The Colony

While I do believe the story line here had tremendous potential, hence the reason I went to see 'The Colony' in the first place, the whole experience truly was a let down. The plot line was far too predictable and reminiscent of '30 Days of Night' which was a far superior cinematic experience for the genre.

'The Colony' left many unanswered questions from beginning to end, like how the climate truly turned so cold based on man-made weather stations to the point in the movie where it seemed this effect was being reversed. By the end of the film I hoped we'd get some answers on that score but that was left hanging.

And of course what led to the entire break down of civilization as a whole which is the underlying story of this movie beyond the clichéd explanation that people will do almost anything under great stress doesn't go far enough.

I think in the end I was looking for a more intelligent film which is what actors like Laurence Fishburne and Bill Paxton have brought to projects in the past, I'm a little surprised they agreed to do this film on the script alone.

4 Stars

I hadn't even read the synopsis for the movie before picking it up at the local secondhand DVD store. All I saw was what looked like an arctic disaster movie and one that had both Bill Paxton and Laurence Fishburne on the cast list.

Director Jeff Renfroe manages to start out with a rather impressive feat of establishing a very interesting setting and a fair story, along with some detailed characters. But that all changed to the worse and the movie fell into mediocrity once it was revealed what had happened to the inhabitants of the neighboring colony. I just didn't like that approach to the story one bit, it was just ludicrous.

I liked the arctic setting of the movie, and the visual effects department did manage to make it look realistic and that did a lot for the movie. Because if a movie like this had poor effects and CGI it would just collapse like a poorly constructed card house.

Kevin Zegers didn't really have what it took to deliver in this movie, and as such then he wasn't a strong main actor for the movie, which did slow down the movie a bit. He is usually an adequate actor, but didn't really pull it off in "The Colony". It was without a doubt Bill Paxton who were the one carrying the movie, despite having only a secondary role in the movie. Laurence Fishburne was there simply because he is Laurence Fishburne.

It was a shame that director Jeff Renfroe opted for that approach to the incident of the neighboring colony, because it was a severe crippling blow to the movie. "The Colony" had potential, but it was abruptly cut down by the direction in which the story went.

This movie is suffering from what I'd like to call the Game of Thrones effect; the way the ending defines a person's lasting opinion regardless of what came before. GOT was freakin' amazing, but to many people it is a festering pool of lameness, because the last series (or 2) was written by a spoon.

The Colony is kinda the same. I can honestly say, for the entire first half of the movie I was thinking: this movie doesn't deserve a 5/10. It has a solid post-apocalyptic atmosphere, an interesting somewhat-innovative premise, decent acting, and an intriguing story with good tension building. The CGI was a bit weak in places, but I didn't care because I was adequately immersed. Reading the other reviews, I think most people felt the same. So 50% of this movie is a solid 7/10 ... for real post-apocalyptic fans maybe even an 8/10.

The problem is, after the real enemy is revealed, the tension rapidly drops away and a simple bland survival story begins. There's nothing at all innovative from here on. The action is underwhelming and the enemy is also underwhelming (but they're clearly not zombies as one reviewer thought). Sure, there are multiple holes in terms of realism and believability, but they're the same flaws 100 other higher scoring action movies have made. Also the possibility of the interesting apocalypse-reversal was not explored. Basically, it was just generic not-too-terrible lameness. This part of the movie was a disappointing 5/10.

So yes, as a result of the ending the overall experience is disappointing ... but honestly I think the first half was special enough to justify watching the movie, especially if you're a post-apoc fan. Sit down, forget the IMDB score, pretend it's a hidden gem, and enjoy the first 45 minutes. When you sense it's starting to get lame, which it unfortunately will, crack on with your doom scrolling or whatever you personally do when TV loses your attention.

This might seem like odd advice but IMO, as a post-apoc fan, the beginning has stayed with me somewhat and I feel it'd be a shame to not give it a go.

I don't know what the makers were thinking, why will you cast Lawrence Fishburn if you're not going to use it in any meaningful way?.

The movie portraits humanity after the ice age has begun. The Colony only explains partially what happened to the planet and why we as humans destroyed it burning all the fossil fuel which contributed to a new ice age, all humanity is lost and the only remains are some "colonies" beneath the earth.

The starting point is quite good, the first minutes of the movie too. Although it is clichéd, it is standard sci-fi, it develop it's characters sufficiently enough but then.. it speeds up its downward spiral once the "enemies" appear on the scene.

The movie has an incredible change of pace once the enemies arrives with poorly execution on the director's side and just god awful fight scenes... Hardcore music and slaughter, i'm in the 80's again?, is this a joke?, I could accept that kind of embarrassment on a B low movie, I just can't accept it in a movie with Lawrence Fishburn that began as well as this one.

It's like the director throw away the script and said "just put the rock music and kill everyone, because that's cool!"... He appears to just shoot himself in the foot with the directing the movie takes.

It goes without saying that this was actually an incredible missed opportunity to tell a interesting story of the survivors of humanity... and a potential hope for the story.

The conclusion to this mess is, kill your opponents swiftly and survive.

I wanna kill myself for wasting all this time. How can they ruin their own potentially good story is beyond me. It seems Hollywood is full of stupid people that takes stupid decisions in the making of movies these days.

Avoid it, if you want to see killing, see it with some meaning added to it. If you want action and scares, go watch Dawn of the Dead, is 1000 times better than this horrendous mess.

Nice Sci-fi with the usual concept : several people struggling for survival . Passable dystopian tale with loads of violence, action , fights , and turns . Groups of people - colonies - are forced underground due to another ice age . Colony 7 is formed by a group of survivors (Zegers , Fishburne, Bill Paxton , Atticus Mitchell , Lisa Berry , Lucius Hoyos, John Tench) . In order to survive they plan an expedition to find supplies and other survivors . A little team goes to check on Colony 5 , which they lost contact with . When the group (Kevin Zegers as Sam , Laurence Fishburne as Briggsget) arrives there , they will be forced to make difficult choices about sacrifice , courage, allegiance to get their final destination . As they find that the colony has fallen and there is a whole new enemy that they have to face on their way back and they have to make impossible decision about themselves and their companions at Colony 17 . As they face dangerous challenges after another as they unlock the truth about the past and ultimately the future of his world . When the world changes the rules of survival change with it .When the earth froze, the rules of survival changed forever.One day, it started to snow, and it never stopped.

It's a standard but also original Science Fiction movie with no much sense where there is suspense , thriller , getaways and pursuits , frenetic action , crossfire , struggles , explosions , violence , cannibalism , plot holes and characterization enough . Thrilling rendition that picks up every mote of bleak despair of a story by Patrick Tarr in which a group of unfortunate people are forced underground by the next ice age, as a struggling outpost of survivors battle to preserve humanity against a threat even more savage than nature . Highlights of the movie are the creepy encounter with the ominous creatures and the breathtaking battle on the iron bridge. This ¨The Colony¨ movie is a sci-fi , action and drama that contains trills , chills , high body-count and overwhelming state-of-art FX . Set in an unknown future when the global warming has caused a new Ice age , as the entire world is frozen except for those are hidden underground .Stars Larry Fishburne and Kevin Zegers giving an acceptable acting as the brave fighters who take desperate , risked choices to protect the ones they love , as well as they must confront unexpected and brutal enemies . Support cast is decent such as : Bill Paxton , Charlotte Sullivan, Atticus ,Viergever, John Tench, among others.

The picture contains a colorful but dark cinematography by Pierre Gill , it was mostly filmed in North American Aerospace Defense Command , base in North Bay, Ontario, Canada . As well as sinister production design has been rendered with meticulous attention to a futurist detail . And a thrilling and adjusted to action musical score by Jeff Danna . The motion picture was professionally directed Jeff Renfroe . Jeff is a craftsman who has made a few films , such as : Civic Duty , One Point O , He loves me . And he has directed several episodes of notorious series as Houdini y Doyle , Remedy ,Dominion, Rogue , Killjoys , Haven , Reign , Cardinal , The Hardy Boys , Bad Blood , Beauty and the Beast, The art of more , Being human , and several others. Rating 6/10. Acceptable and passable .The flick will appeal to Science Fiction enthusiasts.