atomicpunk40

It is the year 2022 and the world - New York City in particular, and where our story takes place - is a overpopulated, polluted, and garbage filled hellhole. Only the wealthy can enjoy the good things in life (isn't the way it is in all these dystopian future movies). Everybody else has to live in small, claustrophobic apartments and eat synthetic food, particularly one named Soylent Green.

Charlton Heston plays a cop who is assigned a murder case involving the kacking of a top - and very rich - executive with the Soylent Corporation (played by Joseph Cotten) who has recently spilled the beans to his local priest about a "secret ingredient" that is found in that wonderful flavor-of-the-month known as Soylent Green. Along with his roommate, close friend, and former cop (played by Edward G. Robinson in his final role), Heston tries to unravel who the murderers are and the conspiracy behind the Soylent Green product while stopping a a hired brute (Chuck Conners) who is trying to slow down the investigation.

What really stands out here is, of course, the set designs. Things look futuristic here, but are not space age futuristic as in other sci-fi movies similar to Soylent and also take place approximately at this time. Streets are clogged with dirty people and there seems to be a perpetual haze of smog in the air. Everything has a cramped, ugly and filthy feel, unless you see the places of the wealthy which are sparkiling clean. And hey, Soylent was the first movie to ever show a video game! Another thing is the way we see people eat food. When we see Chuck Conners' girlfriend eat strawberry preserves, she SAVORS it! When we see the meal that Heston and Robinson eat from the confiscated food from Cotten's apartment we see them relishing everything. These ARE desperate times for these people!

The bad side is that the story is a bit slow. It kinda drags on and expects us to follow along. It only picks up speed during the scene involving the pick-up dumpsters scooping people up and throwing in the back of the bin - their fates unknown - and also after Robinson's death scene (famous because this was the last scene he acted in for the movie, then passed away in real life weeks later) and Heston finding out the "secret ingredient" to Soylent Green. Not that the story is confusing, no. But a quicker pace could have been welcomed here.

Soylent Green is an enjoyable (for the most part) "what-if' sci-fi flick. It's good. But oh man, It could have been just a little bit better.

My rating (from Excellent to Poor)... Pretty Good. A look at a slimy future that I'm glad we didn't see in real life... but if we don't straightened up we just might!

According to the premise in the (then) distant future year of 2020, a underwater community known as the Challenger Seamount exists. Run by a group of scientists and their families, the place is meant to study the effects of sea life while its residents encounter adventure every step of the way.

A great setup if you ask me. What makes Sealab 2020 stand out is that this is basically an outer space adventure show, but everything takes place in an underwater world. Instead of a distant planet, its the bottom of the ocean floor here on Earth. Yeah, there are some lessons to be taught and some real-world facts to be pointed out, all mixed in with the adventures. After all H-B clearly tried to be educational with this. But it never felt like you were being beaten over the head with its environmental protection issues, unlike the obnoxious crapfest Captain Planet which came along some 20 years later and in which the lessons about the environment were so heavyhanded and obvious where, after watching a couple of episodes, it made you feel like a polution-loving, Earth-trashing buffoon who needs to be shot just for throwing a bubble gum wrapper on the ground the previous day!. Another welcomed relief is a lack of a "comedy relief" character. There is no talking pet walrus or a fat bumbling fool who is always doing something ridiculous. Sealab 2020 could also be seen as a bit of an influence as this same setup (an underwater command base and lab) would be used again in "Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue", one of the better Ranger teams and series.

Sealab 2020 is/was a great look at a year that seemed very hopeful, but as we found out in real-life, was anything but that.

My rating (from Excellent to Poor) - Good. Enjoyable sci-fi with some education thrown in for good measure.