Directors – Andrew Balek & Joe Bland, Screenplay – Joe Bland & Cyrus Cheek, Producers – Joe Bland & Michele Kanan, Photography – Joe Bland, Nate McLean & Meredith Washburn, Visual Effects/Special Effects – Joe Bland. Production Company – Bland Productions.
Cast
Greg Kriek (Silas), Jamie Bernadette (Zoe), Sean Kanan (Zeke), B.A. Tobin (Thomas), Allie Lindsey (Raven), Jennifer Willis (Rhea), Jon Provost (Voice of Spark), Jeremy John Wells (Cyrus), Daniel Roebuck (Senator Tobias), Louise Barnes (Kelly), Katie Purnell (Jessie), Cass (Allie), Mike Ferguson (Grom), Jeff M. Hill (Lockjaw), Eric Broser (Flatline), Semere-Ab EtmenYohannes (Zumbi)
Plot
Silas, the son of the leader of the Colonials on Mars, is sent on a mission to investigate what has happened to The Resistance on Earth, from whom nothing has been heard for sixty years. As he nears Earth, Silas’s ship is shot down, killing his two crewmates. Silas is found by the Resistance member Zoe, although the crash has left him with amnesia. The Resistance’s leader Rhea suggests that Silas set out to find the reclusive Zeke who may be able to help him remember who he is. Meanwhile, tyrannical Exiles living on The Moon have detected Silas’s crash and despatch robot assassins to find him.
Colonials was the first full-length feature from Joe Bland who has been working in the film industry in assorted roles since the early 2010s, including producing and working in visual effects and previously having made various short films. His company Bland Productions has been working in multimedia since 2011. Co-director Andrew Balek has also worked as a producer on tv including the remake of Rosemary’s Baby (2014), Castle Rock (2018-9), Lisey’s Story (2021), Outer Range (2022- ) and Presumed Innocent (2024- ).
Colonials feels like an amateur production made by professionals with consummate levels of filmmaking experience. The production does employ one or two recognisable names – Daniel Roebuck, who has a handful of scenes, and more prominently Jamie Bernadette, who has been working in B movies since the late 2000s. It holds up fairly well although there are touches that weaken this – like audio mixing that frequently has music drowning out dialogue.
Silas (Greg Kriek) and robot companion
The one thing that Colonials has going for it are some highly accomplished visual effects when it comes to the depiction of the various ships, robots, shootouts and space stations. The design and creation of these is extremely well done. Most of the film seems to have been shot digital backlot a la Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) where all the sets have been created digitally and inserted around the actors, leading to something that looks quite expansive and impressive. On the other hand, these do also sit alongside some effects that are fake looking at times.
The film is less interesting when it comes to all the running around on the ground. Not nearly enough is expended to explain the film’s universe and to differentiate the various factions fighting against each other – while I picked up what I needed by the end of the film, it proved confusing at the outset. The hero is played as too much of a comic foil, while his apparent amnesia as a result of the crash is dealt with extremely casually. He comes accompanied by a smartass robot that tosses off lines like “I’d like to see R2D2 pull off something like that.” It is only when another cool looking ship or robot pops up that things become interesting again. The film is also left open-ended with the clear intentions of setting up a sequel.
