Thursday, December 10, 2015

The Colony (2013)



Number Rolled: 22
Movie Name/Year: The Colony (2013)
Tagline: One day it started to snow, and it never stopped.
Genre: Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Length: 94 minutes
Rating: NR
Production Companies: Alcina Pictures, Item 7, Mad Samurai Productions, 120db Films, Sierra / Affinity, RLJ Entertainment
Executive Producer: Peter Graham, Marc Schaberg, Noah Segal, Mark Slone
Director: Jeff Renfroe
Writer: Jeff Renfroe, Svet Rouskov, Patrick Tarr, Pascal Trottier
Actors: Kevin Zegers, Laurence Fishburne, Bill Paxton, Charlotte Sullivan, Dru Viergever, Atticus Mitchell, John Tench, Lisa Berry, Lucius Hoyos, Kimberly-Sue Murray, Michael Mando, Helen Taylor, Julian Richings

The world is in a state of perpetual winter, causing the few survivors to live in colonies that exist underground. When one colony get an SOS from another, they dispatch a team to find out what’s happening.

Selina’s Point of View:
There’s really very little I didn’t like about this film. Of course, most people would expect that from me. I love almost anything apocalyptic or dystopian. I read it, write it, watch it… hell, I even dream in dystopias. I’ve had apocalypse-based dreams that range from zombies to sun flares to killer sentient washing machines.

Don’t ask about that last one.

That being said, I found this an interesting world.

Sure, it was very Snowpiercer (2013), but it was still interesting. I particularly liked the idea of the colonies having alliances. Saying there’s an “alliance” between two colonies leads viewers to believe there are also colonies that have strained relationships. It makes sense. Not every country gets along and every colony wouldn’t either. It’d be great if people could just shut up and be nice, but the world doesn’t work that way.

Where the actors are concerned, I had not a single complaint.

Laurence Fishburne (Hannibal, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Matrix) is a true professional. Bill Paxton (Edge of Tomorrow, Big Love, Twister) pissed me off to my limit, but I’m certain that’s what he was supposed to be doing. Finally, although I spent the entirety of the film amused at how much Kevin Zegers (Dawn of the Dead, Girl Walks Into A Bar, Air Bud) looks like a guy I went to school with, even that couldn’t pull me out of it because his performance was amazing.

The Colony didn’t get great reviews, but I do not agree with the majority this time.

Yes, there were a couple of issues. There was some unnecessary slow-motion and flashbacking, but that was relatively minor.

I don’t suggest this film was perfect, but if you enjoy the same apocalyptic stuff I do, you’ll enjoy this.

Cat’s Point of View:
This movie was a bit hit and miss for me.

I wouldn’t say that it’s bad, really. There were parts that I enjoyed more than others. I found my attention wandering, though. I’m not entirely sure where I had the disconnect.

The premise for the movie was interesting. The world-frozen-over hasn’t been run into the ground as a plot device yet. I couldn’t quite tell if this was a The Day After Tomorrow (2004) scenario of climate just run amok, or if it was due to human tinkering gone wrong. The design for the weather contraptions looked really cool, either way.

I was surprised when I realized that this film came out in the same year as The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013). I wasn’t entirely impressed with Kevin Zegers (Normal, The Narrows, Vampire) in that one. He got my attention in this movie, though. (I promise it wasn’t because of his cute scruffiness.)

In a frozen world, where the warmth of humanity seems to be leaching out of people’s hearts; he seemed authentic in his portrayal of the protagonist with a conscience, trying to do the right thing.

I enjoyed the character of Kai, played by Charlotte Sullivan (Fever Pitch, The Cry of the Owl, Defendor). I wish there had been more of her in the film. Hopefully we’ll see her on the big screen more often in the future.

I couldn’t help but think that Bill Paxton (Haywire, Red Wing, Nightcrawler) must have been getting a little bit of dejavu in a few of the set pieces for this movie. Some of the corridors could have come right out of Aliens (1986).

Laurence Fishburne (Armored, Contagion, The Signal) fits leadership roles so well. He exudes this vibe of wisdom and badassery, tempered with compassion.

All in all, I’m not sure that I’d watch this movie again; but I wouldn’t try to shoot anyone down if they wanted to watch it. My recommendation is officially “ehhhh… it’s ok.”

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 16%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 22%

Netflix’s Prediction for Selina – 3.5/5
Selina’s Trust-the-Dice Score4/5

Netflix’s Prediction for Cat – 3/5
Cat’s Trust-the-Dice Score 2.5/5

The Random Rating: R

Movie Trailer:

No comments:

Post a Comment