Director: Rob W King
Writer: Dave Schultz (Screenplay)
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Sarah Lind, Jakob Davies, Hugh Dillon, Vicellous Shannon, Kurt Max Runte, Destee Klynee
Plot: A dystopian thriller set in the year 2030 that sees the world in a permanent state of economic recession and facing serious environmental problems as a result of global warming.
Tagline – Escape from New America.
Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Solid Enjoyable Sci-Fi Film
Story: The Humanity Bureau starts as we enter an America where productivity is measured to help keep the country together after famine and a civil war. An agency known as the Humanity Bureau decides if people are helping society enough, with Noah Kross (Cage) being the agent we follow, we see he can handle himself if situation go wrong too.
On his latest case investigates single mother Rachel (Lind) and son Lucas (Davies) who have been selected to move to the New Eden location as they can’t support themselves enough. When Noah starts to learn the truth about the New Eden he goes against the bureau to save Rachel and Lucas with his old partner Adam (Dillon) leading the chase for him.
Thoughts on The Humanity Bureau
Characters – Noah Kross is a Humanity Bureau agent with his assignments being to figure out who should be sent to New Eden, when he starts to be shown the truth about New Eden he gives up his role to save a mother and son, using his memories of his childhood to guide them to freedom. Rachel is the single mother that is doing everything she can to keep her son safe. Lucas is the son, he is like any growing boy that just wants to enjoy his life, he has a terrible attention span though. Adam Westinghouse is the old partner of Noah’s he is forced to track him down knowing the truth, he doesn’t care as much as Noah to what happens.
Performances – Nicolas Cage is an actor I could watch in anything, however good or bad he or the film is, in this one he is good without going into the full Cage mode we know he is capable off. Sarah Lind is solid too even if most of her work needs to come from the conversations over the action. Jakob Davies is fine as for kids in films, he does get annoying at times, but that is the character not the performance. Hugh Dillon as our main villain is mostly forgettable being filled with the generic traits we know too well.
Story – The story here takes us to a future where the world could have ended as we know it, famine and war swept across America and now one agency controls the country offering hope. We follow one agent that learns the truth about the hope and the Eden and goes out to save a mother and son. This is something we have seen before and it always works, there are shocking twists along the way which will surprise and will entertaining for the time it flows by.
Action/Sci-Fi – The action in the film does feel like it is one of the first takes, everything felt like it was one step behind with the shoot outs coming off weak and the chases over before they start. The sci-fi world we enter is interesting, I would have liked to see more but where we go works well.
Settings – The film takes us through the empty landscapes that have been hit by the effects of the change in the Earth.
Special Effects – The effects are weak for the film too, as mentions the action looks weak, but the computer elements seem like a near future idea.
Scene of the Movie – The showdown
That Moment That Annoyed Me – This felt like the opening sequence for a television show.
Final Thoughts – This is an easy to watch sci-fi thriller which could have been strong but isn’t terrible.
Overall: Watchable Sci-fi Film.
Rating
