14 | May | 2020 | Movie Reviews 101

Director: Andrew Gilbert

Writer: Andrew Gilbert (Screenplay)

Starring: Luke Hobson, Georgie Smibert, Chris Kaye, Bryn Hodgen, Nicholas Chambers, Susan Lee Burton

Plot: 15 years after World War III, the nuclear winter is over, but mankind is on the verge of extinction. Civilisation no longer exists, food is scarce and most eke out a living by stealing and killing. One boy clings onto life in the desolate countryside of southern Britain, where staying away from other humans has been key to his survival. But this self imposed isolation comes to an abrupt end when he crosses paths with another group of survivors and an enemy far more savage than any of them could imagine.

Runtime: 2 Hour 16 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Bleak End of the World

Story: Edge of Extinction starts in the aftermath of a nuclear war, the Boy (Hobson) lives in isolation away from everyone, keeping his supplies together until he meets a Girl (Smibert) who ends up being a trap for a group of Road Rats, with The Man (Kaye) taking his stuff.

When the Boy goes looking for revenge, he discovers the group under threat from a bigger group of cannibals, who take the Girl, forcing the Boy to team up with the Man to rescue the Girl from the new danger she finds herself in.

Thoughts on Edge of Extinction

Characters – The Boy is the lone person that is surviving the world, he is still dealing with the loss of his brother during the devastation in the world, this changes when he reluctantly lets a girl in, only for himself being left injured with nothing, before deciding to show his deadlier side when it comes to fighting against cannibals. The man is the one that leaves the boy with nothing, only to be the only survivor of an attack on his own group, he will play more into the torturous side of getting information and working with the boy, they show their own strengths along the way. The girl is used by the man as bait to trap lonely people to steal their goods, she doesn’t want to be involved in this, but this is the only way to survive in this world, until she learns the worst in humanity. The Chief runs the cannibals with an iron fist, if they don’t do what he says, he will kill them, he collects women like trophies, but isn’t afraid to lead his men into battle.

Performances – Luke Hobson and Chris Kaye are both good with their characters, but they do both struggle to give themselves enough individuality with the mindsets meant to be different. Georgie Smibert is mostly the victim, but does show the goodness left in the dark world. Bryn Hodgen works well as the lead villain, with his menacing behaviour showing the psychotic side.

Story – The story here follows a group of survivors in a post-nuclear war that are trying to survive in the world filled with new dangers, humans, supplies are thin and now the small group must take a stand against a new threat, one that is using women as sex slaves and killing anyone else for food. This might well be a story that we have seen before, with the humans being the only enemy this time. It could have a feel like ‘The Road’ with the British countryside, with some bleak ideas the story follows. One side note is that the Boy does have an issue where he talks to himself, only it gets dropped in the second half of the movie.

Sci-Fi – The sci-fi side of this story, does look at the world that has suffered the destruction, with a very bleak looking future.

Settings – The film does use the empty environments to show us how empty the world has become after the war.

Scene of the Movie – The battle.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – This is too long, it doesn’t need to be nearly two and half hours long.

Final Thoughts – This is a nice looking end of the world movie, it looks bleak, it feel bleak and shows a reality that could be horrible to live through. It is well acted, with the only problem being the length of the film.

Overall: Dark, Bleak and Empty Thriller

Edge of Extinction will be released on Digital Download from May 18 here and on DVD later in the year here, both can be pre-ordered now

Director: Byung-chun Min

Writer: Byung-chun Min, Jae-rim Han (Screenplay)

Starring: Ji-tae Yu, Jae-un Lee, Rin Seo, Eun-pyo Jeong, Doo-hong Jung, Hyo-Seon Kim, Ju-hye Ko

Plot: In the year 2080, the world is connected by a massive computer network. Combiners have developed a process that allows them to merge the souls of human and machine/cyborg, wreaking havoc in a deeply divided society.

Tagline – The war has begun…

Runtime: 1 Hour 54 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Less Interesting Blade Runner

Story: Natural City starts in the year 2080, in a world where cyborgs are part of the world, taking the place of human bodies, containing their souls, R (Yu) is one of the military police that hunts down cyborgs that are out of control, with his latest mission seeing him disgraced by his boss as they hunt for the deadly Cyper (Jung).

R has been illegal collecting the AI chips from the cyborgs to sell on the black market, he sells the chip from Cyper to buy himself a cyborg called Ria (Seo) one without much time left in her system. R’s latest assignment is to track down Cyon (Lee) who is an unregistered living in the city, that could hold answers to the future.

Thoughts on Natural City

Characters – R is a military police officer that has been struggling to deal with the work of eliminating cyborgs, he has been working on making money on the side with a plan to rescue a cyborg from the life she is stuck in. he isn’t the strongest soldier, but he will do what it takes to fight for what is right. Cyon is the mysterious young woman that is the key to the battle going on, she is unregistered and is wanted by the police for her work on the streets. Ria is the aging cyborg that R wants to save, she only has days left which see her being taken, while still trying to find her purpose in the world before it is too late. Noma is the leader of the police unit that R is in, he clashes with his friend even if they do want the same thing at times.

Performances – The performance in the film are solid enough from the whole cast, nobody looks out of place, though we could have seen more from them if we are going to reach the next level.

Story – The story here takes us into a future where cyborgs are used with a limited life span, when they go rogue the military police track them down and in this story they are trying to break out to become the main force in the world. This story was difficult to keep up with in places because we are watching something that does seem similar to Blade Runner, in nearly everything single way. We the that we have three different sides coming into a potential war doesn’t help because too many different people are trying to prove themselves as the hero of their own story.

Action/Sci-Fi – The action in this film is big and does show a style which has been borrowed from other films, it has great moments which will become the highlight of the film. The sci-fi world that we enter is wonderful too, it shows the typical ideas that we have been led to believe too.

Settings – The film uses the settings to show the different worlds being lived in, showing us the environments that both are coming from or aiming to.

Special Effects – The effects are used to show the different developments of the cyborgs, we get to see just how they are created and destroyed.

Scene of the Movie – Cyborg escape.