2149: The Aftermath

On IMDb this is called Darwin and also Confinement but on Amazon it's known as 2149:The Aftermath. I've watched a lot of movies but never seen 3 completely separate movie titles before. I haven't even watched it yet but when you can't get past the title without a mess you know it's gonna be trouble.

I wasn't expecting much from this, but it was a surprisingly good little story despite the small cast and small number of locations; it didn't need more. It's also very relevant for the future with everything that's happened in the last two years and the way things are going.

It might be hard to get a fix on the real reviews of this movie since there are so many versions out there.

But for the one named 2149: The Aftermath, it's not an exciting movie and it does leave a lot of things unanswered but it is an OK movie.

I can see that some might draw parallels to what is happening now with Covid. Stay inside, let the government take care of you, and other things.

Beef up the response to Covid and it might come close to something like this. The people in the pods would be the pro vaccine/mask people and the people outside would be the no vaccine and mask people.

Like a found footage flick, this one benefits from its shortcomings by focusing on what is available without a big budget. Most of the good parts are at the end, but the first half was not utterly devoid of interest. The commentary on social media, tech, and video games was perhaps a bit on the nose, but it created an effective sense of isolation -- of an almost "empty world" -- pretty well.

I would suppose this has a low rating because it's cerebral fiction and doesn't have enough action/adventure to appease today's adrenaline junkies. Further, zero bad language, no nudity, no violence. Most unusual for a post-apocalyptic sci fi film

This film has a great premise, good writing, good directing, good acting, music, and great use of limited scenery. A slow-burner for sure, but post-apocalyptic doesn't have to be Mad Max. Sometimes it's just people adapting.

I can't get into the strengths and weaknesses without spoilers, so suffice to say that the plot generally makes good, logical sense. Some people complain about 'missing information' but they haven't thought through the concept of a war that destroyed most of humanity, the remaining government trying to retain a viable workforce / civilization (as meager as it is), and survivors just trying to get by day to day (without going on sadistic rampages).

On the downside, the movie would have been better without narration... giving the audience a chance to figure a few things out. One doesn't have to know all the background details to understand the life the characters have been thrown in to. Remove the narration, it would have been a better, more immersive film.

This is a movie about people adapting to the needs of everyday life and discovering more about that life as time passes. Science fiction isn't always about giant robots and planet-conquering aliens. Sometimes great science fiction is just about people.