Twenty years have passed since a mysterious infection ravaged
the planet. Humanity is now a shell of
its former self and what’s left of it loses more hope day after day as it
struggles to survive. For Joel Miller, having
lost the most important things in his life at the beginning of the nightmare
has left him a broken man. That is until
he has an important job shoved into his path.
Ellie is a girl born after the apocalypse and harbors a secret that
could lead to its end. Together, Joel
and Ellie begin a journey across the desolate ruins on the United States,
searching for glimmers of hope in a world where the only thing worse than the
monsters the virus created is the lowest depths of the darkness Humanity has
fallen into.
(Quick Note: Yes, yes, this is my THIRD Live Action
First Impression Friday in 3 weeks. I
was supposed to do Trigun: Stampede today but I was that impressed with
the premiere of The Last of Us and since it’s video game related and I do cover
that kind of stuff here, I had to do a quick write up. I promise, PROMISE, we’ll be back to actual
Anime First Impression next week with Trigun: Stampede. Ok with that out of the way…)
Love it or hate it (especially in the case of its
sequel), The Last of Us is an important part of Video Gaming History. Beyond it’s graphic and violent gameplay, it’s
character writing and hard hitting realism are second to none, crafting a
gorgeous but brutal video gaming masterpiece that has won tons of critical
acclaim. After a couple of years of
waiting, HBO has finally unleashed the live action TV Series to the world and
now we all hold our breath to see if it lives up to the highest levels of hype
that have preceded it. And after the
very negative fan reception to the Halo adaptation, Live Action Video Game
projects could use a big win. Personally,
I haven’t played either of the two Last of Us games and only know bits and pieces
about the story and the characters. So I’m
approaching this with a very, very fresh perspective. So…how’s the first episode?
One major hurdle facing The Last of Us is timing. The games are still popular but series about the
Zombie Apocalypse are kind of running their course. The most obvious of these is The Walking
Dead, which wrapped its 11 year run last year…and still has more spinoffs
coming so let’s just call what comes next The Walking Dead Shippuden. How can The Last of Us stand out? A couple of ways actually and you know that
from the opening 20mins of this extended 90min premiere episode. We see the very beginnings of the viral outbreak
that will bring about the collapse of civilization and save for obvious CG planes
falling from the sky (in spectacular fashion), it’s riveting and terrifying. Also, the infected aren’t shuffling around
like Zombies. No theyre hella fast and extremely
feral and the kills from those that aren’t even full fledged Clickers (i think
that’s what they’re called) aren’t pretty. It’s also smart to play the focus of the intro
on Joel, his daughter Sarah and brother Tommy, showing us that from the outset,
things are really, really bad and theyre only going to get worse. It gives us a quick connection to Joel so
when we jump forward 20 years to the present day apocalypse, you feel for his
loses. While I’m sure there will be
other characters to follow beyond Joel and Ellie, I hope that The Last of Us doesn’t
pull a Walking Dead and balloon the cast to a couple dozen we can’t keep track
of.
No matter the production design or how the story is
chosen to be adapted, nothing works without two solid leads to play one of
gamings most iconic leading duos. Rest
assured Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are more than up to the task as Joel and
Ellie respectively. Pascal has become
one of the most beloved and reliable leading men since he was first Game of
Thrones. One could say he’s playing a
role similar to his most recognizable role as Din Djarin aka The Mandalorian
but Joel is far more rugged and burnt out than his armored counterpart. Pascal
channels every emotion you can think of from struggling but loving dad to emotionally
destroyed to full on rage monster in the premiere and yeah, he’s freaking
great. His fellow Game of Thrones alum,
Bella Ramsey, was one of GoT’s breakout and memorable characters and Ellie is a
solid follow up for her. Ramsey imbues
Ellie with plenty of sass but also good amounts of vulnerability when reminded
of people and names that I’m sure we’ll see in flashbacks down the line. She and Joel have both lost a lot and we
learn that from Ellie without seeing as much of her history as we have Joels. The pair aren’t together as much in the
premiere until near the last act but we get a good taste of what theyre
dysfunctional dynamic will be like in the weeks ahead and it looks like it will
be both fun and emotional.
I’ll admit, I didn’t have many expectations for watching
The Last of Us because I don’t have as great a connection to the games as
others that I know. However, as an
outsider looking in, I’m actually excited to see where this goes. The mini movie premiere was solid from the
haunting images of violence and destruction on Day One of the outbreak to the
heartbreaking images of what civilization as become in the 2 decades
since. Headed by a pair of more than
capable leads, The Last of Us just became a required weekly watch for me. I don’t think it’ll get me to shell out a few
hundred bucks for a PS5 to play the games but I’m ready to enjoy the ride and see
where it takes me.
Btw since I made the joke already, when the next Walking
Dead spinoff ends when do you think we’ll get Boruto: Walking Dead Next
Generations?
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