Sadly Over-hyped

How sad is this?

Good movie but grossly overrated

Excellent but underrated film

Despite the bad reviews out there, I believe the movie progresses somewhat convincingly (with a few mishaps here and there), but eventually falls apart with a very foolish ending. So, if a good story is one that happens to be told decently from the very beginning till the end, this is clearly not it. In the end, I felt thoroughly cheated and my time wasted. Otherwise, good cinematography and believable sets and surroundings through the 2/3s of the movie.

First third of movie was alright. Rest was terrible. I had some hope for this movie since I like these actors, but it was so disappointing that I feel I have to say something. Spoilers ahead. Reasons why this movie stinks: First of all, someone with the type of military training that Fishbourne's character supposedly has would never be so stupid as to take two kids to check out what happened to a colony of 50 people that suddenly went silent except for a distress signal. Leaving Paxton's character behind even though he has military training and then asking civilians to stop him with little to no training, was just colossally stupid. Hate to say it, but he deserved to die. Oh, and when a colony of 50 people goes silent and all you find at the entrance are pools of blood, only a total moron goes in with a couple of kids and such limited weapons.Telling the kid to grow a spine because he had enough intelligence to know it was a dumb idea is the worst. Gee, wonder what happened here...50 people couldn't handle it, but these two kids and I will save them!!! Right.Second, why couldn't they do a better job with Paxton? It was a lazy casting decision. "Hey, we don't have to build the character so much if we get a guy who has experience playing jerks because the audience will buy into it more easily."Third, if you have a massive structure made of concrete and steel, and you're able to make the whole thing collapse, burying cannibal-vampire- wannabes at the bottom under tons of debris, they aren't coming after you unless they are really vampires. But these jokers aren't. They're just really stupid cannibals who wish they were vampires.Fourth, if you blow up a bridge over a huge icy chasm that clearly requires the stupid cannibals chasing you to spend perhaps days going around the long way, I'm pretty certain they'd be like, "Forget this. Don't we have a bunch of meat back at the last place we trashed? Maybe we should just go eat that." But maybe they used some rope to get across? No, they aren't that smart. Besides, if they did do that, they would've caught the kid before he had a chance to collapse in front of his home base. But wait, they must've climbed down into the chasm so they could wander around in the snow until they found Captain Dynamite's head to shove at the camera when they caught up to the kid and his colony. Yay!Fifth, Paxton's character was a dufus who decided to go psychotic for reasons. Even when things seemed to be going downhill, he repeatedly made the worst possible choices. "Hey, whatever happened to them resulted in the death of my old military buddy, but this kid is lying or delusional because reasons." "Hey, even though I saw some awful stuff and came here with my pal to make sure nothing like that ever happened again, I'm somehow just a general scumbag."Sixth, chief stupid-cannibal-vampire-wannabe always happens to somehow avoid getting killed, even though he's quite often near the front of the action. If that were all, it would be terrible enough to ruin the movie. However, that isn't all at all. Somehow, when Paxton's character blows up what appears to be a propane tank, the explosion blows the chief idiot into the ducts behind the fleeing characters so he can continue pursuit. This is the worst decision in movies since having Legolas surf/skate in LOTR. Seventh, no, just no. Eighth, "Hey, these people with clear skies have no seed to sustain them. But grabbing 2 or 3 jars of random seeds will save us all!" "Hey, Paxton is a jerk, but let me give him my gun because reasons." "Hey, we're inside a huge structure made of concrete and steel, but we can hear a couple of dudes banging on the front door throughout the colony like the entire structure is a tin can" "Hey, did we really just abandon all those bodies (50) we just butchered at the last place so we could hunt down this kid and the ten people with him?"

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.

The Colony is directed by Jeff Renfroe (HAVEN, ALMOST HUMAN & BEAUTY AND THE BEAST) so he has a good eye for visuals, as you can see through his latest film. Originally this film was going to be a big budget ensemble cast piece, but thankfully they used big names & used the budget for the visuals. This amazing apocalyptic sci-fi horror has everything in it.It stars Kevin Zegers (Adam Green's FROZEN), Laurence Fishburne, & Bill Paxton both of which have acted in their far share of the sci-fi, action & horror genre. Kevin Zegers plays SAM, a almost anti-hero character who doesn't find his place till later on in the film but through his eyes & perspective we see that world needs him in more ways than one. Laurence Fishburne & Bill Paxton play two ex-soldiers Briggs and Mason who team up early on to start a colony of survivors during this whiteout that covers the earth. Both are so different as one is a born leader, the other just wants to lead but both bring so much to their characters that they immerse you into the icy hell that it's hard to see who is right and who is wrong.In the future, Earth is covered in an Ice Age. The survivors live in facilities underground named Colonies, ergo the name. When people from Colony 5 release a distress signal, the leader of Colony 7 Briggs (played by Fishburne) organizes an expedition with Sam (Zegers) and Graydon (played by Atticus Mitchell who brings a good level of faux bravery & fear to the role) to investigate what has happened to their neighboring colonists. Briggs leaves the scientist Kai (played by the beautiful Charlotte Sullivan) in charge of the group, disappointing his former friend Mason (Paxton).Walking for days, they finally reach the facility where the fifty said persons reside and they find only one survivor - Leland (played brilliantly by Julian Richings of CUBE & Wrong Turn) so scared to death that he's locked himself in a room deep in the facility. They soon come to realize that something far worse than the cold is hunting humans. The visuals and the cinematography are amazing especially considering that this is the first movie to be shot at the decommissioned NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) base in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. The interior shots of the base gives the isolation and claustrophobic feel much like that of the original ALIEN film. The exterior shots which were mainly used with green screen but real snow to give the true effects of the cold hell they had to endure had beautiful destruction and chaos, quite a reminiscence of THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW meets THE THING.The tension builds amazingly well also, not just because of the trek and the weather conditions they have to endure but claustrophobia plays a huge part in this film. The tension also meets with a few good shocks of realism as well due to the human condition and what one does to survive in any condition of despair.This film has a touch of several great nods to it especially considering the budget they had. It gives nods to (some I mentioned earlier) MAD MAX, THE THING, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, as well as THE HILLS HAVE EYES. The solid tension build up, the acting, the visuals all are top notch.I highly recommend this film.