Colonials is currently available on VOD from Epic Pictures Group.
A film like Joe Bland and Andrew Balek’s latest offering, Colonials, wouldn’t be the first kind of project to challenge its directors with something ambitious and demanding. It also wouldn’t be the first of its kind to flounder in almost every way possible, in terms of producing anything outside of forgivable janky family adventure sci-fi, which is, really all I can manage to muster as a compliment at this point.
A universe in which our world has become a dystopia amid a war between robotic overlord Grom leading a campaign to dominate humanity with the aid of his army of “Exiles,” and “Colonials” preparing to defend what’s left of mankind, is what sets the stage for our main story of Silas (Greg Kriek), a space colonist and the son of a Colonials commander whose ship gets attacked by exiles forces, forcing his escape into a crashing descent on Earth. Rendered amnesiac in the crash, his only salvation is a band of rebel fighters, including Zoey (Jamie Bernadette) and Thomas (B.A. Tobin).
I don’t deny that this film has earned its share of accolades since hitting comic-con crowds last year. There’s a market for films of this kind and that’s a good thing. I especially appreciate the effort and work the actors put in to make their performances viable on digital sets, interacting with green screen backdrops and other CG elements, including Kriek whose character has a budding companion named Spark (Jon Provost), a flying head with its own skillset and personality to match. Actor Sean Kanan, most recently seen in Cobra Kai, is another memorable feat in the role of Zeke, a former “Colonial” soldier with a bio-enhanced arm whose damaged hearing from previous heyday battle makes for respite comedy when sitting Silas down to tell his story.
The appeal for a lot of the main characters here tends to fluctuate but I think it depends on how well you can vibe with sci-fi of this caliber. Barring the clip I shared earlier this month, I found the film to be more of a chore than preferred, and many of the key characters were only as likable as they were tolerable in some moments. The action sequences are fun to supplement throughout the framework of tawdry visual effects and perfunctory writing on which this film stands.
Kudos to Bland and Balek for the work they’ve done to make daring sci-fi possible on a budget far from larger endeavors. I’ve seen better, and can attest there is better, but if you’re the kind of consumer knowledgeable and affirming of one’s tastes even after reading this review, by all means, go ham. Go Colonials!
