The Colony (2013)

Simply Perfect

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Crappy film

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This movie feels a lot like wasted potential; the setting is good, the set design is better (which elevates this to the upper end of average), but everything feels too rushed and the characters aren't given any time to breathe to its detriment. It's hard to care about the fate of colonists who've had little to no character development over the course of the movie, and therefore the action sequences lack weight after Laurence Fishbourne's Briggs exits the stage around the midway point.In particular, I have absolutely no idea why anyone would follow Mason's (Bill Paxton, in an unusually poor performance) orders especially when they became increasingly hardline and dictatorial for no apparent reason.I'm of the opinion that any genre piece in the realms of sci-fi is worth a watch if it has a couple of good ideas in it, and The Colony does, so if you're a fan of post-apocalyptic sci-fi it's not a bad investment for your time. Still, it feels like a solid setting left largely unexplored, which is ultimately a bit of a shame.

The film opens as a prepper's orgasm. 400 hundred people live underground in a self sufficient colony. The world has been hit by climate change, famine, and disease. Apparently the flu virus survives year round frozen temperatures. People who have a disease, are killed or forced to leave the colony to prevent infection. Briggs (Laurence Fishburne) is in charge of the colony. His antagonist is Mason (Bill Paxton) a man who has his own, less humane set of survival ethics.When an incident happens at Colony 5 (they are #7) Briggs takes off to investigate along with Sam (Kevin Zegers) plus token landing party victim.The post apocalyptic scenery was good. The acting was good. The plot didn't really go anywhere that I found interesting. I don't want to give a lot away, but they spent a lot of time building Sam's character for him to be the most boring of the lot. Things do pick up when they get to Colony 5, but it was too late in the film for them to finally introduce the action scenes.Parental Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.

Released in 2013, "The Colony" is a post-apocalyptic movie about life in North America after the next ice age hits. Laurence Fishburne stars as the leader of an underground colony with Bill Paxton (R.I.P.) as his problematic assistant. Kevin Zegers plays a younger guy who rises to the challenge when contact with a neighboring colony is lost and a trio treks the winter wilderness to check on the status of its inhabitants. My wife watched this movie on DVD before I did and, knowing it was some kind of wintery post-apocalyptic movie, I naturally asked her: "Are there mutants in it?" By "mutants" I meant, of course, any number of antagonists typical to the genre – zombies, cannibals, diseased tramps, monsters, etc. She didn't respond, but I knew the answer and was right. So this is a hackneyed post-apocalyptic movie; the question is: Does it rise to the challenge within that increasingly stale sci-fi/horror/action genre? Is there something about it that's fresh and invigorating? The answer is "no." There are obvious elements of numerous similar flicks, like "The Day After Tomorrow" (2004), "Day of the Dead" (1985), "The Thing" (1982), "Aliens" (1979), "Aliens" (1986) and the first two "Planet of the Apes" movies (1968, 1970). That said, "The Colony" is solid for what it is, which is helped by the fact that it doesn't overstay its welcome at 94 minutes. The CGI backdrops are convincing, albeit a little cartoonish, and I found myself drawn into the world of the characters. It's a good thing Charlotte Sullivan is on hand as the protagonist's babe, though.The dramatic first half of the movie is a slow-build to the action-packed second half with its revelation of the main villain(s), which is underwhelming when revealed (I'm not going to give it away). I will say that there is a character played by Dru Viergever who's garbed like Pinhead's little brother or perhaps a rejected vampire from "Underworld" (2003). Whatever the case, I chuckled a few times upon eyeing his stereotypical menacing expressions/antics. The movie's further brought down by the predictable political correctness wherein the sage leader is a seasoned black man and his unofficial second-in-command is a moral, intelligent & beautiful white woman. These two are naturally contrasted by the selfish and sociopathic "aging white guy," a symbol of all that is wrong with the world (rolling my eyes). A Canadian production, the movie was shot at some defunct underground power plant in North Bay, Canada, with (I presume) establishing shots from Lapland, Finland, and studio work done in Toronto. DIRECTOR: Jeff Renfroe. WRITERS: Renfroe, Patrick Tarr, Pascal Trottier & Svet Rouskov. Atticus Mitchell has a small role. GRADE: CADDITIONAL COMMENTARY ***SPOILER ALERT*** (Don't read unless you've seen the movie):The aforementioned "mutants" turn out to be merely "humans gone feral," as Fishburne's character describes them. Cracked cannibals or not, wouldn't their priority be acquiring food supplies rather than senseless slaughter? Moreover, does it make sense to forgo a good take of fresh meat to wander the ruthless winter wilderness searching for even more food when it's not a for sure endeavor? Do farmers slaughter all their livestock at once? There are too many logical holes.

When I saw the theme of this movie I was out of my mind.Apart from good actors and amazing first 30 minutes this movie has nothing to offer.I was amazed with the number of clichés used in this movie. And on top of all that it's wrapped up with the worst cliché of all times. The final move from the main bad guy right until the final words from the hero's mouth.I mean come on this movie had the potential to be ON TOP. But they somehow managed to screw that up. First 30 minutes GREAT, and it all starts to fall apart. The rest of the story is played pretty damn fast and with no time to develop some kind of sane plan to avoid all the trouble.With good actors and good theme I give it 2 just because this was a real disappointment of a movie for me.