Starring: Kevin Zegers, Laurence Fishburne, Bill Paxton
Director: Jeff Renfroe
Starring a cast that has been in this familiar territory before Aliens and Event Horizon Respectively, Bill Paxton (Mason) and Lawrence Fishburne (Briggs) along with a weak and frail leading boy Man Kevin Zegers (Sam) try to survive a new ice age, a future version of America that is frozen over with unending and unrelenting snow, a world where the deadliest thing is the flu or the common cold. When a pack of Feral humans begins to take over the last remaining human outposts. Briggs and Sam along with Graydon (Atticus Mitchell) head out on foot to find out what is going on leading to a confrontation between the two factions.
Set primarily in what looks to be a wet abandoned power plant and in front of what could possibly have been the green screen in my garage. The Colony is sloppy and inconsistent. This is a world that has been frozen over yet the people never appear cold, breath is rarely ever seen, and people rarely experience the effects of living in a cold world. John Carpenter was able to make this concept believable back in 82 with The Thing yet in 2013 we are subjugated to a world so cold that sometimes people have gloves on and other times they are gloveless and are able to touch metal outside like its nothing. Their ears and noses never get red, it’s as if they live in a perpetually comfortable 60 degree snow globe.
While Briggs and Sam are out hoofing it through the snow, Mason uses the opportunity to kill off people with the sniffles, assuming the leadership role he so desperately covets. In this world sickness wiped out most everyone so if you get a cold you get quarantined, you better heal up right away or you’re left with two options tale a walk into the wild or shot by Mason. Even if they had a lifetime supply of tamiflu you can’t get over that type of illness in less than a day.
The feral humans are lead by as the script so cleverly calls him “Feral Leader” (Dru Viergever) who looks like a mouth breathing, juiced up version of Nosferatu. These people lack basic com skills and have gone cannibal roaming the frozen wasteland on the hunt for survivors that they can eat.
The rest of the film is just as preposterous with Briggs going full martyr and blowing himself up to help stop the Ferals on a Bridge. Choosing to relight and fight with dynamite in his hand rather than relight the dynamite and run. This was completely infective and unnecessary, even though it is constantly snowing and windy, somehow tracks in the snow never get covered. The Feral’s are able to not only get around the giant blown up bridge but pick up Sam’s tracks leading them directly to the outpost.
There is neither logic nor enjoyment to be found in any of this
Grade – 51
