The Colony stars the eternally likeable John Ritter(dead); he really does elevate this movie, it is not too hard to feel sorry for this families plight because he is so easy to like. If you don't know where to watch this, it is viewable on youtube for free, as maqny other old TV movies are. The themes in this film, of safety versus freedom, especially during this 2020 the Corona Virus Panic, are even more relevant than they were in 1995. When I watched this in early April, I couldn't help think to myself, as people talk about how great it is to give up freedoms for safety in this film, about how much people have been chided for wanting their constitutional freedoms among the mostly fabricated Corona Virus scare, and the totalitarian methods many governor's and some police who enforce those unconstitutional orders.
Yes, some of the story line is ridiculous, and uses a common trope that has been borrowed from Jurassic Park ad nauseum, of a young teenage girl being a tech wiz, though at least here, she's not as overly adept as in some films, and doesn't instantaneously whip up a solution. Another trope not too uncommon of the time it was made John Ritter's brother just happens to be a detective within The Colony's jurisdiction, and was really an unnecessary addition. The ending is overblown to the extreme, and would have been better with a much more subtle, ideally downbeat(or partially downbeat) ending. Those are the two biggest weaknesses here. The other silly aspects are easily forgiven as this is clearly a bit of a satire, but it doesn't necessarily tread that line between the dramatic and satire well, hence why the overblown conclusion is not so great and diminishes the amazing tension built up in the first 2/3's of the film.
The script is overall well-written up to the final 1/3 when it becomes a bit of a hot mess. It is filmed as well as one can hope for a TV film, and acted better than most TV films of it's time, or before or after. One could complain about character development, but that's really not the point here is it? No.
Despite all of this, 25yrs after it's made, can we say a lot of the surveillance techniques here are unrealistic? I think we can conclude they are not. With government threatening to chip or put bracelets on those with Covid 19, or the use of drones in LA and Detroit to attempt to monitor and keep people in their houses, this film becomes even more chilling, despite it's silly aspects. We may laugh at some of the absurd laws that the Colony implements, but I think we can agree they are not so far fetched when people have been fined for parking their cars instead of going straight home, or like in Colorado, required to have a "permit" to even travel to work, verifying that they are essential.
Flawed as it is, I still really do recommend this film, again it is viewable on youtube for free, and I hope it will scare the tar out of some people into stop thinking that the government is here to protect us, they are not. They are, in the US, supposed to protect our constitutional freedoms not us(although certainly the military may be deployed to protect the country, they are not meant to provide total safety), and this film illustrates that beautifully, allegorically, despite it's flaws and silly aspects.
God Bless ~Amy
