The Colony Draws You into Its Frozen Landscape: A Movie Review

*there are mild spoilers here.

Director: Jeff Renfroe.

Writers: Jeff Renfroe, Svet Rouskov, Patrick Tarr, and Pascal Trottier.

Cast: Laurence Fishburne, Kevin Zegers, Bill Paxton, Charlotte Sullivan and John Tench.

The post-apocalyptic film The Colony had its World Premiere in Toronto April 3rd, 2013. This indie title was then released in theatres across Canada in mid-April. Now, this critic has finally seen the film and the wait was mostly worth it. The Colony brings a slightly unique landscape to the post-apocalyptic genre, a frozen wasteland. Instead of nuclear waste or arid deserts, several characters must survive lack of food, illness and the occasional band of roaming cannibals. The plot holes in The Colony are frequent, but the film still manages to be enjoyable.

The film's story involves about 40 people living in an underground lair. Above, the world is a frozen landscape, which few can survive. The survivors of a new ice age keep themselves fed by growing their own food, below ground. Then, a nearby camp sends out a distress signal and the leader of Colony #7, Briggs (Laurence Fishburne), decides to find out what is happening with Colony #5. A rescue team of three sets out for this nearby encampment and they find things in disarray. A butcher is cleaving into human muscle and bone, for later eating and it is all downhill for the survivors from here.

Bill Paxton plays Mason, a disgruntled soldier.

The post-apocalyptic landscape created by the spfx team is mostly well done. There are some early shots of Colony #7 that may have been filmed with models. These shots look poorly rendered and the visual illusion is lost somewhat, in these early scenes. However, the film utilizes other external shots in a much better fashion by the mid-point of the film. A bridge scene is especially well shot and the backgrounds, involving steep cliffs, are created well with some help from CGI. The post-apocalyptic landscape is mostly believable, if fans are willing to be forgiving.

There are a few mistakes made in the story, though. The rescue team: Sam (Kevin Zegers), Briggs and Graydon (Atticus Dean Mitchell), act strangely sometimes. And, the cannibals in the film are able to pull of some heroic deeds. A scene involving dynamite and a falling chimney stack created for some odd occurrences. Colony #5 is completely buried in rubble, but these same cannibals are able to find escape only twelve hours later. This same group is also able to track two people by their footprints, despite a heavy downpour of snow. These tracks would likely be gone five minutes later and they would not still appear a half day on. As well, the protagonist, Sam, hears a tale of how the cannibals followed another team back to Colony #5. Yet, Sam decides to lead this pack directly to Colony #7. Common sense would dictate that you try to throw off your pursuers before your own camp is found. Also, the amount of cannibals seem to multiply depending on how many are needed in each scene. There are ten of these headhunters at the bridge scenes, but then there are dozens available for the climax. Where are all of these cannibals coming from? These plot holes or strange character actions take something away from a viewing of The Colony.

However, The Colony still manages to be enjoyable. There are some horror elements created deep below ground in Colony #5. Here, people scream from gore streaked hallways. The violence from the cannibals also creates some grisly displays, especially one brutal scene involving a stabbing of a young character. The action elements are mostly well executed. The fight scene on the bridge is especially thrilling. Dynamite is your best friend when facing people who want to eat you. Later, climactic scenes are equally bloody. The main villain is given a final coupe de grace in a very vicious fashion. Overall, The Colony is an exciting film, despite a few flaws.

The Colony is really an indie feature. This title was made for only $16 million and most mainstream films begin with a budget of at least $25 million. So, the lack of budget has forced the plot to move ahead a little too quickly in order to conserve time and to reduce set builds, at the expense of believability. Yet, there are some great scenes in the film, which mostly deal with confrontations between Sam and the many multiplying cannibals. The ending is left open and this critic walked away from the screen with a lasting and positive impression from a viewing. Other horror fans will likely be equally impressed.

Overall: 7 out of 10 (it is good to see an indie film on the big screen, solid acting from Laurence Fishburne, a few scenes of gore, some strange character decisions).

*other reviews have not been kind.

The film's fan page can be found here:

The Colony on Facebook

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