Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Extinction, apart from the casting of two popular TV actors in the lead roles, is the fact it is a movie that uses a by now perhaps too common trope, that of a “zombie apocalypse,” to instead tell the tale of friendship gone very sour and the possibility of its redemption.

The relationship between the two leads, played by Lost’s Matthew Fox and Burn Notice’s Jeffrey Donovan, is never really explained.  Are they good friends?  Brothers?  Brothers-In-Law?  We never really know, though the film hints that their relationship existed a very long time, to when they were kids.

The movie begins with the two of them on a bus filled with other people.  Two heavily armed soldiers watch over the group as the bus, and another in front of it, head to some kind of safe ground. Perhaps they’re being moved to a military base or perhaps an airport to transport survivors somewhere else.

The two accompany Emma, an attractive young woman carrying a very young baby.  Tension rises as the child cries, and rises still more when the bus in front of them stops and doesn’t move.  Through the darkness the group cannot see what’s going on in the bus in front of them.

And then a gunshot is heard and soon all hell breaks loose.

In the ensuing chaos we discover our leads care deeply for Emma and her baby, and when a zombie-ish (they may be zombies, they may be people stricken with some kind of rage virus) attack hits their bus and, eventually, results in Emma getting bitten, we abruptly transition to nine years later.

We find that humanity may well be gone while Earth has entered a new Ice age.  Our two leads live literally right across from each other in barricaded homes but no longer speak to each other.

Jack (Jeffrey Donovan) cares for Lu, the now older baby we saw in the movie’s opening act.  He is well groomed and cares deeply for the child while across the way Patrick (Matthew Fox) has allowed his hair and beard to grow and lives in a house littered with dirt.  Patrick also drinks too much and appears to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.  He looks like a mountain man and, apart from his dog companion, doesn’t interact with either Jack or Lu.

Not that Jack would allow him to.

We quickly realize something big happened between the two men since we were first introduced to them.  Over the course of the movie, we discover where that break occurred while also finding that the zombie threat, thought long gone after the cold weather took over the world, may not be quite over after all.

As mentioned before, this is a movie that is more focused on the relationship between these characters rather than feeding audiences horror chills.  In fact, there are exactly three big action scenes in the film, the first in its opening act, the second toward the middle, and at final one at the very end.  In between, we witness how Jack cares for the young Lu, a girl who feels herself being overly protected.  She’s also curious about Patrick and his dog, though anytime she approaches him Jack becomes unhinged.

For modern audiences, the movie’s languid pace might be a little too slow, especially if you’re used to the thrill-a-minute Walking Dead.  Worse, when we do finally discover what drove these two men apart, the revelation doesn’t feel as big/terrible as it might have been.

Still, the movie for the most part delivers regarding these character moments.  When Jack finally allows Patrick into his house for a meal and a truce, the scene makes your heart pound with both tension and the hope these two will finally resolve their differences.  It is here, in the movie’s very best scene, that the characters offer hints at their common past in front of the innocent Lu.  However, like in real life, old wounds aren’t healed so quickly or completely.

I don’t want to give away too much more but suffice to say that if you get into the characters, you will enjoy this film.  Unfortunately, where Extinction doesn’t work quite as well is when delivering its action/horror.  The opening zombie attack isn’t anything you haven’t seen plenty of times before.  The middle action scene suffers from some shoddy effects (alas, this is a low budget film and while they did well with creating a snowy apocalypse, its still a low budget affair).  The final attack works the best though it does involve another well-worn zombie trope done many times before and better: the siege.

The bottom line is that if you come into Extinction hoping to see tension filled horror/action film along the lines of a 28 Days Later or Dawn of the Dead (original or remake) or Walking Dead you will probably walk away disappointed.  However, because of the very good characterization presented and, especially, that dinner scene, I can’t entirely dismiss this film.

If I had to rate it on a four star scale, I’d give Extinction two to two and a half stars.  Make of this what you will.