The Colony

[yoco]

Release Date: August 23, 2013 (limited)
Studio: RLJ Entertainment
Director: Jeff Renfroe
Screenwriter: Jeff Renfroe, Patrick Tarr, Pascal Trottier, Svet Rouskov
Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Kevin Zegers, Bill Paxton
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Award-winning director Jeff Renfroe ("One Point O," "Civic Duty") delivers an action-packed, post-apocalyptic thriller in his icy feature "The Colony." Set during the next ice age, an outpost of colonists struggle to survive below the world's frozen surface. Short on supplies, and plagued by illness and internal conflict, the colonists suspect the worst when they mysteriously lose contact with their only other known settlement, Colony 5. When Colony 7's leader Briggs (Laurence Fishburne) decides to lead an expedition to discover what happened, he is challenged by Mason (Bill Paxton), his former comrade-in-arms, who has his own ideas of what is best for the colonists. Briggs takes two volunteers on the mission, the young Graydon, and Sam (Kevin Zegers), a strong-willed mechanic who seizes the opportunity to confront the icy wasteland that orphaned him. When they reach their destination, the team discover a threat much worse than nature and must battle to save themselves and protect their fellow colonists in what might be humanity's last stand. A riveting, intense story of survival, humanity, and desperation, "The Colony" is a rich addition to the post-apocalyptic action genre.

[SealLion]

Let me guess. The post acopolytic theatre the colonists all has to do with the greenhouse effect having finally done it's toll to the earth. And if it wasn't that, then it's some other kind of human caused activity that lead to the deep freeze. LOL.

I had to say this because I just couldn't help it but come to think of how film industries condition people to the belief that the planet suffers from all sorts of human caused activities. Which of course commits to the tremendous growth of 'solutions' such as replacements for oil. Read 'solutions' as conditions manufactured for the general population to believe in the idea that the way things are now on earth such as low oil resources, green house effects, colder/warmer regional temperature increases/decreases, etc are emergencies and emergency solutions are neccesated to solve same.

For example, even though there is enough oil to last a longer time than what I came across reading on the Internet at one point. Around 50 years or so (it might differ from reader to reader depending on the information one comes across). It's fine to have replacements for oil but it's another to find replacements for oil on the false premise that because earth is suppossedly running out of oil. It's a great time for oil conglomerates to jack up the prices and fill thier pockets with more and more of the stuff that jingles.

And about that so called 'next ice age'. If there is another ice age, in my opinion, it would be one that is of a natural duration and that has a historical lineage to it. Again, in my opinion, it would be one that is not necessarily caused by some kind of historical human caused activity having some kind of detrimental effect to the earth. To me, that's all horse-hockey.

Other than that. For entertainment value. It's hard to tell. It would be good though for that entertainment value for a week-end matinee perhaps. Maybe that's all. I can see that there is a 'zombie' reference to this film. What another one!!??

[slikrapid]

@SealLion:

Let me guess. The post acopolytic theatre the colonists all has to do with the greenhouse effect having finally done it's toll to the earth. And if it wasn't that, then it's some other kind of human caused activity that lead to the deep freeze. LOL.

yeah, another problem is that even if the scriptwriters wanted something more realistic, the producer(s) & the company/studio (the controllers, copyright holders) wouldn't let them - mainstream movie messages are coordinated & harmonized among big studios, any other ones, especially opposing views, are left to indie releases with marginal influence onto the general public

I had to say this because I just couldn't help it but come to think of how film industries condition people to the belief that the planet suffers from all sorts of human caused activities.

well, their recipe is rather simple: just use existing fears (regardless of their validity), inflate them into extremes, steer towards profitable/useful solutions (getting prepared in advance as easy sell for the rushing consumers), destroy/marginalize/outnumber/silence/subvert the opposition/dissent (fi. aided by mass-media), examples:

(they=opinion-makers)

- do you fear terrorists? they use that fear, inflate it with a few 'inside jobs' (aka false flag operations), steer towards increased government surveillance, wars against foreign nations, increased police/military powers, expenditures/taxes (the voters rushing to back it up),...where was the opposition? left mostly to areas dealing with conspiracy theories
- do you fear god? they use that fear, inflate it with graphic stories about hell/damnation/divine wrath, steer towards supporting the church/religion (through fear, collaboration with the ruling class), obedience & passivity - such religions flourish,...where was the opposition? burnt like witches, hunted down like natives, driven into obscurity
- do you like movie actors or entertainment? they use that feeling, inflate it by creating superstars/celebrities/hype/idols, steer towards selling everything connected to these actors (spreading mainstream movie messages at the same time), the industry flourishes,... independent critics lose their jobs, friends, get forced to comply or run some marginal blog
- do you fear disease/death? they use/inflate/steer towards medicine & pharmaceutical products,...where was the opposition? outlawed & marginalized or turned into premium (expensive) alternatives
- do you like being strong/powerful/...? they use that, inflate it and you get 'uebermensch' concepts (used, among others, in WW2), new age equivalents: cyber/post-human/cyborg/eugenics (guess what: it sells like crazy!),...(entertainment industry aid: superhero movies)
- and so on and so forth (i'd even say that just about any field of human activity has examples of such developments)

whereas, with a little common sense & self-control/moderation all this should be rather easy to figure out or see-though, its just layers upon layers of manipulation that essentially work on simple principles, its a huge machinery though, built over time, a system perpetuating its own mythology - since the truth hurts (only if you're not ready for it), i guess the majority just enjoys a continuation of their dream-world - notice also that all of this didn't even scratch the surface of more important topics like: 'being' & 'existence', topics intentionally left to indecipherable & contrived-to-the-extreme philosophical constructions/discussions - thats how far our current societies are from actual progress

For example, even though there is enough oil to last a longer time than what I came across reading on the Internet at one point. Around 50 years or so

the story of oil running out has been parroted for several decades now, but somehow there's still more to draw/drill (actually even more than before due to the increased global consumption), not to mention that nobody seems to actually know how this oil even gets produced/created in the first place - perhaps a good comparison would be to the blood-flow of human bodies (that produce more if you lose some after bleeding), so the prudent thing would be not to overdo the exploitation (but its harder to control the prices if one doesn't have a monopoly product) or the pollution, but its an entirely different thing to blow it both out of proportions by creating panic and steering it towards...you know the drill

And about that so called 'next ice age'. If there is another ice age, in my opinion, it would be one that is of a natural duration and that has a historical lineage to it. Again, in my opinion, it would be one that is not necessarily caused by some kind of historical human caused activity having some kind of detrimental effect to the earth. To me, that's all horse-hockey.

well, there have been reports of ices ages before (most recent being the 'little ice age', medieval times) and it most likely has much to do with solar activity ('sun spots' count as a rough prognostic guidance) being unusually low, obviously not with any kind of industry or pollution during those times - but these two human-driven factors may also become increasingly important if the mega-companies keep producing like crazy, carelessly turning the soil/air/water/food/environment into a poisonous/cancerous sewer (spoiled consumers, lazy/duped voters, corrupt politicians/mass-media have a lot of guilt here too), how this gets labeled as 'progress' in these 'modern' times is quite the indicator of mainstream delusions

generally speaking, the large majority of global environmental conditions/change is of 'natural' origins - so far humans simply haven't been a significant global factor, though they did and still do have significant local influence (some heavy examples: the BP oil spill, japanese fishing mega-companies, heavy atomic bomb testing after WW2, wars & world wars impacts, various disasters/accidents, vast cities/roads/settlements, mega-industries, etc.) that does have some cumulative effects and yet some still have the audacity to come-up with ridiculous modern solutions like carbon-offsets (and the voters...you know the drill)

i'd agree with you on the 'lineage' comment and would call it 'cycles', which come & go, with varying intensity/severity, the human life being an analogy to this occurrence (being also a 'cycle')

Other than that. For entertainment value. It's hard to tell.

yeah, the movie looks kinda cheap, acting is somewhat stiff, reminds me of a weak 'resident evil' variation, depending on what they do with it, it could still end-up as a decent (b-)movie/horror/SF