Empty (2011)

Okay, I love the premise. America (probably all of America, North and South) runs out of gas and people will be all over the place WHEN it happens.BUT, that is NOT the REAL premise of the movie, the REAL premise is that a guy and his girlfriend are having relationship issues that mostly revolve around the fact the girl's father does NOT like the boyfriend.As almost EVERYBODY here said, can the two of them not have a conversation that does NOT end in an argument? I'm sorry but the premise breaks down when the two of them don't bother to buy into it right from the beginning.They is NO GAS anywhere. The ONLY vehicle with gas is theirs and what is left in their tank. POWER goes out and they treat it as some little minor inconvenience. (Well, in fact, it was, because it seemed the power came back on at times during the filming of the movie.) They find out from their various relatives that they are in for at least 3 months of this but instead of trying to do some long-term planning on how they will survive, they act as though they're on some little "outing" somewhere.******SPOILER******* Obviously, Piper's dad was right because the ONLY reason Dell picked up the gun was to use it in some psychotic rage at the end of the movie, instead of using it on either the knife-wielding car jacker or the thieves who stole their food.I'm sorry but some kind of thought should have been given to WHAT would you do WHEN it happens. This whole production reminded me of what a couple of rich college kids would shoot if mommy and daddy financed their "brilliant" production. Give this a PASS because in reality, EMPTY is not about the gas tank, it's a reference to the quality of the script.

I watch movies, especially B movies. I admit I am a glutton for punishment because I love zombie flicks and most of them are horrible. I find good in almost every movie I watch. This movie has nothing to make it redeemable.But, no zombie movie I have ever seen (and that includes the Italian zombie flicks) approached the movie "Empty" for absolutely trash. The lead female (Ashley C. Williams) might be able to act, but she never demonstrates it here. The lead male needs to find a line of work that has nothing to do with show business for he never even approached being a believable character.They had a basic idea of societal breakdown following a lack of gasoline worldwide, which has many opportunities for great story but they found none of them. Both "Piper" and "Dell" are utterly unlikeable characters who spend the entire time demonstrating zero charisma or chemistry. The female lead has lines written to show her as a vapid silly little twit, as an example, she begs her boyfriend to stop hitting the guy who just attacked them and (for a young broke couple) throws money away like a Hilton-Heiress while her boyfriend is presented as a jobless loser with a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas and the reasoning ability of a drunken pre-teen. Both of them take every dangerous path, every ignorant path and every self-damaging path they are offered.Both of them treat each other like enemies rather than lovers or friends, and the male lead is basically a whiny child. While watching this movie I kept hoping they would both be tortured to death graphically for hours so I could enjoy their karmic reward but it never happens. It is reported that this movie had a budget of US$10000, and I have to assume they spent USD$9999 of it on getting drunk enough to make them think it was worth doing.IMDb shows it as having a rating of 4.7/10 from 176 users, I have to assume that over 100 of those votes came from the family and friends of the cast and crew.

The concept behind this movie was really good, but the script and acting ruined it. This "couple" (who look like they're around 23-24 years old) act like they are 15 year old freshman in highschool -- the constant lame arguing and bickering about crap that has nothing to do with the concept of the movie was even worse then the two actors trying to make it believable.The production was horrid as well -- it looks like this was filmed and produced on a flip camera and using windows movie maker. I like indie flicks, but come on now...invest in a decent camera \ post production editing facility! I also didn't understand some of the scenes...like the guy with the car in the road...what was that all about? There's no gas, so he's going to all of a sudden turn into a kidnapper \ rapist? Seriously? How does that help him get food \ gas? If anything, it will create another kid who needs more food and more gas (lol).And the fight scene between him and the boyfriend was so bad -- I've seen better fight scenes and acting in soap operas.I didn't get the ending either...the boyfriend would rather starve to death than take help from the girlfriend's father -- so he starts shooting innocent people? And why the F--- didn't he use the gun before when the two a*holes broke into their house and stole their food and supplies? It just doesn't make sense.Last but not least -- some sex scenes at least would have given this 3 stars.

Surprisingly I liked this movie, despite all the contrived situations and somewhat amateurish production values (obviously if done on 10K quite remarkable).But nearly all movies are contrived to some extent more or less. Perhaps it was the simple guitar soundtrack that kept me watching. I don't quite know, obviously the premise had some resonance.However the thing that irked me most was the antagonism that developed between the the two lead protagonists? but I guess its central to the theme of the movie.Of course the other great hole in it was the essential collapse of the USA within 6 days. Quite impossible under almost any scenario, but if you can ignore that, if you just want to watch a simple movie then its O.K.I especially liked the ending.