Give McG a little credit here: He’s helping a guy out. Not by trying to resurrect the American Spaced pilot or wasting the potential of Tom Hardy and Chris Pine playing two dueling spies (man, how do you screw that up?), but in producing the first-time feature of Wes Ball. He’s attracted the attention of Hollywood with a short film, Ruin, which McG will produce through his company, Wonderland Sound and Vision, with Steve Tzirlin. [THR]

The piece doesn’t have much of an actual narrative, but uses a plant-filled, post-apocalyptic setting to create a tone described as a cross between I Am Legend and Terminator 2. (Lord knows McG can do The Terminator.) From there, some thrilling chase scenes come into play — and, from that, Fox hope to create a franchise.

Looking at the thing for myself, it’s clear that something could be fleshed out from what’s essentially the skeleton of an interesting narrative. Take it as something of a plus, then, that comparisons to Terminator 2 and I Am Legend feel rooted in little more than aesthetic — i.e., those only come from setting and technology — though there still lies the hefty task of taking this and making something both interesting & fully-formed.

Watch it below:

Does Ruin have the capacity to be a strong narrative?