4:44 Last Day on Earth

Willem Dafoe stars as a New York City resident coping with what will surely be the last day of human life on Earth due to some crazy stuff happening with the ozone layer. As apocalypse films go, this one is sleepy, with Dafoe’s character having some depressing Skype conversations and occasional blowups with his live-in girlfriend. His character, a recovering drug addict, also has a bout with a relapse, which leads to the question: Should a recovering substance-abuser just let it all go if the world is going to end? Writer-director Abel Ferrara wants this all to be profound, but it’s just boring. Dafoe makes some moments worthwhile; his reactions to a suicide jumper and the people who tend to the body in the aftermath are interesting. But the movie fails to be compelling; it just sits there and fizzles to a lackluster conclusion.