I’d be lying if I told you I ever played “The Last of Us.” I only know of it through various online game reviewers and understand the general gist of it. Going in blindly, I was able to completely separate myself from the source material and completely engulf myself in to this world. And I’m glad that I did because “The Last Of Us” thankfully works for gamers and the broader audience. “The Last Of Us” has a lot of information to dump on the audience to establish where it lies and what we’re playing with.
In only an hour it does a bang up job of building immense terror and suspense, beginning with a prologue in 1968 where a panel of scientists are discussing on television the risk of there being an apocalypse created by a disease. One scientist warns that if Earth were to warm up a little we’d have to fear the fungi, as it can not only hurt us but control us. Fast forward to 2003, we visit Joel and Sarah, a single dad and his lovely daughter who are living alone in a small Texas suburb. Immediately the red flags begin popping up with sirens and police cars whizzing by during mundane moments, and news castings of attacks sweeping across other countries.
Sarah, played beautifully by Nico Parker, immediately catches on to what’s unfolding, as she spends her day going about her business, but with one eye behind her. The audience already knows what she doesn’t, but she’s wisest in that she understands the absolute levity of what’s unfolding way before our protagonist Joel does. Once everyone is clear about what is turning their city in to a warzone, Joel, Sarah and his brother Tommy (a welcome Gabriel Luna) attempt to flee the city. All the while we’re given quick glimpses in to what’s causing the havoc, and it’s in the form of zombie like humans that are spreading an infectious fungus through their mouths.
Their appetites and need to spread are insatiable, and quickly Joel and Sarah have to be quick on their feet, especially as everyone seems to be falling under the clutches of these parasitic monsters. Pedro Pascal’s performance is fantastic as he works wonderfully off of the entire cast, from Parker, right down to Bella Ramsey’s Ellie, who becomes the focal point once the narrative jumps twenty years in to the future. Again, I don’t know a lot about “The Last of Us” but the series alludes to a lot of menacing developments with its post apocalyptic journey. Joel warns of everything from raiders, and survivors, right down to those nasty fungi monsters that are lurking everywhere.
There’s also a lot of foreshadowing indicating themes about government corruption, and how much this fungus can evolve. Suffice to say with the final gut churning needle drop in the final scene, “The Last of Us” is promising to be the next big television hit for HBO. It just might fill the appetite that “The Walking Dead” left behind for me.