40 Acres

Bare bones dystopian sci-fi future thriller without AI, robots, cell phones, nuclear fallout or helicopters. Just farm living. And only crops are involved. Not even a smart pig. "40 Acres" works as a minimalist thriller because everything is very simple. A family defends their land from the bad guys. There you go.

A simple premise with plenty of layers to chew on. Technology is useless, except for radios and guns. Seeds are gold because livestock is deadstock, or just disappeared stock. No stock. Farms are the new countries, barb-wire bordered and defended to the death.

The defenders here just happen to be of a mix of Native and Black North Americans, coexisting as a well-oiled military machine, thriving in a survivalist bootcamp scenario. Community, culture, education, loyalty, tradition, family, survival, greed, coming of age, life lessons, it is all here. Albeit a bit formulaic and predictable, the film is lively enough to pull the scenario off.

"40 Acres" is a very good-looking film, brimming with excellent performances, that never strays far from the action. The secret to succeeding in this genre: never slow down so the audience can question the sketchy logic. Go go go!

• hipCRANK.

Screen Unseen for June 16th was 40 Acres, and AMC advertised this film for Juneteenth. I was debating whether I wanted to see it or not, and then I received the open time frame to watch this movie.

The engagement was compelling enough to keep my attention. Still, my reason for engagement was trying to understand the world-building and consequential behaviors through the protagonist continued to be mind-blowing. In her motherly role, she should have soft elements, especially with the exposition of history in the flashback scenes. By the time we view the ending scenes, the emotional finale did not leave a heart-warming impact or a specific message of family.

Doesn't give apocalypse nor scifi. Acting was amateur. The violence was accurate, the deuss ex machina scene was not believable. We didn't care enough for the characters from their poor development. Would not recommend not cause acting was laughable nor for the underwhelming climax of it all, but because loosely connected stories coupled by a deplorably written script gave a childish almost annoying vibe that makes a enjoyable movie going experience feel like torture . Had hopes by the rating of the film, so I had to leave a review to anyone thinking they might want to see this. DON'T. Your wasting your time.

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.

The only thing I do not understand is the reason this movie is listed under science fiction. This is exactly how people will act when the food shortage hits the world, and it will hit us. Forget about viruses killing all animals, by 2050, we are guaranteed to have food shortages around the world due to the increased population, deforestation, decreasing soil fertility, climate change, unsustainable farming practices, and other factors. And just like this movie portrays, humans will lose their humanity and behave worse than animals (at least those are cruel unintentionally; they have no consciousness to comprehend their actions). So it is more of an action-drama than Sci-Fi.

A bit slow in the beginning. Could have been editted and cut for a shorter runtime. But overall, pretty good. Well shot with good acting and nice action. Gory at times but that is just to illustrate the point.

You've read the plot already, you know what the story is. So if you like Mad Max on a budget, feel free to give this a try.