Nerds That Geek Movie Review: '40 Days and Nights'

Written by Scott Edwards

When thinking about the end of the world, most people tend to think about an asteroid striking the planet or nuclear destruction, but there is one other that seems to pass through their minds, a flood. While there is little to nothing that people can do to stop the first two, a flood can be survived as long as there is a boat big enough to survive the initial impact. After that, with enough supplies, those on the boat, or ark, will be able to wait out the flooding until the water decides to recede. Hoping that there is something in the works for this would be nice, mainly because it seems like the world is getting warmer by the year and the polar caps are melting at a record rate, so this might actually be something that could happen in our lifetime.
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Getting pulled away from his work by his fiancé for a few minutes, John is happy that he is about to be starting a family with Tessa, even though the world might be falling apart at that time. But looking to the mountains, the storm that has been flooding other countries is just over the horizon and it seems to be arriving sooner than expected. Getting into the briefing room and finding that the storm is increasing at a faster rate than previously noted, it is time to work double time on his turbine that will power the ark based on water flow and motion, allowing for the boat to have unlimited power after the flood takes over the entire planet. 

With the timeline of the storm’s arrival shortening by the minute, Tessa has a worry of her own and needs to get the DNA samples onto the ark before they are lost forever. Pleading with the Admiral about what needs to be done, Tessa is sent on a mission to recover the bare essentials that will be needed to sustain life on the planet after the storm subsides. With her military escort, Tessa is able to get a majority of what the world will need, but the extraction is cut short as the storm continues to worsen. Dropping one of the rescue tubes that contained half of the samples needed, Tessa knows that the human race will be wiped out in a matter of years after things return to normal. Knowing that the fate of the human race is in her hands, Tessa decides to risk it all to get one last sample that will ensure that life on the planet will not be forced to suffer anymore after the storm subsides.

With time not on his side, John and his assistant are continuing their work on the turbine, but hit a snag when one portion of it burns out. Needing to get a replacement part from a marina states away, John is trying his hardest to remain on the up and up, but that is continuing to get more difficult when the timeline keeps accelerating. Getting the engine up and running and installed into the ark becomes a priority, but as news of other ark stations being overtaken by the flooding arrives, he is forced to worry about Tessa as well. In a race against time, getting the late designs for the engines out to the other ark locations may be the difference between life and death, but their push might also be detrimental to the survival of life on the planet.

Just one of those crazy disaster flicks that people hate to love. The thing that I think I liked most about it was the narrative that everyone who had a chance were gone and that the last ark to be hit with the flooding was the last chance for any type of survival. I know that seems pretty bleak, but it worked well for the story, mainly because everyone needed to stay focused on the task at hand, since the clock was far from their friend. With the oceans rising, an unrelenting storm, some giant ships, plenty of flooding, science type stuff, the need for bees, the need for moths and the need to remain human in the face of being eradicated from the face of the planet, this movie really has it all and while some of the parts may be a little outlandish, I now believe that insects are important to human survival, so I will avoid trying to step on all of them. Happy Viewing.

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