A woman runs into the car's path. As he reads Perrin's notes, Hobson realises that this sabotage almost certainly caused the Effect. The two men seem to already know one other, sharing a flash of recognition upon first meeting. No watch or clock shows anything other than 6:12. Uncertainty as to whether the presence was there, or whether it may have been a stray animal spared from the Effect competes in his mind with speculations that the intruder could be a manifestation of the Effect. A love triangle develops, but Zac is more concerned about his observations: universal physical constants are changing, causing the Sun's output to fluctuate. 17. Maybe my expectations were too high thinking Tyson would bring either epic amounts of scientific clarification and/or unintentional laughs, but there’s a lot of empty space instead.

“Clearly,” says Tyson, “none of those eight people would be in Hamilton, New Zealand.”.

Hobson seems to be the only human being remaining. Commenting on the empty city streets, Henderson says I Am Legend “gets a lot of imagery and a lot of plot-type elements from this film.” Who wants to tell him? The novel was adapted into a 1985 New Zealand science fiction film of the same name directed by Geoff Murphy. This event cements for Hobson his long-growing misgivings about the experiments, and what he believes are Perrin's motives for pursuing them. Zac finds himself lying face down on a beach. Hobson reassures himself that he can keep the entity at bay with mental effort. The novel was adapted into a 1985 New Zealand science fiction film of the same name directed by Geoff Murphy. Hobson reaches an area of bushland near Turangi, his path blocked by a truck. 20. [1], The 2013 Penguin edition includes an introduction by Bernard Beckett.[2]. He writes about them. He wonders what rendered him immune to the Effect. Perrin charges Hobson with negligence, as the sample slides for insects and animals in the machine are blank, while the ones for plants are normal. The machine appears to have short-circuited, but there is no evidence indicating how Perrin died.

[14] The film placed tenth in a 2014 public poll by Stuff.co.nz of the best New Zealand films of all time. Allowing his child to die was his way of destroying himself, a kind of external suicide. Upon getting up he finds the electricity off. 10. [2][3] Other sources of inspiration have been suggested: the 1954 novel I Am Legend, Dawn of the Dead, and especially the 1959 film The World, the Flesh and the Devil, of which it has been called an unofficial remake.[4][5][6][7][8]. At Rotorua, after realising everyone else is dead, Hobson almost commits suicide.

He listens to his own voice on a tape recorder describing the project as having "phenomenal destructive potential", then notes: "Zac Hobson, July 5th. Zac is attracted to her, and after a few days together they have sex. Tags:Commentary CommentaryFilmmakingHome Video, "Rob is great. Other sources of inspiration have been suggested: the 1954 novel I Am Legend, Dawn of the Dead, and especially the 1959 film The World, the Flesh and the Devil, of which it has been called an unofficial remake. Flashbacks detail Hobson's last days at the research unit. “Back in the day” Tyson was using headphones similar to the ones Zac dons at the radio station. “They all know it’s not going to be all right.”, 14. He likes movies. He gets dressed and drives into the deserted city. Neither can account for this, as they have never encountered each other before. They then hear the truck and realise that Zac did not go to town after all. The unit's head, Perrin, believed that awakening the dormant genes would lead to a quantum leap in evolution. The woman dies, sending Api into hysterics.

9. Unless she is less badly hurt than she seems, she will die.

The woman's condition worsens, and there is nothing her fellow survivors can do for her.

En route to Rotorua, Hobson sees a creature in his headlights. Hobson drives off terror-stricken, unsure as to whether the apparition was really there. “Best ending movie scene ever,” says Tyson, and he goes on to clarify that the main reason for that is his absolute undying love for the planet Saturn. The precise meaning of the final scene is left to the audience. His wristwatch has stopped at 6:12. He drives the truck onto the weakened roof of the underground portion of the laboratory, which collapses. Hobson finds Perrin in a radiation chamber, dead at the controls of the sound wave machine. Three weeks after the Effect, Hobson is left alone while Api goes to get a new car. Oddly, while the two are sharing a recording they rarely interact with each other ‐ they mention each other by name, and the critic responds to Tyson’s comments, but it never happens the other way around. They both comment on the apparent fact that “computer” voices in films that warn of impending explosions, meltdowns, disasters, etc seem to be exclusively female. This is not just a new world that we can pitch tent in, this world is going away as we know it.”, 15. [13] In 2014, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson named it one of his favorite science fiction films. The three determine why they survived: at the instant of The Effect, they were all at the moment of death: Api was being drowned in a fight, Joanne was electrocuted by a faulty hairdryer, and Zac had overdosed on pills in a suicide attempt. He says that he will go to town to retrieve a remote control device that will allow them to send the truck into the facility. After accidentally crushing an empty pram with an enormous earthmover, he puts the barrel of a shotgun into his mouth but finally comes to his senses. 6:12 relates to the Number of the Beast, 666 (6–12 = 6 and 6 plus 6) and to Revelation 6:12, with the Biblical chapter's talk of men hiding from the face of God. The project he worked on caused the unravelling of animal DNA; only those with the dormant gene pair were spared.

There is a moment of hostility when Api breaks free, resolved when Hobson explains that his son, who was autistic, drowned in a bathtub, and Hobson felt Api was making fun of this. Descending to an underground lab, he discovers the dead body of a colleague at a control panel; a monitor displays the message "Project Flashlight Complete". It is present only in certain places, and is stronger at night. About six thousand people die each hour worldwide which equals a hundred per minute, and since the film’s effect last roughly five seconds it means about eight people would have survived worldwide.

Investigating a fire, he discovers the wreckage of a passenger jet, but there are no bodies, only empty seats.