Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic, and I’m unaware of this film having an audio description track. It has been screening way ahead of its release, and my screener was not accessible.

There’s a story in here. Granted, it is cloaked deep within the confines of a science fiction creature feature, but the story within is what I latched on to. World Breaker is set in a dystopian future where monsters crawl out of the ground and attack the human population. Of course, we fight back, but it seems to be a losing battle. And to make matters worse, it seems that men are susceptible to becoming one of the monsters. Women seem to be not affected by whatever it is, so basically all of those content creators out there making videos bemoaning strong female leads, girls get the job done, and complaining anytime they can’t watch a guy punch things real good, for those people,this is their waking nightmare. for Milla Jovovich, it is just a script she didn’t read.

Does she? read her scripts? Did she read In the Lost Lands and think “Oscar. this will get me an Oscar.” Did she look at world Breaker and find the idea that she’ll be billed as the lead, but actually have significantly less screentime than her primary co-stars appealing to her? she’s basically third billing here, behind Billie Boullet and Luke Evans. Milla plays the mother to our lead youth, and for reasons mired in spoilers, she is not the lead.

instead, what we get is a father daughter film set on an island, where dad is just trying to make sure his daughter is prepared to fight and keep herself alive. You can feel the urgency, as since he’s a man, he is aware he can be turned. So, he works to pass on as much knowledge as possible. that is the film I loved, which is trapped in this film I really shouldn’t love because it didn’t have audio description. I remember a film where a survivalist style dad was living with his daughter in the woods, until civilization decided otherwise. I cannot for the life of me remember the film, or the actors in it, but I can somewhat visualize it. this film has shades of that, as father and daughter bond against a real threat.

the more human story here, much like what 28 Years Later tapped into with the very human truths, is that parents are always trying to pass on knowledge, knowing at some point their time will be up. Here, there’s a greater sense of urgency, which Evans sells, and the understanding that if things go sideways, he could end up the very danger he’s training his daughter to defend against.

So, I don’t know what the monsters look like, and their action scenes were not the reason I was drawn to the film. It was a coin toss here, but I went positive, because the aspect of the film I found to be most endearing, that reached me on a whole different level, was this dynamic, and the urgency of it all, sold by this extraneous threat.

Milla Jovovich rarely seems to be offered an interesting role, but I would love to see her get one anyway. I’m disappointed Luke Evans isn’t really taking off as a leading man. he’s done some really solid performances. he was an excellent Gaston in the live action Beauty and the Beast. Hopefully he can find meaningful work. This certainly approaches that, but most people don’t seem to be responding to World Breaker.

If you are in the mood for a father/daughter story, World Breaker offers a twist on the impending danger and preparation for the next fight. the human parts of World Breaker are enough to help it stand out from all the other dystopian monster films.

Fresh: Final Grade: 6.0/10