Directed and co-written by Anthony Hayes, Gold is a post-apocalyptic ride through the desert in pursuit of a life worth living, and through the normal follies of man — deceit, greed, and murderous ways — ending only in doom and life lessons. Releasing to theaters March 11th, Gold is starring baby-faced crooner turned hardened harrower, Zac Efron, in a very mature and earnest performance.

In a desert wasteland, one man (played by Zac Efron) searches for a ride to a better place — a promised land called “the compound” that offers refuge from the upheaval in the west and south of future America. When a stranger offers a ride at an exorbitant price, “Man One” takes the ride in hopes of new opportunities. When their car breaks down, their misfortune turns into fortune with their discovery of a huge gold deposit. When the stranger goes in search of an excavation machine in town, “Man One” stays behind to guard the gold against being lost to sandstorms or stolen by someone else.

Set in a not-so-distant future, for budgeting purposes, I’m sure, Gold is glittery on the outside, with a wizened, crack-skinned Zac Efron doing some Mark Whalberg-level heavy-breathed acting and an eerily familiar yet otherworldly setting. Gold is truly barebones — a practically empty setting (save for a tree), a small cast of characters, and a lot of empty spaces without dialogue meant to show the slow passing of a few days’ time. In that time, and throughout the entire movie I should say, it didn’t feel like there was any significant character development — the protagonist left the story in the same way that he came in, cowardly and ineffective.

However, Zac Efron, is truly unrecognizable in this role both emotionally and physically, putting on a nearly one-man show for the majority of the film. I feel this would have been a great role for him to use to continue to break away from his High School Musical days had the script called for meatier monologues — in all of the alone time, he was only given one true moment of outward inner-reflection; the monologue was short and felt like an afterthought. There is a very nice shot every so often, usually used as an exclamation point to a harrowing event, which served to give small blips of aesthetic interest to the movie, but with its mainly one-man story and singular setting marker, Gold could easily be converted to a stage play with Efron just sitting in the middle of the stage clutching a bag and breathing heavily.

It is hard to discern whether it meant to or not, but Gold did prove to be a sad metaphor for the typical human pursuit of gold and material objects, literally breaking our bodies and turning against our seemingly steadfast morals in the blink of an eye when presented with an opportunity for gold. Since the conflation of gold with peace and happiness became a part of our culture, that seems to have been our downfall, and such is the case in Gold, where despite what we really need being within reach, we would leave behind the very thing that gives us life in pursuit of a chance at a better life.

6.75 out of 10