Movie Review: Homestead By Angel Studios Opens Tonight – Apocalyptic Drama Restores Hope For Humanity’s Future

December 20, 2024 Jennifer Taylor 0 American Culture, Arts, arts and culture, Digital life, Entertainment, Environment, Health, Inspiration, Morality and Ethics, Movie Reviews, Staten Island Families, Staten Islander Exclusive

Movie Review: Homestead By Angel Studios – Apocalyptic Future Drama Restores Hope For Humanity’s Future

The latest release from Angel Studios is titled Homestead, and it is in theaters today. It is directed by Ben Smallbone. Stars include Bailey Chase (Batman V Superman), Kearran Giovanni (The Resident), and Dawn Olivieri as Jenna Ross, the heroine of the story. Get tickets here.

The story begins with a pretty far fetched idea. Off the coast of California, really too close to land to be allowed to get that far before even being intercepted, a nuclear bomb is set off by two scruffy looking foreign- language-speaking half-starved men. For some reason, their little tiny fishing boat/ skiff harbors a big surprise – a nuclear bomb. And the Coast Guard all but lets them onto the shore of California making their dastardly plan easy to implement.

The sky turns dark red in California, and bit by bit the power goes out. But first, one of the major characters in the film is told by her husband in an office calling her to tell her to leave immediately. And not to breathe the air. We soon learn that this wasn’t the only disaster that struck, but that this was coordinated with an attack by Russia with an EMP on the East Coast, which now has no power at all.

Another family leaves their house together when the dad, who is former military, learns of what happened. He races to head off his wife and inform her of the change in plans. They need to go to the Homestead.

When they arrive there, meeting up with other military men in his battalion, we are given small glimpses of what they’re actually coming to. It’s a large mansion in the midst of a giant property with a greenhouse, storehouses full of grain, ovens to feed an army, tents with other apparently prepaid families as tenants on the property, and sheds and gardens scattered throughout.

At the same time, we learn of the people who didn’t make it in. They are locked out of the property, on the other side of a gate. At least one of the families was friends with the owners of the Homestead. Actual friends who hung out together, etc. But they didn’t pay so they don’t get in.

The guy who owns this property is obsessed with the details and the minutiae of how they’re going to get everyone through the winter, how much grain there is, how much meat is left, etc, etc. But at the same time, he’s OK with allowing his former friends to literally starve to death right in front of him, and he intends to do very little to help them. At first he wanted to give them food, and he and his wife did so, but all he and the military men now guarding the property could think about was how much was needed for his family and the tenants he was also responsible for. His wife is more compassionate than he is, and she argues with him on several occasions about not helping what she calls the refugees.

For those who would like to know what it looks like and is like for people starving to death (or rather starving to diseases of famine which cause death- starvation itself doesn’t usually kill people, the diseases do), check out The Graves Are Walking by John Kelly. It gives extensive detailed depictions of what it looks and feels like to be in a state of famine, particularly where it involves children.

Unfortunately, in a situation of compete social collapse, starvation and famine will be the result for the majority of people. Those who survive will need to learn to cooperate in order to rebuild a new society. But disease, especially infections that regular antibiotics could dispense with, are the most pernicious killers in an Apocalyptic situation. Since this movie only depicts about a month, the real starvation and consequences of the collapse haven’t yet become apparent.

The point where the movie takes a dramatic turn for the worse is its most memorable part. Things went from bad to worse when the town’s mayor (or lead politician) showed up with a SWAT team to declare that they were all there illegally and that all the food they had (which legally belonged to them according to the laws of the previous United States) was now being taken by the government to feed someone else. No one there was about to let that happen, even the person in charge of the SWAT team was not happy with that statement by the politician. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, the movie takes a hard and unexpected turn.

You also learn at the very end of the movie that it’s also a series that streams on Angel Studios exclusively available to members. If you like the characters and you really like this type of story, particularly how they rebuild a society, if they actually do, you might want to check it out.

However, bear in mind that the movie ends on a message of hope. The television series that follows it seems to put a negative spin on the situation. The military people will, of course, return. Everyone might turn on each other, and some of the survivors may die. I have, in the past, read or viewed sequels to movies or books I really liked only to very much regret continuing the story. The way it turned out was not to my liking, and I would have preferred to have left the ending where it was. But not everyone feels the same way. This movie was complete unto itself, but the series is there for those who want to know how the story continues and how it all ends.

Homestead still featuring the owner and his daughter. Image Credit – Angel Studios

This movie was not something I would normally view on my own. I usually shy away from these types of movies because I really don’t need to be reminded of how rotten people will become when society breaks down. Hopefully we’ll never have to witness this. However, this movie gives some valuable lessons if that were to ever happen, including ways to really survive (and not depend on grain that rats and other animals will find a way to get into and eat) and the value in helping your neighbor and spreading love and hope instead of greed and enmity.

Since this movie segues into a TV series, there are many more loose ends than in a movie with a complete conclusion. Like, the SWAT team will certainly be back if they know the group is there, and the trailer would indicate that they do return. But the movie itself is self contained, and it isn’t necessary to watch the series if that’s not your thing.