40 Acres

So there's a plague that just kills every species of animal but not humans, and then there's a civil war that destroys all society and makes farmland the most valuable commodity.

That's just what you get from the opening crawl, but if you were hoping for the movie to start making sense after that you will be painfully disappointed.

Our heroes are a family on a farm. They grow corn and make short work of any fools who wander by and want to take it. The threat starts out small and grows. Will the family survive? Etc, I think we all get it. The movie works well enough when nobody is talking and blood is splattering on the walls. It completely falls apart when the viewer tries to pay attention to anything else.

Because what this movie really wants to be is a zombie movie. The zombies enslaved the African mom and stole the land from the native American dad. If you don't defend yourself they'll come back and take what's left. They'll kill your neighbors and if they get you they'll eat you.

They won't be smart though. Zombies aren't smart. And neither is this turkey.

Just saw the movie. First the movie is too long by probably a half hour. There is lots that could be cut to save time and make the movies pace better. I would have also appreciated more world building. There was a small blurb at the beginning but thats pretty much it. The mother is unlikable which I think is the point but it's too much for too little payoff. The step dad and his daughter are a breath of fresh air for the characters. The movie takes forever building up to the action which is at least good. There was a very cool dark action scene that I would have loved to have more of.

Overall it's too long too slow tells too much about stuff that doesn't matter and not enough about what does.

40 Acres is advanced in how it treats familial, racial, and interpersonal traumas. One could look at this film as an allegorical reflection on the devastation ravaged by North American colonists towards multiple communities (i.e. Indigenous Canadians and enslaved Africans) and, while this is necessary to feel the full weight of these survivors' journeys, the genre bending and fast-paced sequences are so well-tailored that the thrills alone can carry the film.

These are survivors in the truest sense of the word, and it's not killing or laboring in the fields that gives them a hard time, it's learning how to build the trust to let others in.

40 Acres is a new Canadian, post apocalyptic......farm thriller?

The basic plot follows a family living on an isolated farm in the middle of rural Canada, several years after a mushroom pandemic, civil war and other weird stuff.

Society has fallen, and there are cannibals and raiders everywhere. A family of mixed ethnicity are now surviving, growing food on their farm, which is super important, all animals are now wiped out and farmland is a super hot commodity.

The movie is handsomely shot but it bounces around from dark humour, horror, a military movie, a family religious movie and a coming of age movie, oh and kidnapping movie.

It's almost like the director said to the writers "Hey you have all of this stuff in here. What kind of movie should this actually be?" And then they all said "Yes."

This is a textbook example of throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the wall, but what sticks actually does kind of work.

The movie is unique in that when it's the turn...things get worse for the characters....and then it gets worse......and then it gets worse...before being tied up in a nice little bow at the end.

At the end of the day, if you gave me this film's budget and actors and told me to go with god, this isn't the movie that I would necessarily come up with, but I'm glad that someone took a stab at it. The result is a low to mid budget thriller that actually pulls it off. I saw this movie at a surprise screening, but I'm glad that I did.

This movie has all the hallmarks of a good action/thriller, the plot was engaging and fast paced, and wow, the suspense! What stood out to me was the subtle but impactful exploration of Canadian history including things like the three sisters at the dinner table (Corn, Beans, and Squash), and other interesting notes. Although it was exploring a semi-familiar genre of cannibals (insane!) I found the movie refreshing and different. It was also beautiful, and the way the nature and landscape was shot was captivating. This movie will surprise you! I'm happy I stumbled upon it, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a unique and entertaining watch!