So, this is not a huge production value, blockbuster movie, but the story is an interesting one. For those reviews who don’t understand the lesson of this movie, allow me to explain. The “World Authority” used fear-mongering to get the world population to do things contrary to human nature. Fear is a powerful tool used by despots and evil regimes as old as time. We see it today with COVID numbers being blown out of proportion and doomsday scenarios on every news channel. The kryptonite of fear-mongerers’ are free thinking, intelligent people.

Only on Amazon could this film end up with a rating higher than 2 or 3 stars. Little or no thought went into this script, you can predict the entire film just by reading the synopsis. I'm not surprised to see several reviewers preening about how prescient and poignant they believe it is, and feeling vindicated in their cynicism toward society.

Following the "greatest war mankind has ever seen," there is supposedly a chemical aftermath which makes the air unsafe to breathe. The "World Authority" keeps people living in 10x10 habitation pods (completely alone for some reason), occupied only by video games and work. Which raises the question - if there is a World Authority, who was fighting in the war? Was the Authority established as a result of the war? Or was the "war" more of a global rebellion? There is no answer, and it doesn't matter because the movie doesn't care about world-building. It just wants to say "society = VERY VERY BAD and inevitably doomed, mm'kay?"

Main character Darwin operates a front end loader remotely from his pod, gathering materials to build more/improved pods. In other words, the work he does only serves to perpetuate the status quo. Y'know... WINK WINK like all jobs WINK WINK. After nine years of this, his pod is damaged by lightning and he is forced to go outside.

Surprise! The air is fine, which we may have gleaned from the fact that his loader's work site is surrounded by a lush, green forest. The Authority just wants people to stay alone in their pods because human misery = profit or something, I guess.

Also I just have to say, it's weird that they're using such ancient loaders in the year 2149. I get that it's a micro-budget production (most of which probably went toward acquiring Molly Parker)... but in that case, there's no reason to set it so far in the future. This story would have been much more believable if it was 2049 or 2059... Or hell, why not 2084? This story seems like it was written by the kind of person who says "Orwell's 1984 was warning, not an instruction manual!"

Anyway, Darwin eventually stumbles across a family living in the woods, remembers how wonderful it is to live outside of confinement, and falls in love with the "most beautiful woman he ever met". The end.

Overall it's a perfect film for selfish cynics and luddites who see no value in being part of a society, and no reason to preserve or improve it. Just blow it all up so the Strong can live off the land, without being burdened by the knowledge that their labor might benefit someone outside of their immediate family unit. Almost like a libertarian prepper's version of Blade Runner.

I read one review of this movie that asked what was the point and then dwelt on the negative aspects:
- men leave - games are addicting, etc. The point of the movie was to show these are NEGATIVE things and we need to move past them. We need to not blindly follow authority but question and ask for proof. I thought it was a great movie. Surprisingly, it isn't on IMDB. I've never run into that before.

Molly Parker does a great job of being the maternal influence like she was in the newest Lost in Space. The rest of the actors were well done as well. I recommend it.

I was surprisingly captivated the whole time and aside from some minor bad acting, this was a good movie, could have been a little more story development but I liked it. The story line is good, we are capable of being self sufficient and we should be. The family unit is important no matter who it's comprised of and extended families aren't a bad thing. Everyone should work toward the common good and not just be out for themselves.
Unlike the COVID conspiracy guy talking about the "World Authority" using fear to get people to do things contrary to human nature; I actually paid attention to the beginning of the movie where they talked about chemical warfare and ecological disasters.
For those who live in bubbles and don't know how to fish or hunt or grow vegetables in the dirt, learn for your own sake. Pass the skills down to your children.
Stop communicating by text and actually talk to people. Stop with the gaming already. There's a great big world out there to explore. Discover the beauty of nature and help preserve it. If everyone just picked up three pieces of trash and properly disposed of them every time they went to a beach or park, it would make a difference.

The cinematography was good. The acting is largely fine. But the story had holes all over the place.
The script literally didn't match the reality of the landscape as we went along. Slight spoilers coming up.
He says, after a couple of days of walking, "I couldn't be sure if I was dreaming or not but the sign of life gave me hope" when he heard a dog barking. Well, he'd already seen that dog on video. His job in his pod involved earth-moving machinery via video link. You can see shrubs and trees all over the place. He's been looking at them for years. And when he leaves the pod for good, the first thing he sees is two birds swoop over him. We saw an insect buzz him but, yeah, sure it took him days to see a sign of life.
Well done you, genius.
A perfect example of that 'joy/relief of finding life' sequence would be the aftermath of the crash in the original Planet of the Apes movie. THAT'S how to do that.
And finally, in order for the film to make a point about how people remain indentured to their pods because fear has incapacitated their emotional and cognitive abilities, a realistic meeting between mother and son is sacrificed to make that point.
He gives his mother barely five minutes before saying goodbye. That's not what a normal person would do. You'd go back day after day to gently bring her out of her shell.
The film had a decent premise but the execution pretty much sucks. Likely because they didn't have the money to realize the script.

The movie opens nine years after the war which devastated the world, and chemical warfare was conducted, making living outside impossible. We are introduced to Darwin, who was put into a sanctuary pod by his mother. It is his world with mindless work and endless games. Yet, he is supplied with food, etc., so that begs some questions. Although he has an extensive choice of what to eat, it seems like it results in all the same meal. An electrical storm hits his pod, and he winds up leaving. He wanders for four days with no food or water. Right there, I have a problem, as he walked by water sources, and a person is unlikely to survive that long without water. And there is narration and the voice simply doesn’t seem to fit. But this is the start of many similar stories, so did they do anything different to hook in the viewer? The story is very pleasant and certainly family friendly, and he wanders into a home in the wilderness where a family is living. He hasn’t spoken for nine years, so he cannot speak. They have a clever way of mimicking computer typing to communicate, but the flaw there is that is not how he did it in his pod. The family he is with is put in danger as the authorities use drones to track down people and living as they do makes them criminals. So how will things unfold? I feel there was potential that was not met. Three stars may be a bit harsh, but it doesn’t deserve four.

This isn't a fast-moving action-packed movie but it has heart and an excellent message! Just as we were tricked and bullied into the first civil war to divide and bankrupt our nation so that the banksters could take it over and turn it into a corporation with the creation of the "Federal Reserve", just as we were tricked into the first and second world wars when they PUT Hitler in power and then decided a year before the war ended to kill him when THEY had decided that they did not need any more money and that he was too big and they had to stop him. Hitler figured it out however..he realized that the Banksters were fake Jews and that they were coming for him... you know the rest. THEY knew the planes and subs were coming and ALLOWED Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor and more. THEY/Bushes attacked us on 9-11 to get us to go to war again and scare us right out of our rights and freedoms. THEY create the war narratives and always have throughout history to scare us into going along with THEIR wars that they plan in advance just like how they decide which countries will host the Olympic games and when just to feed the elite money and control machine that keeps those parasites living like fat cats while we slave our entire lives only to have THEM commit genocide with our children via oxic "vaccinations" that the rest of the world rejects and kill off our men in planned cycles of war. Economic downturns followed by growth. Ever notice the cycles? 20, 30, 40, 50 and even100 year cycles. They appoint the politicians who conduct the charade of a vote and having a voice and a choice. The priests, teachers, and professors excist to feed us lies, dumb us down, and make us well behaved obedient ants that THEY pacify and lure into slavery with promises of "homeownership", 401k's, real estate investments, stock market, and "retirement" after you have slaved and consumed your entire life away while THEIR DEATH CARE SYSTEM and DEBT SLAVERY System slowly kills you and if you are lucky you get to retire after 70+ years of age when you are half dead anyway at which time a DR will decide that you aren't worth saving and let you rot. We may not be in cells like the character as yet..but mark my words...that is what they want and they have blatantly said so with the absolutely bogus scare tactic that "Global Warming" is caused by our pollution to get you to go along with their sick eugenics programs when in reality all the planets have been and continue to heat up from the core out so it has nothing to do with plastic bags folks. You are being bamboozled. The world is run by sociopaths who think they are better than us and should rule because they are willing to be evil. Its as simple as THAT. Their day has come however and they are in their death throws. We will soon be free if we survive the imminent pole flip in 2026 that they are hiding from you and have for the last 50+ years. They want us all to perish in that event so that they can have all the food they have hoarded with our tax dollars for themselves in their underground bunkers in the aftermath you see and they have no intention of sharing. This IS their stated plan. We can survive with foreknowledge and a modicum of simple planning in advance. Now you know and you have 4 years, so its up to you.

Compared to a lot the garbage that's come out recently, this is actually a pretty decent movie. Finally some good acting. The plot set up makes sense, which lends to the story. At times, some things are questionable, but the ending leaves the viewer with clarification, unless of course, the viewer is brain dead.