By
now, we know any post-apocalyptic shelter named “Eden” will be anything but.
The Biblical references will not stop there. It is 2067 and humanity isn’t
quite dead enough, so we will go ahead and hasten the Singularity to finish the
job in Freddie Hutton-Mills & Bart Ruspoli’s people-hating Genesis (trailer here), which releases
today on DVD.
Paul
Brooks earnestly tries hold the last dregs of human civilization together as
the civilian proles’ official liaison to the Eden government, but he is losing
heart. The government elites keep slashing rations, even though they still eat
quite well themselves. Like Marie Antoinette, they treat the “Civvies” like
dirt, insisting they do nonsensical “punishment duty” for minor infractions.
Basically, this entails walking around outside, until their environmental suits
start losing their integrity. You’d think they would just stand still, to cause
less wear and tear, but they can’t help wandering off. Periodically, some sort
of environmental death ray flares up, forcing them to take shelter in rusted-out
cars. Considering how many wrecked jalopies are out there, you’d think they
could use them to build a bigger base.
Dr.
Eve Gabriel (her name is a double-whammy) still has hope—and he is named Abel
(seriously). That is the AI android built with technology developed by her late
husband. It/he also happens to be the spitting image of the robotics scientist.
Dr. Gabriel hopes that Abel will be able to forage for food and potentially scout
for other human survivors, because he can walk around the post-apocalyptic
surface without a hazmat suit. Yet, as Abel learns more about human nature and
starts thinking for himself, the implications become rather awkward for Team
Eden.
Why
do Hutton-Mills & Ruspoli hate their fellow humankind so much, they want to
eradicate us as a species? Frankly, the theme that humanity has become too sick
to merit survival has become alarmingly prevalent in science fiction and
end-of-the-world films in recent years. Okay, so maybe people hate Trump, but
killing us off as a species definitely seems like overkill.
In
this case, Genesis is not just
rehashing a particularly problematic theme. It is basically cobbled together
from bits and pieces cast-off from dozens of more accomplished sf films. A
particular head-slapper is the big revelation that comes midway through. We won’t
be outright spoilery, but as a hint, it was probably lifted from the original Bladerunner.
Compared
to Genesis, Singularity (with John Cusack) is still complete junk. This film
has a boatload of issues, but it benefits tremendously from the reassuring
presence of John Hannah. He has a lot of accrued good will from Four Weddings and a Funeral and The Mummy franchise. In fact, Hannah is
terrific doing the post-apocalyptic thing in the honestly entertaining Gina
Carano vehicle, Scorched Earth, but
we can only follow him so far here.
Likewise,
Olivia Grant is considerably better than this movie deserves as Dr. Gabriel,
who has quite a developmental arc. For what it’s worth, Warren Brown is also
decently nefarious as Sec. Jordan Ainsley. Unfortunately, Chiké Okonkwo takes
the vaguely sketched Abel and makes him almost impossibly boring, for a genocidal
machine.
