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Cargo is dazzling, mystifying, sometimes scary, and is able to manipulate a rather familiar plot to seem less familiar. That last one however, is just as much a weakness as it is a strength. The film's problems are not on the screen, but on the pages.

Cargo contains a weighty story line, with questionable focus and a lack of coherency. There are also places where the movie feels draggy and repetitive. Characterization gets off the ground but not quite to the degree of emotion that was probably intended.

Anyone who sees Cargo is gonna wish they had seen it in theatres. Its greatest achievement is photography. I liked Cargo for its mystique and stylistic choices, but the writing and construction need a tune up. Its facade is perfect but its soul is murky, and its story is disoriented which does not allow us to appreciate Cargo to the full.

We have here a rather interesting sci-fi film in the vein of Sunshine, Moon or Solaris, where most of the action takes place in an isolated, enclosed artificial environment. It's in the future, Earth has been rendered uninhabitable for some undisclosed reason, and people live in squalid conditions on space stations in orbit. There's a new heavenly planet, Rhea, where people can emigrate to if they can afford it. Our main character, a doctor, gets hired for a very long (8 years) shuttle cargo round trip to resupply a remote space station. With her salary, she should be able to rejoin her sister already on Rhea. She, like the other crew members, is in cryogenic sleep most of the time except for 8-month awake shifts. As one can suspect, she starts hearing strange noises, senses some kind of presence in what should be a deserted ship. She wakes up a few people, and then things get worse when somebody gets killed.

One would think that this would be a premise for some kind of thriller involving a nasty alien creature. Cargo is not really that. Sure, it has good suspenseful moments, but it's the kind of slow-paced atmospheric pensive movie where you're more likely to be interested in the unfolding secondary mysteries than on discovering who the killer is, or who might be struck next. At least that was the case for me. My mind was going in overdrive trying to figure things out, inventing hypotheses, and I like that. Unfortunately, and I don't know if it's a translation issue from the original German (although it's a Swiss film), certain important plot elements were not made clear when they should have been. I had to check the Internet afterwards to properly understand a few things. Don't worry, we're not talking 2001 metaphysics here, far from it. :)

The characters were rather stoic most of the time, but at least they were ambiguous and not easily predictable. A particular blossoming romance didn't feel quite right, especially how it started. It somewhat hurt the emotional involvement later on, although you can see the director really tried for a good pay-off. I thought the main actress lacked a certain something, but she became more convincing as the film progressed, especially in one of her final scenes involving greenery. The special effects were of tremendous quality especially for a non-American film. Every space structure from the outside looked amazing. On the inside, it was appropriately dismal, sinister and even grandiose sometimes. I think Cargo might disappoint if you're expecting something more action-oriented. I personally enjoyed the story despite certain badly explained plot elements. I also liked it more from an intellectual perspective than from an emotional perspective.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10 (Good)

I've watched this in the English dubbed version. It was horrible. The voice actors had no emotion in their voice which made the movie very dull and drawn out. In the English version, the character development was zilch. Be ware of the captioning as well - things like "enjoyable" in the audio become "unpleasant" (so the complete opposite of what the character is saying) in the captioning. You aren't drawn to the characters so you don't really care what happens to them.

The plot was okay but in no means fantastic. If you enjoyed movies like The Matrix and Sunshine (though without the science background in Sunshine) you might enjoy Cargo. Just make sure you watch it in the original German!

Cargo presents a very familiar premise: A dystopian future with a desolate Earth is the backdrop for a thriller set in the confines of a cargo ship.

And while it starts off as what seems to be the usual Alien clone, it quickly evolves into a very complex mystery, with a far-reaching story arc. If I were to rate the first hour of the film it would be a solid 8/10 suspenseful hard sci-fi mystery/thriller.

However, after the first hour problems begin to arise. The plot starts having cracks. Characters start doing irrational things with hardly any explanation, simply so that their actions can act as a vehicle for the next scene. The mystery reveals itself but the implications it presents are mishandled. The movie starts dropping speed and stretches itself without any real need to do so. (And I have to say this but I hate it when characters are told they have X minutes left to do something important, but they take their time to walk slowly from point A to point B as if they have no cares in the world).

I think the creators could have done a far better job and it's a shame that they didn't because the film excels in most other sectors. Aside from the flaws I mentioned above, the characters are not explored much, but what we do see of them is consistent and believable. The art direction really nailed it, and with a better CGI budget they could have blown minds. And although the direction aboard the ship was discreet, it nevertheless impresses.

I'll give more chances to the people who made this, they certainly deserve it. If you enjoy space sci-fi thrillers, with an emphasis on hard sci-fi, you will probably enjoy this.

Switzerland's first attempt at sci-fi, and Ivan Engler's first feature film, Cargo harks back to numerous icons of science fiction cinema – everything from The Thing to The Matrix, and, most notably, Ridley Scott's Alien. It belongs to that particular breed of dystopian science fiction – where the world is ruined and the human race is living on borrowed time.

Cargo is a competent sci-fi, but it's nothing special. The first half is effectively tense and engaging, but it loses its way towards the end. Visually stunning considering the budget, but unfortunately, it's nowhere near original or creative enough to be considered a particularly revolutionary sci-fi film. SSP

Maybe not the absolute best of the genre, but certainly is worth the time to watch.

It's a bit difficult to describe some of the more interesting aspects of this production without accidentally providing spoilers, so my rendering of such here might be a bit limited.

At the very least, the visuals are remarkably well done.

The basic concept is the cargo ship going into deep space with its mysterious cargo, and the theoretical world Rhea, which is supposed to be a beautiful paradise of a world, as an alternative to Earth which has been ravaged by horrific industrial pollution, disease and environmental damage.

However, as this journey progresses, various layers of intrigue begin to become apparent, nothing is as it seems to be at first . . . and that's about as far I'll go in portraying the story.

I thoroughly recommend seeing this in its original German with subtitles.

The acting is well done, even though there are a few spots in the story that are a bit of a cliche'. Stylistically some scenes are very reminiscent of the original Alien film scenes, but this is not about alien lifeforms causing havoc on the ship, quite different actually.

Given the overall caliber of this production, definitely rates a solid seven stars.

Rented this from blockbuster and just saw it. The movie has a good premise, and even some original ideas; I certainly had guesses as to where the plot was going, but I was pleasantly surprised up till near the end -- the director/writer didn't take the easy way and do something similar to Sunshine, for example.

The visuals are good to great, especially considering the low budget for the movie. The acting, in my opinion, was quite fine and even pretty good -- though characters started getting less believable near the end, as did the premise.

Hopefully the director/writer will continue to do more science fiction flicks and improve on his technique!

A clichéd space science fiction movie with a mediocre story, lacking any surprises, and certainly suffering from some plot holes. However. The imagery is quite beautiful, the actors aren't bad, and the simple, unoriginal story is nicely told. So, it's a shame that these people, although they are obviously capable of making a film that is technically nearly faultless on a low budget, couldn't come up with a better, more interesting story to tell. I really liked the pacing of "Cargo", the certain calmness in the unfolding of events, a rather dreamlike, slow but unstoppable progression. If only this polished shell of a movie were a little bit more than this, a mere shell! Sadly, it isn't. Still, let's hope that this wasn't the last science fiction effort of directors Engler and Etter; I would very much like to see them adapting a better story.

First of all I'm a bit curious about the low rating of the movie here (6,4). This is a great movie raising all sorts of questions to the viewer. Which is what a good movie is supposed to do. Identity, sense of belonging, isolation, and the essence of the human nature are just some of the things the movie touches on. Yeah there are plot points that have been explored before in other movies but seriously who cares? It's how you portray those situations and plot. So I wasn't disappointed there. In fact I wasn't disappointed at all!! A brilliant film that will speak to the audience that loved, "moon".

Congrats to all the people involved in this movie. Hope someday it'll be released on Bluray.

This movie is a nice and surprising little gem. I decided to give it a try because the main plot seemed interesting and because I found it particular that an independent science-fiction movie would come from Switzerland. As I know that this country has a technical avantgarde status with experiments like the CERN and as it is rather isolated and independent, I was expecting a rather unique movie.

Well, the film seems not that unique and could have easily been a small Hollywood production. The slightly dystopian movie reminds first of a mixture of the stories of "Alien" or "Equilibrium" but it turns out very soon that the movie takes a different direction that rather reminds of "Wall-E" that may surprise you.

The movie has a philosophical drama touch and interesting twists that hides a lack of true suspense or horror feeling that could have been established with the main idea. In that way, the movie is not what one might expect in many ways and different from the Hollywood movies I have mentioned before. If you are looking forward for an action filled flick involving aliens, robots or galactic battles, this movie isn't for you. Now, what is this movie? It's a very human conspiracy movie with some suspense and drama scenes that is essentially carried by an intriguing story and twisted development. The movie is slow paced, atmospheric and focuses on the essential main plot without much diversity. On a positive note, one must also point out the stunning visual effects for such a low budget production. The care for the details is very much present in this movie.

While all these things would lead to a rating of at least eight points or more, there are a few reasons why I rate this interesting independent movie down. First of all, the characters don't always turn out to be what they are, but I feel that they are still not profound enough. The basis of the love story and its tragic ending seems a little bit unclear and unbelievable concerning the male part. The decisions and actions of the two men on board of the spaceships seem quite dumb and inappropriate and I feel that those characters could have been developed more. The main villain could have also been a little bit more clever and menacing. I feel that all the characters of the movie are shown and developed underneath the possibilities. The whole thing feels like a "light" version of a more complex and detailed plot or main idea with the exception of the main female character.

In the end, "Cargo" is a visually stunning and very human conspiracy movie with an interesting twist and a few drama and suspense influences. While the story is well thought, the characters don't keep what they seem to promise and should have been more developed. And if you don't get attracted by the main plot and twist, there is not much left that carries this movie as it already has some lengths. You may positively recognize the visual effects and efforts from the independent staff from an objective point of view but from a subjective point of view you either get drowned into the plot or you won't get into it at all. I got drowned into that plot and enjoyed the movie even if there are some slight flaws that lead me to take off one or two points that rather subjective users giving eight or nine points wouldn't take off. But someone that doesn't like the twisted story may only give about half of the points to this flick.

Either you get into the story or you may feel apart. That's why I would suggest to rent this movie instead of buying it. It's an exotic gem and somewhat unusual science-fiction movie that has not much to do with science but rather with fiction but a very human soul connected to it.

Not sure what I was watching here it look like some one had stuck a few movies together

Blade Runner, 2001 A apace Odessy, Alien and the Matrix. Its hard to be original I know.

Of course the usual rules of Sci Fi are followed,

There is gravity inside the spaceship, non outside big scary spaceships must have leaking water everywhere because there are no plumbers in space. Air Ducts can take you anywhere in a space ship You must get through the giant door before it closes. Terrorists have beards Really bad Terrorists have even bigger beards

Although some new rules where introduced: In the future space ships wont have hand rails There will be snow inside them Space suits will accommodate Obese people Everyone can use a hand gun, in fact every one is space will get one

Fans of American science fiction movies usually attack or dismiss with viciousness any attempt within this genre by foreign film industries, when in fact the products are sometimes more original or daring than American formulas. However, the influence of this industry (especially from Los Angeles) has been so reinforced with adrenaline shots, given the accumulation of ships, aliens and star wars, that foreign filmmakers mimic those models. Products of recent years, such as the Russian «Attraction», the Swedish «QEDA» or this first Swiss sci-fic film, owe a lot to American cinema.

In «Cargo» the issue almost reaches the limits of plagiarism of two Ridley Scott classics: the comparison with «Alien» is inevitable, but it also has a lot of «Blade Runner» (including the name of the character Decker , not a far echo from Harrison Ford's Deckard in that one). There is also some stuff derivative of «The Matrix», in the simulation of an alternative paradise life on another planet; and the rebels on war in the «Star Wars» style.

In this story, the Earth has become uninhabitable. Humans are wandering beings; without the planet they decimated, they are entities that live in space stations; or, in the case of the wealthiest, on the planet Rhea, where everything looks like a shampoo commercial. But it is a secret that the attempt to populate it was a fiasco, discovered by a woman doctor who, to save and be able to visit her sister in Rhea, accepts an eight-year job in a cargo ship that transports a strange shipment to a supposed base and inside which a stowaway travels.

The film works well until the resemblance to «Alien» runs out (luckily, there is no alien on board), so we enter the numerical universe of «Matrix»", overloaded with explanations that slow down the action or make it incomprehensible with so much cyber talk.

A good cast helps, as also do efficient visual effects, good art direction and cinematography, but a little cutting would have been very good. I remember very bad independent movies , that I saw in my adolescence («Journey to the Seventh Planet», «The Angry Red Planet» or «Queen of Outer Space») in which things were resolved in less than 90 minutes and we all would leave the cinema hyperventilated. Some of that would have been good for this attempt at "space revolt".

This being a non-Hollywood low-budget science fiction movie, it is the kind of film that one is generally made aware of by positive word-of-mouth rather than a large-scale marketing scheme. That also makes it easier to manage expectations, because CARGO has plenty to offer, without redefining or contributing much new to an old genre.

My absolute favorite part of CARGO is its cold and disconnected atmosphere, mainly due to the excellent production design, photography, acting and the intricate sound design. If there ever was a sci-fi movie that really sold the world it is set in, this would be the one. We are aboard the cargo ship Kassandra for most of the film, and it looks, sounds and almost feels extremely realistic. The bleak industrial design and dark corridors imply a corporate future that is unconcerned with esthetics and its employees' safety and well-being. The cast is unknown to me, but their subdued performances really sell the harsh realism of this bleak future. And it is very refreshing to see a sci-fi movie actually spoken in German (rather than dubbed), to show us that not only Britons, Irish and North-Americans get to go into space and encounter problems there.

The photography employs the right amount of lighting in wide, steady shots, to adequately sell an increasing sense of loneliness and paranoia. Coupled with the film's soundtrack, it makes a feast for the senses: with the constant humming of the engines, loud banging of machinery and every sound echoing through the interior, it has rarely been so easy to believe that we're in a spaceship. The ethereal score also adds greatly to one of the best atmosperes and sound ambiences I've experienced in the genre.

The atmospheric highlight of the film is the ship's huge cargo hold, where the protagonists investigate a weird phenomenon that kicks off the plot. Most ship-in-space movies try to use the claustrophobia factor, but this one successfully employs a nearly crippling sense of agoraphobia. The cargo hold is a massive space, dark, cold and snowy, with enormous cubical containers that periodically shift place. Largely rendered in meticulous CGI, it oozes with an almost palpable sense of dread, for fear of falling, getting lost, or simply becoming overwhelmed by its nearly unfathomable nothingness. This applies even more to the huge space station near the film's end, where we really experience a human's puniness, isolation and insignificance in the vast reaches of cold space.

The basic premise of a sparsely populated freight ship in space is of course borrowed from the classic ALIEN, and it is used with surprising efficiency. Those familiar with these kinds of movies know that something will happen during the journey that will jeopardize the mission and/or decimate the crew, but CARGO fortunately isn't interested in little green men or creepy monsters (to the disappointment of some, no doubt). Especially near the finale, the ultimate horror is personified much more by the feeling of being displaced and left out so far from our familiar Earth than by a very present physical adversary. It was here where I noticed very pleasant parallels with Danny Boyle's SUNSHINE or Alphonso Cuaron's GRAVITY. As James Cameron once put it, "the most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent."

That is also the movie's weak point. When its central themes and plot twists are revealed, we easily recognize heavy inspiration from classics like Blade Runner, The Matrix, Silent Running and the aforementioned Alien. The film brings up a few potentially interesting existential questions that give food for though, but it unfortunately doesn't linger too much on these potentially thought-provoking elements as it could have. In the end, the movie's style and appearance easily overshadow its narrative and subtext, and the film's special effects, though impressive for the modest budget, vary in quality enough for Hollywood to not have to worry yet.

So no new classic, but I applaud this good attempt to make a film within a genre that large film industries usually have a monopoly on. The makers show that they have a firm grasp on visual storytelling without making it look amateurish, and I wonder what they could do with a really inventive story. There is an English dub of this movie, but I believe that kind of defeats the purpose of seeing other cultures struggle in space. Whatever the choice, be sure to watch and listen to it in HD for a magnificent home theatre experience.

I'm so glad that I overlooked some of the poor responses posted about this film and rented it.

I found it absolutely riveting - and beautiful.

The first few minutes recall aspects of the BladeRunner modern cityscape - but on steroids, with the aid of modern day visual effects. The plot is interesting and unfolds nicely keeping your interest and attention. No big stars, no truly stellar performances, but the story line is solid and I was so taken in by it, that I'm going to watch it again tonight, with someone else who's not yet seen it. Some mesmerizing visuals and scenarios. The lighting is particularly strong, creating great ambiance and dramatic effect, without drawing too much attention to itself. This movie is about human frailty, various emotions and connections, about the work we do in order to follow our dreams. It also relates feelings of being small, powerless, and becoming disconnected because of technology - assessing trust in others and in the systems which dominate our lives, searching for 'truth' and authentic experiences...

A very unconventional melding of ideas which for me, worked on many different layers.

Highly worth a trip for any Sci-Fi lover.

Cargo is an interesting and beautifully shot science fiction film, but not exactly a groundbreaking one. It bears similarity to several well known sci fi movies which are better known, but it manages to tell it's own story without falling into the typical clichés of the genre. Visually, the film feels epic, which fantastic cinematography and direction, and exceptional visual and sound effects; made the more impressive by the film's small budget. The story, however, feels personal and more character driven, more along the lines of Moon. The pacing is also similar and moves along slowly and methodically. The plot also has some twists and turns, nothing that will lose a casual viewer, but also will not engage or intrigue an experienced viewer. The story plays out somewhat like a murder mystery to begin with, but then delves into territory that will be familiar to those who've seen The Matrix. The performances are sufficient, but not exceptional. The real draw here is the visuals, but they are nicely backed by a competent, if not compeletely intriguing, story. Definitely worth a look if you enjoy your sci fi on the slower side, but this one may turn off some people that need more action with their space travel.

Imagine a movie made by truck drivers, or soccer players, or bartenders, anyway, the point I'm trying to make is obvious.

It feels like it was directed by a random person and not a movie director. The casting is a mess, French actor is playing a Russian, clearly, a southwest Chinese woman is playing a Japanese. The main lead is incredibly dull and boring. The fact that she cannot act and the way the movie focuses so much on her face makes for some unintentionally funny moments.

The script of this movie delivered through car repairman movie directing comes as an incomprehensible mess. The first 30 minutes feel like 2 hours and by the end of the second act, you get bombarded with random information with instant plot resolution. The main "villain" was never even a villain and her motivation is beyond me.

There are many characters but only two of them have more than 2 lines. By the end, we barely even know what happened to them. This also has the weirdest forced instant love story with negative chemistry.

The dialogues are on par with the rest of the stuff in this. I should point out, however, that I don't speak German so I had to watch this movie with subtitles that weren't good.

The only good thing about this was probably set design. They had a couple of sets built and they looked alright. The ship's structure and overall design were questionable though (just because of how unsuited it was for human operation).

This film is a great illustration of how to do everything wrong. It gives you not enough information on what is going on while dragging on unnecessary scenes. It tries to be space horror essentially coming out as a rip-off of a pretty generic story even for 2009.

Don't waste time on this, and if you are a sci-fi fan, this will hurt even more.