As a self professed geek sci-fi is probably my favorite movie genre. I have always enjoyed the genre because they usually have interesting premises and they take you to worlds much different than our own. Of the sci-fi subgenres I have always been a big fan of time travel as I try to check out every time travel movie that I can. While most time travel movies feature the character(s) traveling to the past, the movie that I am looking at today actually involves traveling to the future. While the premise was not particularly uplifting as the world was basically destroyed by climate change, I was intrigued by the premise as it showed a lot of potential. 2067 might not be the most original time travel movie, but it is still a thrilling story filled with enough twists to keep fans of the genre entertained.
2067 is a sci-fi movie that takes place in the year so aptly pointed out by its title. The world is in deep trouble due to climate change. The forests and all of the plant life on Earth have burned leaving no sources for natural oxygen left on Earth. The only source of oxygen left is synthetic which leads to illnesses in much of the population. As the scientists in the world’s last remaining city are searching for alternatives they receive a strange message from 400 years in the future “Send Ethan Whyte”. Ethan is an everyday worker who works underground making sure the cities power source is operational. In order to save the world and his dying wife Ethan must travel to the future to find the solution to the current oxygen problem on Earth. Can Ethan find the source behind the message, figure out how humanity survived its current predicament, and return home to save humanity?
With a time travel movie like 2067 it is no surprise that there are a number of twists sprinkled in. For this reason to avoid spoilers I am not really going to get into specifics about the story. In a lot of ways the film is like most time travel movies. The main difference is that the movie is about traveling to the future instead of the past. Like many movies from this genre a big emphasis of the story is built around fate versus free will and how Ethan’s actions in the future will impact 2067.
As a fan of time travel movies I enjoyed my time watching 2067. It has a few slow moments that drag a little, but otherwise I thought it was an engaging film. In many ways 2067 is similar to your typical time travel movie. This is not meant to be an insult. I just mean that if you have ever seen a time travel movie before you likely will have a pretty good idea of what to expect from 2067. The movie has a number of different twists which keep the movie engaging as you are never exactly sure how it is going to end. Basically if you enjoy time travel movies I see no reason why you wouldn’t enjoy 2067 as well.
I would say that the biggest problem with 2067 is the fact that at times you can tell that the movie didn’t have the budget of a blockbuster. The movie is an Australian film so it was never going to have the same budget as a USA blockbuster. Unlike some genres sci-fi generally requires a larger budget as it has more special effects and sets that cost money to build. Now I don’t want to give people the wrong impression as 2067 is not one of those really cheap sci-fi movies where it is so obvious that it was made on a shoestring budget. In fact the special effects and sets are actually quite good for a film that obviously didn’t have the budget of a blockbuster. The smaller budget becomes evident in the fact that after Ethan travels to the future the sets become more limited. The sets look nice. Its just that the same sets are used quite a bit and are repurposed. This does limit what the film can do as it doesn’t visit a bunch of different locations. There are also not a ton of action sequences in the film.
As for the cast and characters I thought 2067 did a good job. Much of the cast are Australian actors which isn’t surprising since the movie is an Australian production after all. Kodi Smit-McPhee plays the lead role of Ethan and does a good job in the role. Ethan is pretty much an everyday man who has a great responsibility thrust on him as the fate of humanity rests on his shoulders. Early in his journey he really begins to question whether anything he does will make any difference in the world. Joining Ethan is his friend/mentor played by Ryan Kwanten. Other notable actors in the movie include Deborah Mailman and Aaron Glenane. Some of the actors may not be well known in the USA, but I thought the cast was strong.
I had pretty high expectations for 2067 as I am a big fan of time travel sci-fi movies. For the most part the film met them. The movie is basically about a man that has to travel to the future in order to find a way to save Earth which is quickly running out of oxygen. The movie shares quite a bit in common with your typical time travel movie. This is not meant to be an insult as it is a good time travel movie. The movie explores some interesting ideas and has enough twists to keep you interested. At times you can tell that the budget was less than your typical blockbuster movie which somewhat limits the number of locations and action sequences. 2067 fares far better in this area than low budget films though. The actors and characters are also pretty good.
Before getting into my recommendations for 2067 I want to quickly discuss my final rating for the film. I honestly had a really tough time deciding on the final rating as it was genuinely right on the cusp of two different ratings. I kept debating between giving the movie 3.5 or 4 stars. I ultimately ended up giving the movie four stars, but I would probably say that it is on the lower end of the rating.
As for recommendations for 2067 it is pretty simple. If you are a fan of time travel movies and you think the premise sounds interesting I would recommend checking it out.
We would like to thank RLJE Films for the screener which was used to write this review.
2067 releases on VOD and Digital on October 2nd, 2020.
Rating: 4/5
Recommended For: Fans of time travel films.
Appears On the Following List Posts: None at the moment
Watch 2067: Digital
Movie Completionist is our never-ending movie review journal where the ultimate goal is to watch, write about, and curate as many movies (both new and old) as humanly possible. For more information on this post series and a list of shows already covered, see this post.
#004 The Black Emperor of Broadway <– Movie Completionist Introduction Post and List of Movies Covered –> TBA