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Settlers

2021

Wyatt Rockefeller

Sofia Boutella, Jonny Lee Miller, Brooklynn Prince, Nell Tiger Free ...

4.4

510

Sci-Fi Following ecological disaster, a family from Earth eke out an existence on a desolate Mars homestead. Reza (Jonny Lee Miller) and his wife Ilsa (Sofia Boutella), do their best to protect nine-year-old daughter Remmy (Brooklynn Prince) from the perils of this forbidding landscape.

	Media	Author	Review
		Jared Mobarak The Film Stage	"Sci-Fi Thriller leaves its audience in the dark (...) Wyatt Rockefeller hopes that his feature debut Settlers will succeed for no other reason than the fact that it attempts to find some semblance of circuitous repetition"
		William Repass Slant	"Rockefeller turns genre against itself to weave a pessimistic yarn about the limitations imposed on us by our own nature (...) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"
		Guy Lodge Variety	"Wyatt Rockefeller’s polished, confident debut feature succeeds most vividly as a feat of minimalist world-building"
		Anthony Lane The New Yorker	"'Settlers' has its problems, most of which are structural. Tense and firm at either end, it sags in the middle like a mattress. Also, the grownups are pretty dull and flat"
		Lena Wilson The New York Times	"This has all the trappings of a film that should know what it’s doing: impressive special effects, slick cinematography, staggering art direction. Unfortunately, all the money in the world can’t save this rotten narrative"
		Kat Halstead Common Sense Media	"The movie doesn't particularly explore new frontiers. But what it does, it does well, cranking up the tension throughout and giving Prince's show-stealing performance plenty of oxygen to breathe."
		John Serba Decider	"Prince and Free nearly make 'Settlers' worth a watch, but the film never finds its focus or establishes much dramatic drive."
		Roxana Hadadi Polygon	"Rockefeller only repeats other science fiction, rather than inventing big ideas of his own"
		Noel Murray Los Angeles Times	"It’s hard to get too invested in the threat to this family (or in the threat they pose to Jerry) when these people share little about who they are. Still, terrific performances up and down the cast fill in some gaps"
		Brian Tallerico rogerebert.com	"With a strong cast and an intriguing premise (...) 'Settlers' should work, but it simply sags in the middle, only barely sparking to life again in a more suspenseful final act (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"
		Camillo de Marco Cineuropa	"Not a boring political film about a future environmental disaster, but is able to excite and entertain (...) A slow-burning but emotionally impactful film"

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