The Humanity Bureau (2017)

Elevator Pitch: In 2030 the United States has become a bleak wasteland; Noah Kross, Humanity Bureau agent, has the job of identifying non-productive members of the community and assigning them to be transferred to “New Eden”. If they refuse he may take executive action. He visits a young woman and her son in an isolated farm house and incurrs the disapproval of his boss by posponing their transfer. When  he is overuled he takes them with him in a trek over the landscape towards some sort of Utopia in Canada.

Content: We might want the couple to get together, but they seem to remain at odds throughout. We don’t know why. Most of the film taken up with the trip, driving across a burnt out landscape with the occasional visit to people who might be able to help them. Some of the time the Humanity Bureau are on their trail and we wonder why they bother, and this results in a couple of firefights with automatic weapons. There are a couple of drones involved which I quite liked.

A View: At one point they get a few cans of petrol from a helper, and these seem, unrealistically, to sustain them for the whole of the trip, mostly on dusty trails. It was probably a requirement of the script that Nic Cage and Sarah Lind remain at odds, but this does nothing for the film. The revelations, when they come, are totally predictable. The few critics who reviewed it did not like it nor was it enjoyed by the general public. There are loads of other Nicolas Cage films out there. Choose any of them. I am making this an ALMOST DON’T SEE.

Additional Info:  Estimated production cost $6,000,000. US box office $59,000.