Like the survivors, viewers have a very incomplete picture of the Armageddon that transpired, but apparently a boat loaded with nuke’s detonated off the California coast, right before a cyber-attack (reportedly from Russia) brought down the power grid along the Atlantic coast. As a result, panic swept the country, overwhelming governments at every level. However, Ian Ross was prepared.
The wealthy prepper had converted his Rocky Mountain “Homestead” ranch into a doomsday compound with farmland, vineyards, and extensive stores of supplies, including, of course, guns. He also hired a security team of former special ops to keep them safe from marauders.
Jeff Ericksson is very good at his job, maintaining a secure perimeter. However, Ross’s wife Jenna argues in favor of letting more survivors into Homestead. Some of Ericksson’s men adamantly oppose, with a vehemence that is a bit alarming. Ross is somewhere in the middle, mindful of his limited resources, but also recognizing their human plight. As for Ericksson, he general agrees with his men, but he also has his family at Homestead, including his wife Tara and three children, so he worries about what kind of community they might grow up amidst.
So far, his oldest son Abe has taken to Homestead quite well, but it is mainly due to Ross’s home-schooled daughter Claire. It most respects, the teenaged Ericksson remains just as snippy and churlish towards his father as ever. Before long, legit bad guys also try to gate-crash, including a government bureaucrat (very much in the mold of Ghostbusters’ Walter Peck) who thinks he has the right and authority to commandeer Homestead’s supplies.
Frankly, it makes sense Homestead is set in the Rockies, because the mountainous region would likely have a very high survival rate. The population density is low, the rate of gun ownership is high, and Mormons on the Utah side would have three months off food on hand, as per Church teachings. Without question, it depicts prepping and survivalism with much more intelligence than the recent Year 10, but it is not as cerebrally speculative as Earth Abides.
It is also nice to see Neal McDonough playing a good guy, like Ross, who is much more reflective of his values than the villains he often plays. In fact, he is perfectly cast as the steely rancher, who accurately predicted the physical needs of survival, but had less foresight when it came to the human element.
What really holds Homestead (the feature) back is how clearly it was conceived as a pilot for the future series rather than as a self-contained narrative. Smallbone and showrunner-to-be Ben Kasica spend most of the time establishing their characters and only introduce the main villains (presumably) in a closing stinger. Most of the conflict throughout the feature focuses on the soul of Homestead, whether it will be defined by Christian charity or paranoid militancy, which is important. However, it is the life-and-death danger that generates tension and suspense.
Nevertheless, fans of Forstchen should appreciate its vision of rugged self-reliance. McDonough anchors the film with his commanding presence, hinting at what might have been if his refusal to film romantic scenes had not excluded him from so many leading man roles. Frankly, Homestead is rather zeitgeisty, following Earth Abides, and preceding MPI’s announced One Second After. Recommended to fans and preppers for McDonough’s work and its realistic depiction of extreme situations, Homestead opens this Friday (12/20) in theaters, including the AMC Empire in New York.
