The Humanity Bureau

I gave this a 5-rating for one simple reason: It kept me sufficiently interested to watch it to the end. No, it wasn't enthralling and, no, it wasn't exciting. The characters were poorly developed and no thought or creativity went into the single snowy mountain scenery. Plot holes abound, but I ended up not caring because I never had that suspension of disbelief that great movies inspire.

As a storyline, it had potential. But occasional glimpses of "what might have been" left a deep feeling of wanting so much more than was delivered.

Ultimately, the ending had a genuine feeling of "Oops, we spent too much time and money, so let's finish it quick". Very disappointing, but it did keep me watching (silly me).

In the near future, America is devastated by evironmental and economic disasters. Noah Kross (Nicolas Cage) is an agent of the Humanity Bureau, a government agency which determines whether a citizen is productive or not. He is sent to evaluate the farm of Rachel Weller and her son Lucas. The farm is barren and Kross decides to send them to the relocation center. When he gives them a break, his superior Adam Westinghouse (Hugh Dillon) seeks to stop them all.

It seems like the filmmakers conceived of a dystopian world but failed to create a compelling story within it. This is another Cage special. It should be a warning sign for any of his recent movies. If he thinks the script is great, there is no doubt that something is wrong with it. The big reveal reminds me of Soylent Green. In fact, I'd rather have Soylent Green. This is generally cheap, inferior in every way, and lacking intensity. Cage is going through the motion. This is a small Canadian sci-fi indie trying to hit above its weight and failing.

I guess when the movie came out the reviewers thought it was ridiculous. Today is a different story given the tings our government has been doing recently. Today, it is totally believable.

Noah Kross (Nicolas Cage) works for the Humanity Bureau and they try to get people to go to the city to enjoy a better life. The land is a desert the results of climate warming and water has to be boiled to be able to drink if you can find it. There are no rivers or lakes anywhere. Many people reject the government plan to move them because they do not trust the government. This disturbs Noah.

Noah comes across a woman, Rachael Weller (Sarah Lind) , who he didn't know, but did know Rachael Weller and she is not her and she has a son Lucas (Jakob Davies). It turns out this Rachael took the real Rachael's identity and cared for the real Rachael's son, Lucas, as if he were her son. The real Rachael died and this Rachael took her identity to prove the birth of Lucas. Noah is supposed to insure that Rachael and Lucas leave, but delays their departure.

So Noah, Rachael and Lucas take off and try to go to Canada where the waters are still there or so they want to believe. Agent Westinghouse (Hugh Dillon) is on their trail and he believes Noah is going Rogue.

This could have been a better story if it were more developed, but sometimes when you write a script while on roller skates, there isn't much time and you are afraid of crashing. So we are left with an outline of a story. One day Nicolas Cage will pick a good script. We just have to wait. The Nicolas Cage Impersonators are hoping for a better script too. They need more material. Ha!

Not such a good cat and mouse game and the ending will surprise. I supposed most of you already know what the government did to those people who they conned into leaving. (5/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Humor: None. Language: Brief small stuff only. Rating: C

Let's just be blunt; this is a Nicolas Cage movie...

...and with that statement, then you already know what you are in for.

The story in "The Humanity Bureau" is very slow paced, and it is also a very simplistic storyline that offers very little in terms of twists and surprises.

The storyline just trotted on in a very mundane and monotonous tone, which gave next to no variation to events or thrills.

The acting in the movie was adequate, taking into consideration the little material they had to work with.

I looked at the clock after what had felt like 2 hours something, but was shocked to find that only a single hour had passed.

This is not among the best of Nicholas Cage movies. But then again, doesn't really offer much of a challenge to become that, now, does it?