Gold (2022) review

In yet another undefined post-apocalyptic scenario - something may have happened with one of the Koreas, but I'm not sure - Virgil (Zac Efron) wants to go to "The Compound" to work (and have a life-changing experience) so he and a local guide (Hayes) drive out west, but at a pit stop they discover there's a massive chunk of gold in the ground that they need an excavator to remove, so the guide leaves to get the proper equipment, leaving Virgil to babysit the boulder and brave the elements.  With all due respect to Efron (who's fine in the right situation), asking him to essentially be the entire movie (with its nonexistent backstory) is a tall order (he isn't Tom Hanks), and it feels like an extreme 90-minute workout video in which you get to see Zac's skin melt and get surrounded by flies.  Being untrustworthy of each other, both men should have gone to get the machinery, but no one thought that far ahead; as for those final seconds, well, I laughed harder than I should have.