Review: Contrived sci-fi thriller '2067' stuck in oblivion

Courtesy of RLJEFilms

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Another week, another bland futuristic science-fiction knockoff that doesn’t work. Seth Lamey’s “2067” minds in the right place, as its centered on Ethan Whyte (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a young man living during an era where the earth has been deprived of oxygen, who works in the mines with his older brother (Ryan Kwanten).

Recruited by shady individuals who wear white lab coats and equipped with a startling message from the future: “Send Ethan Whyte” - Whyte might become the savior of our planet. He’s transported 400 years into the future in an effort to track down a cure to save the human race. Like Matthew McConaughey in “Interstellar,” Ethan has to contend with time and space to harbor a solution for earth’s woes.

“2067” takes awhile to get the juices flowing and the blood pumping, but for a smaller budgeted scale flick, I was moderately impressed at the plethora of visuals that popped on screen. The premise isn’t a total bust either, the idea that earth is dying due to lack of oxygen isn’t that far fetched from our current trajectory. But this is a clear example of a film that doesn’t execute on its narrative, leaving Smit-Mcphee and Kwanten out to pasture in an effort to salvage the inciting twists and turns you’ll see coming from miles away.

The time travel plotline is hard to follow, especially as it chooses to frequently jump between different periods of history, stealing a nod or two from countless other time bending thrillers along the way (see “Blade Runner”). There’s a decent assortment of VFX shots and the production design is polished way beyond what anyone would anticipate, except the contrived loopholes and genre cliches pile up faster than a politician saying climate change is a hoax.

Grade: C

2067 will be available via digital/on-demand Friday October 2nd.