem to suffer from some variant of narcissistic sociopathy) who will do just about anything (up to acts of downright evil and depravity) to make sure that they, either survive the impact, or perish in an alcohol-induced coma. This means making sure someone else dies (lots of other people, in fact), or they have plenty of booze. Thus, they all embark on a variety of half-baked schemes to get train rides or air flights out of the blast zone, or just get really hammered with old flames who abandoned their hollowed-out souls long ago, for a better life as far away from them as possible.

Like all real sociopaths, however, they're not actually all the bright. Their various plans backfire, leading to compromises and disappointment. This is a set-piece in making sure the hand basket makes it all the way to Hell.

The problem is, it's very hard to give much of a damn about them. They're just a bunch of sad, heartless bastards, who's only tragedy is their inability to mask their personality disorders under a period of intense stress. You feel that all the nice people are probably somewhere off camera, and we're left watching the flailing of these incompetent and unlikeable people.

When it finally turns out Europe isn't going to get it so bad, there is virtually no thought or time given to the place that's going to get it full-on-bad, instead, and we are left watching the continued machination of these sad, wretched, soulless Germans, as they continue making life worse for each other.

You really do have to wonder about the emotional intelligence of the scriptwriters, that they could produce such an impressive array of miserable, semi-functional characters.