Review by Jon Donnis
Directed by Tanel Toom.
The year is 2063, a war-ravaged Earth, combined with climate change means the Earth has only two small continents left as the seas have risen to engulf the rest, resulting in an endless war between them. Both sides have built watchtowers and provided them with powerful weaponry, incase another attack commences. Four exhausted soldiers man Sentinel, a remote military base in the middle of the ocean between the two remaining continents, Cassidy (Kate Bosworth), Sullivan (Lucien Laviscount), and Baines (Martin McCann) under the leadership of Hendrichs (Thomas Kretschmann), find themselves waiting for anything at all to happen.
A relief crew was supposed to arrive three months ago, but it has yet to do so. An empty ship called the Aurora drifts into view, what happened to it?, where is the crew?, can they use the boat to escape between storms. The commander wants to use the supplies from the Aurora to continue the waiting game, while the rest of the crew wants to repair it and sail home.
With a nuke sat there ready to be used, there are a lot of questions to be asked, and decisions to be made.
This is very much a film about paranoia, relationships and ultimately survival when cut off from the rest of humanity.
This is a dialog rich film, which I suspect is due to the budget, although the moments of excitement are well filmed and convincing.
As mentioned this is a dialog rich film, and we get to see each character deeply interact with each other, as well as their own thoughts.
The Good
A strong opening sets up the film nicely, the visual effects are very good, although not that many unfortunately.
The Bad
We don't get enough back story to the characters which is a shame, they all know each other very well, so it is hard at times to have much of an emotional investment in them.
Overall
This is your classic dystopian film, and what it lacks in big screen effects, it makes up with well written dialogue, and good storytelling.
It is worth checking out.
Released on digital 24 April 2023 - https://apple.co/3Ah0w4k
