| Film Reviews Sarah Watt
A literary classic is mined for plot and themes, but not purpose.
This young-adult sci-fi actioner – basically, Lord of the Flies in space – is largely dull and wholly wasteful of a premise that had potential. It is ruined by flat performances, a lacklustre script and negligent direction.
Imagine it’s the year 2063, and humanity needs a new planet. Take a bunch of genetically engineered, multi-ethnic children – all of whom are dark-haired and programmed for intellectual greatness – then launch them into space for an 86-year voyage with Colin Farrell as the sole responsible adult. Fast forward 10 years and the kids are teenagers. But don’t worry, they won’t be burdened by any
of that hormonal angst or lack of self-management inherent in typical adolescents because these kids have been dosed daily with a mysterious blue liquid that keeps them compliant.
Unfortunately, it also appears to dampen their personality and appeal.
As they run around shooting plasticlooking guns, the whole thing is so hammy the cast might as well be going “pew pew!”
Reciting lines in a robotic monotone, not even the accomplished young Tye Sheridan (The Tree of Life, X-Men) or LilyRose Depp (with her father Johnny’s eyes but none of his charm) can enliven this juvenile crew.
But when they stop “taking the blue” and emotions and sexual urges are finally unleashed, the youth of the future break into warring camps and seemingly undirected acting. As in William Golding’s classic allegory on the perils of humanity, Sheridan’s good guy Christopher must oppose the power-hungry Zac (Dunkirk’s
Fionn Whitehead), clearly named for the egomaniacal Jack of Lord of the Flies,
and stop him from being a bully. Unlike the novel, this includes him being rapey towards the female crew – the film consistently raises significant issues around consent but squanders the opportunity to properly educate its core audience.
This nonentity of a film is a mystery, because writer-director Neil Burger once knew how to create engaging YA stories (Divergent) and dazzle us with exciting depictions of chemically enhanced mental capacity (Limitless). He pillages Golding’s tale for its underlying plot and themes, but bungles the futuristic update with distasteful choices, such as the tormented “Piggy” character being played by a young black girl who is neither fat nor bespectacled.
As they run around shooting plasticlooking guns, the whole thing is so hammy the cast might as well be going “pew pew!” The youth of today cannot be fobbed off with something so bland and pointless, and anyone older will definitely need pleasure enhancers to enjoy it.
IN CINEMAS NOW
It’s been 15 years since Māori Television began broadcasting the Anzac Day dawn service at the Auckland War Memorial Museum and this year’s coverage (from 5.40am) is just the start of a day’s programming devoted to marking the event. The Māori TV schedule includes a mix of documentaries and movies throughout the day. Most of those have been shown before on other channels, but there is a new offering in the show Te Rongo Toa (5.30pm), a music and history special showcasing songs from the war years and telling their history.
It’s presented by Francis Tipene of undertaker-reality series The Casketeers, who sings as well as emcees. He’s joined by iwi historians Kaa Williams, Colonel Miki Apiti, Hone Sadler and Te Kepa Stirling, who tell the story behind each waiata. The songs will be performed by Troy Kingi, Theia, Sherydon Ngaropo, Akuhata Keefe, Tangi Haere Hou-Pere and Metotagivale Schmidt-Peke. For those wanting to sing along, lyrics for the featured waiata will be available to download and print from the channel’s website.
There’s wartime music history, too, in Pixie (11.00am), the 2020 documentary about Blue Smoke singer Pixie Williams and composer Ruru Karaitiana. Among other local docos on offer are Paradise Soldiers (9.00am), about servicemen from the Cook Islands who first served alongside New
Children of Gallipoli features descendants of soldiers from both sides who meet where their ancestors fought.
Zealand troops in World War I, which screened on TVNZ last year; Children of Gallipoli (10.00am), which dates from 2001, features descendants of soldiers from both sides – two Turks and two New Zealanders – who meet where their ancestors fought. Gallipoli is also the focus of 25 April (7.30pm), the 2015 film directed by Leanne Pooley, which uses animation to tell the first-hand stories of five Kiwi soldiers and an Australian nurse captured in diaries, letters and memoirs at the time. The film also used the actors voicing the six as filmed interview subjects, then animated the results. The combined result of the vibrant, animated battlefield scenes and the personal reflections of the six makes for a captivating account. It’s one worth seeing for the first time, even if you’re suffering from a little WWI commemoration fatigue from the centennial of recent years.
Among the few Anzacrelated offerings on other channels, TVNZ 1 is showing Peter Jackson’s brilliant They Shall Not Grow Old (Monday, 8.30pm). Using digital technology to colourise and add sound to silent black-and-white WWI footage and audio interviews with British veterans from the archives of the Imperial War Museum, Jackson created an entrancing film that brought the Western Front to grim and fascinating life. It’s also available on Netflix. l