40 Acres

A good movie that could have been a great series with more characters. This is a post-apocalyptic film about a plague that forced humans to fight over farm land due to starvation and famine. A solid plot with great acting and lots of action.

This could have been a whole series or a limited series. The concept is very deep and I think the movie kind of limited the writing. I would have liked to see this in episode format. I mean the movie is so good that a series would have worked just as well or even better. Regardless, the family portrayed in this film is very diverse. The atmosphere is dark and the main character has a unique outlook on the situation. She treats her family like an army platoon. It's like they've gotten so accustomed to the despair and violence in the world they've learned to live with it by treating life like a mission. Even the kids have become soldiers.

Screen Unseen for June 16th was 40 Acres, and AMC advertised this film for Juneteenth. I was debating whether I wanted to see it or not, and then I received the open time frame to watch this movie.

The engagement was compelling enough to keep my attention. Still, my reason for engagement was trying to understand the world-building and consequential behaviors through the protagonist continued to be mind-blowing. In her motherly role, she should have soft elements, especially with the exposition of history in the flashback scenes. By the time we view the ending scenes, the emotional finale did not leave a heart-warming impact or a specific message of family.

40 Acres is a new Canadian, post apocalyptic......farm thriller?

The basic plot follows a family living on an isolated farm in the middle of rural Canada, several years after a mushroom pandemic, civil war and other weird stuff.

Society has fallen, and there are cannibals and raiders everywhere. A family of mixed ethnicity are now surviving, growing food on their farm, which is super important, all animals are now wiped out and farmland is a super hot commodity.

The movie is handsomely shot but it bounces around from dark humour, horror, a military movie, a family religious movie and a coming of age movie, oh and kidnapping movie.

It's almost like the director said to the writers "Hey you have all of this stuff in here. What kind of movie should this actually be?" And then they all said "Yes."

This is a textbook example of throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the wall, but what sticks actually does kind of work.

The movie is unique in that when it's the turn...things get worse for the characters....and then it gets worse......and then it gets worse...before being tied up in a nice little bow at the end.

At the end of the day, if you gave me this film's budget and actors and told me to go with god, this isn't the movie that I would necessarily come up with, but I'm glad that someone took a stab at it. The result is a low to mid budget thriller that actually pulls it off. I saw this movie at a surprise screening, but I'm glad that I did.

The only thing I do not understand is the reason this movie is listed under science fiction. This is exactly how people will act when the food shortage hits the world, and it will hit us. Forget about viruses killing all animals, by 2050, we are guaranteed to have food shortages around the world due to the increased population, deforestation, decreasing soil fertility, climate change, unsustainable farming practices, and other factors. And just like this movie portrays, humans will lose their humanity and behave worse than animals (at least those are cruel unintentionally; they have no consciousness to comprehend their actions). So it is more of an action-drama than Sci-Fi.

A bit slow in the beginning. Could have been editted and cut for a shorter runtime. But overall, pretty good. Well shot with good acting and nice action. Gory at times but that is just to illustrate the point.

You've read the plot already, you know what the story is. So if you like Mad Max on a budget, feel free to give this a try.

In a time of famine, a cynical veteran isolates herself and her family from the rest of the world. Abiding by strict rules, the family prospers, while others succumb to the famine or are targeted by cannibals. While she is okay with their way of life, her son is not and decides to test the limits of the rules, leaving the family fighting for survival.

This is not a typical end-of-the-world scenario. It does not involve zombies, a nuclear war, or an alien invasion. Like many end-of-the-world stories, it explores morality and human depravity. The family's race and history set the story apart from others. There is a good amount of well-choreographed action throughout, but some dialogue scenes are over-the-top and unnecessary. The story is predictable, even with a few unique aspects, making the one-hour and fifty-three-minute runtime feel long. This is definitely worth a stream when available.