La colonie

Is it reminiscent of other sci-fi dystopian flicks that came before it? Yes, but so what. Everything in life is a bit derivative or reminiscent of something else. Personally, I enjoyed the casting, the actors and the acting, combined with the cinematography...as an artistic take on the genre. A bit of an art-house indie version of a sci-fi trope if you will, by comparison with big budget studio productions, which sometimes fall short of late by relying on one or two big name actors to carry them. Aside from Iain Glen, I wasn't familiar with the cast, but they not only performed well, but were relatable and won me over. I didn't mind that the script was light on plot and dialog, but the ending felt rushed. I'd rather they'd have taken their time and added 20 minutes or so to the final cut. Still, the imagery was lovely and the main actress both lovely and powerful.

MORE art-house indie sci-fi with larger casts, please!

Wow, I don't think I have seen a film in the past few years with more clichés packed into the dialogue. And there is a lot of yacking in this film, so the clichés and predictable conversation becomes overwhelming.

And for Sci Fi one expects to suspend disbelief on even core elements, but one does not expect more plot holes than a sieve. A civilization that is doing interstellar travel hundreds of years more advanced than 2020 space efforts, but doesn't have landing technology of 1960's Mercury or Soviet Vostok????

Lastly, the acting except for Ian Glenn is atrocious, cringeworthy.

This is a film made in Europe, so naturally the score of 5 on Imdb translates to an actual 8 if you think about it a little. The acting is great - even the children, the story makes sense, the direction is good, the atmosphere well thought out and the movie well executed. And that on a budget that is probably orders of magnitude smaller than an American film.

Earth is made uninhabitable by people, so the elite just leave it behind and move to another planet. However, the joke's on them, as they lose all reproductive ability there, so they need to come back. The story is about this woman who is the sole survivor of a survey mission and who discovers people still live on Earth, including earlier surveyors. The action is well done, the characters believable and, other than a rather disappointing finale, it's a pretty good film. There are themes of racial supremacy, protecting the Earth and a general moral that ethics are important and the means are not justified by the end.

Bottom line: I recommend it. It's not perfect, it has its flaws, but overall it does exactly what it set out to do and does it well.

This is a smart film. This foreign film reminds me in many ways of three other films; The Road Warrior, Blade Runner, and Pierre Boule's 1970's Planet of the Apes. The beginning scene had me looking for Charlton Heston. Nora Arnezeder is very compelling as the women from Kepler who returns to Earth to see if this abandoned planet will sustain life. Class issues, an undercurrent of Colonial politics, and moral relativism are all intertwined in this dark futuristic Sci-Fi film. It is ambitious. It is visually Dank but not low budget in appearance. It does drag a bit but overall it is pretty good. It is a German film but it is in English.

'Tides' or 'The Colony' is not a bad film. After a sloppy start which didn't make much sense, like a capsule drowning in water (that is full of air and is specifically designed to float), the absence of technical means for navigation or communication, the film starts to grow. The production quality is great, it looks and sounds really good, the location is solid. Some of the visuals reminded me of the Metro Exodus and Fallout games.

Then, around 30 minutes into the film, it turns into complete boredom after a sequence of vaguely motivated decisions. The problem is the predictability of the story. Every character, every plot thread, the ending - everything is so full of cliches you can pretty much recite the dialogue along with the characters. You know how it is going to end. In fact, I'm writing this review while still watching it, and it is really that predictable.

They don't really try to obscure it or provide an interesting twist. Like, come on, you can't cast Iain Glen and make him look like a good guy.

Anyway, now as the film is over, I can conclude my review. This film is everything you have seen before, plus some virtue signaling fueled by popular political ideas, making me think that it was probably made to fish out some festival awards.

Great production shell, but empty inside.