Settlers (2021) User Reviews

It's a bleak drama, not really science fiction

[Aria_Athena · 6/10 · 10 July 2021]

It just takes place on a different planet because it is convenient for the story.

It's the director's first feature length film, it is well shot and it looks great. He really knows what he is doing. It is a low budget film with a small cast and great performances. It takes place in practically 1 location and a couple of sets.

The story is split in 3 chapters with the 3rd being the longest and most interesting. The movie is very slow, no doubt about it, boring at times even though there are sections with tension. But the issue is not that it's slow, it's that there is no deeper meaning to it, plus it lacks focus and a central theme. It's about a man trying to protect his family, a man trying to reclaim his home, a woman doing whatever is necessary to protect her daughter, the need for human companionship, the desire to have a family, it's also somewhat of a coming of age story, probably more. Most of them are briefly touched and then the film moves on. It didn't make for a satisfying story. After a lot of senseless death, the movie came to an end and I can't point out what it was all truly about.

stripped down

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 16 June 2022]

Ilsa (Sofia Boutella), Reza (Jonny Lee Miller), and their daughter Remmy (Brooklynn Prince) are living in a remote settlement by themselves. They are attacked by a group led by Jerry (Ismael Cruz Córdova).

The movie doesn't do a lot of expositions or clarity. It doesn't do flashy things. It's lowkey serious tone and the deliberately stripped down story telling leave the movie feeling a bit empty. There are lots of missed opportunity. It hints at a dangerous world outside. It would have been great to have the characters run around in it.

Promising, but does not deliver

[scottmax-81607 · 5/10 · 11 July 2021]

Sofia Boutella is a fantastic actor, and this movie is full of wonderful landscapes, paired with great sound design. It's everything else that is the problem.

The story feels trite, with little importance on dialogue. Remy (young and old) and Jerry are just... boring. Very unfulfilling to watch as an audience member. The scenic design of the home is... boring and ugly. Genuinely looks like they ran out of money.

The vfx artists did a great job on the landscapes and the robot, and the ending before the epilogue is the only good part after the first 30 min (but the scene itself is really well done, with great acting from Remy).

Overall this movie felt like a first draft. Clearly could've been better with more time and money.

I think I get the point

[kuarinofu · 3/10 · 16 July 2021]

'Settlers' follows a formula that is quite popular these days.

You take popular social and political ideas and try to disguise your empty shell of a film as a horror or a thriller with sci-fi elements. I've seen this done before, 'The Power (2021)', 'For All Mankind' (2019), 'Shadow in the Cloud' (2020), 'Amulet' (2020) are good examples of this. This is mostly done to ensure critical acclaim and some film festival awards.

There is a setting, but there is no story. This is why we are not given any details whatsoever, just a vague explanation of what supposedly is going on. They set up a mystery but then abandon it because there is nothing there. It's just another basic metaphor for growing up and moving into adult life.

Thus, they don't really care if you buy the whole Mars thing with the breathable atmosphere (inside a magic dome), a huge Earth in the sky, messed up gravity, perfect plants, vegetables, cloning pigs from a single specimen, etc. They don't care about the world. This is not a sci-fi film. So we don't need to know who these people are, why they are on Mars, and what is going on in general.

The core is as simple as evil men. Men are the scourge not only of the Earth but Mars as well.

Up to around 50 minutes into the film, I didn't see any problems with it whatsoever. I thought there would be a twist, and I would've appreciated even an unoriginal one. But bad luck for me.

The dialogue is fine, the acting is done well, some of the scenes are memorable, but they cannot exist outside of an actual story. It would've been fine as a background to our characters moving along the story. But again, there is none.

Many things they set up just get abandoned, like the safe scene. They also wanted to have a GERTY-like character from Moon (2009), but its motivation is unclear since it doesn't talk, and we can't know for sure is it just a tool or it's actually sentient.

Besides, I'd appreciate it a little more if it wasn't so slow and long.

In any case, there is no reason to watch this film unless you're a social justice activist.

No story No ending

[robert-troi-332-834020 · 1/10 · 9 July 2021]

I can't belive this film was made it has to be some sort of tax dodge! There is no start to the film explaining how and why, there is no story through the middle part and there is no story ending. So what was the point of the film? It was about nothing!

Frustrating

[syldt1 · 5/10 · 16 July 2021]

That's the best word I can think of to describe this movie...I was so excited to see Johnny Lee Miller in a movie again! But my excitement was short lived (as it was - minor spoiler- his presence in the flick).

The story built up slowly and its tension kept me interested for a while, but after watching too much sulking, and crying and characters doing unreasonable things, by the third act, I lost what little interest I had left.

It didn't help that the girl was annoying as hell and behaved like a little brat and the mother did not seem to know how to deal with her.

By the end it turned from sci-fi to unwarranted melodrama with an unsatisfactory ending, so, why bother?

Good work by Sofía Boutella, though.

No mention of Mars anywhere

[rowanbean-25375 · 6/10 · 9 July 2021]

My review.

Yes at the beginning it is boring with some average boring family drama.

It starts with the little girl being told that the planet she saw was Earth.

Then it picks up later. And suspense are added, making you want to know more.

A few plot twists here and there. Protip: don't watch the trailer.

The breathable air is explained halfway.

As to the gravity? I cannot explain that to you.

Makes me wonder if it's a prequel to the Star Wars: A New Hope.

I agree with the rating of 6.4.

Worth watching if you are not too easily bored. Patience has it's merits.

Got problem with gravity? You can take it up to those who made "The Martian".

Pointless.

[mail-19035 · 1/10 · 9 July 2021]

If I didn't know better I could swear this was just the first episode of a tv-series. The story is very vague and leave you with more questions than answers. And the end...is the worst I've seen.

A Quest in the Inner and Outer World

[Tweetienator · 6/10 · 26 July 2021]

Most bad reviews are (in my opinion) based on the assumption of the (re)viewers that they will get something like a post-apocalyptic survival action movie on Mars, but instead got a drama touching topics like bonding, loneliness, guilt, revenge and forgiveness and the like.

Settlers for sure got also some issues regarding world-building, and the tempo of the unfolding narrative is rather slow, but on the other hand, it got a fine meditative, dark and melancholic quality, that I liked. What else? Acting and production are solid to good, effects too.

So beware: if you expect or want some action or adventure movie in a sci-fi context, Settlers is in all likelihood the wrong choice for you.

Terrible...

[paul_haakonsen · 2/10 · 25 July 2021]

Initially when I stumbled upon this 2021 sci-fi movie from writer and director Wyatt Rockefeller, I must admit that the synopsis for the movie sounded interesting enough. So I opted to sit down to watch "Settlers".

But wow, what did I just suffer through here? At least you'd think the movie makers would even just put in an effort to make the environment feel like it was actually taking place on the Martian frontier. But no, instead we are treated to an environment that just feel like a dried out Texas backyard. It was lacking so much creditability that it was hard to take it serious. Especially because there was no sense of it being Mars or even having much of any sci-fi feel to it.

And there are so many questions to be answered in "Settlers". Why is there water on Mars, and where does it come from? How is there air on Mars, and where does it come from? Why are there chickens and pigs on Mars?

Not only does "Settlers" lack a sense of sci-fi atmosphere, but it was also lacking interesting characters. I kid you not, the most interesting character in the movie was Steve. Yeah, and he was a single-function work robot with no dialogue. Indeed, out of a whopping five characters, four humans and a robot, it was the robot that carried the movie.

I am in awe that dribble such as "Settlers" could make the transition from script paper onto the screen, and even more so that people actually funded this project. Didn't they read the script and see how barren and pointless it was?

Even the storyline told in "Settlers" was uninteresting, and it progressed so insanely slow that you could easily drift off to sleep, wake up 30 minutes later and still be up to speed with the movie and not having missed out on anything crucial.

"Settlers" was a massive swing and a miss, and it was a shame, because there definitely was potential for something entertaining and enjoyable here.

It should be said that the movie did have a good ensemble of casted actors and actresses, despite it being only four people essentially. But the actors and actresses never stood a snowballs chance in Hell here, because the script was atrociously bland and pointless, and the characters and dialogue was just so amazingly poorly written.

I am not overly keen on sci-fi movies in general, and it is movies such as "Settlers" that just adds fuel to the fire and keeps the sci-fi aversion going.

I am rating "Settlers" a generous two out of ten stars. This was a complete and utter waste of time and effort.

So Many Children

[thebigrodney · 8/10 · 11 November 2021]

Reading the reviews of this movie I can't help but to think that anyone under 25 years old will see this as a boring snooze-fest. I loved it...I'm old. Really digs at my raw emotions and begs the question..."What would you do?"

Unacceptable

[kitrino · 10 July 2021]

This is a story that could take place on Earth - when for any reason you decide to write a scenario for a story om Mars, you MUST take into consideration AT LEAST basic facts about Mars, otherwise DO NOT PUT YOUR STORY ON MARS. If you do not have enough BUDGET to shoot a Mars-based film, DO NOT DO IT, PUT IT AN AN IMAGINARY PLANET... Subsequently it does not matter whether the storyline or the actors are decent, the whole film becomes just 'unacceptable', it is as simple as that...

It's a dreary western film, not a Mars movie

[siderite · 7/10 · 11 July 2021]

I am so tired of these space movies that are not about space. If you want to tell a story about a poor isolated family on a desert farm, put it in a desert and leave space out of it! Because this is what Settlers is: a Western, complete with lawlessness, chaotic personal circumstances and a hopeless ending. The performances were good, but in truth it was more like a play, with very relevant aspects of the situation completely ignored to focus on individual interpretation. And there was no real moral of the story, either, which may be a good thing, because there wasn't a need for it, but I am sure it will piss off a lot of viewers.

Bottom line: if you are in the mood for a dreary Western film (without horses or gun fights, though), this is the film for you. If you are excited that another film about Mars is out, don't watch this.

What movie, I'd rather watch paint dry...

[5eriously · 1/10 · 11 July 2021]

If this is the directors first film then he needs to find a new occupation. Rest assured Marvel won't be calling you anytime soon.

Where to start, plot was predictable, if you call it a plot. The settlers starts out in the first few acts as a farming unit situated on Mars. You only get this well into the movie or from other spoilers. The settlers live under a dome, hence they can walk freely outside the buildings they are odd, then again they murdered the original occupant of the farm. The husband and wife are raising a daughter.

We learn there was a war on earth or mars who knows I might have been in a coma when this bit of info popped out.

We learn there is no one left, aside from all the people they kill. Then they are killed by someone they couldn't kill.

Fast forward 10 years and this dude now wants to breed with the grown daughter. Lets not forget he killed her parents, so this doesn't end well and he is killed by the daughter.

She leaves the dome and walks out into a barren wasteland outside the dome and the dome doors close behind her. The End.

I have now saved you 2 hours of your life you will never get back. Also the positive review are IMO made by the producers of the film or friends of such. It is a truly terrible movie and I fail to see how anyone in their right mind would have funded the script, or more correctly funded this trash.

You won't understand what a boring movie is till you'll watch "Settlers"

[iland-31599 · 1/10 · 9 July 2021]

I don't understand what was in the writer mind while he wrote this story.

Completely boring without any meaning.

I'm strongly suggest to avoid watching it.

Frustrating

[beto_gauer · 2/10 · 10 July 2021]

First of all, calling this movie Sci-Fi is an insult to the genre.

This is NOT sci-fi, it´s a boring drama which has Mars as a background (this the "sci-fi" part lol).

And this movie is pointless. There is no plot and the ending is stupid. The characters have no depth, no development, no motives, there is no background stories, in fact nothing is explained about the characters and what drives them.

I almost stopped watching halfway through, but then I thought "hell, I watched this crap til now, let´s see how it ends"... Ended as badly as it started.

LEAVE

[nogodnomasters · 2/10 · 21 July 2021]

There are settlers on Mars who have been there at least a generation and don't like people from Earth anymore. The air is breathable yet there is no sign of any greening, just barren land and green houses. A family of three try to survive while the only other people we see want to drive them out.

The explanations they give lead to more questions than answers. This was a poorly written drama with a more poorly written science fiction background. And what was that ending about?

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity. Attempted rape.

poignant

[ropelawshiel · 6/10 · 10 July 2021]

A very well-acted drama with special attention going to the child actor. A thoughtful poignant story. It is slow, but I became invested in the characters' story, be it a rather sad one. Not generally my type of film, but I did not regret spending the time with them.

Tedious art house

[omendata · 2/10 · 30 December 2021]

Could have been set any place with a desert but they added Mars so that the scifi community would be eager to rush out and view this; pretty shameless but sadly this is a melodrama without the drama.

I love how the so called expert film critics brand this as art house and all of us poor sad lowly reviewers know nothing - No you see, this is the trick they use to try and make you feel guilty if you do not like this but in reality they are the ones who have head up bottom and think they are so much smarter than your average viewer; a bit like that tedious Mark Kermode and to be quite honest, your average filmgoer knows what they like even if it is not crash, bang, wallop and this is not it - a story has to have a point even if it is slow and lugubrious as this or at least a plotline even if there is no action or CBW.

It crams in the the poor white girl with the black man as is standard wokeness scripting these days which is becoming very tedious to watch, along with a script that is so woeful and lame that none of the good actors in this have anything to work with.

Aiming this at scifi fans? Big mistake! What can we say but perhaps they should have explained where the herd of pigs came from when they only had one on the farm, where the water came from, why they fought with people who were already earthers and seemingly only one of them was left, how Mars has an atmosphere and water in abundant supply. If you are gong to hoodwink the scifi community then it has to be good and by the reviews from fellow scifi fans on here it seems you are hoodwinking no one!

This is just one long bore with no payoff, a cinematic arthouse (hold on while i guffaw some more) and cringe at my inadequacy at not understanding the arthouse phenomenon - Nope when the emperor has no clothes, he truly has no clothes - best to say it as it is rather than try and virtue signal like some of the self titled Expert-uber film critics have in their equally pontificating reviews on this one - It's crap!

Not bad, unfairly slammed

[foxtografo · 6/10 · 15 August 2021]

I get it's not going to be a popular theme, but the script is reasonable, the performances and production are good.

I really liked the cinematography and the atmosphere of the movie, not so much the story itself, that starts interesting, has an early twist that caught my attention, but fell awkward and not too interesting.

Still, the characters make sense to me, and I know a lot of people will disagree with that, but they do as I see, and the story has a solid ending, which is another thing people complained a lot.

Also the Mars setting makes complete sense in the story, I don't think people complaining about this really gave it too much thought. It really affects the behaviour of the characters and the events.

Did I like the characters, the story and the ending? Not so much, but it's compensated with good performances and cinematography.

Overall a good movie, more for a first directing role.

What in the heck did I just watch?

[privatelyed · 3/10 · 10 July 2021]

I could go to Safeway now and would never find a healthier batch of celery that they have where they're at, Mars I suppose; and where the heck is the water coming from and how is it pumped into the tank thirty feet high? There are so many question, hundreds in fact..but ain't going to ask. I guess she'll bump into the blind man Eli on her way to, well, somewhere//

To the wannabe critics and their 1's: Look up "Art House" film in the dictionary.

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 8/10 · 12 August 2022]

The lack of ability to count past the number one really shows in some of these reviews. For starters, the near-perfect cinematography and incredibly fitting eerie score (a very rare find in low budget B-grade films), merits this film nothing less than a 4/10, even to the discerning critic. So to all the 1's, learn to count up to 10 and try and use the numbers in between.

This film was 100% NOT your typical big budget Hollywood blockbuster sci-fi. It's an Art House film.

Allow me to educate y'all: An Art House film is typically an independent low-budget film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is intended to be a serious, artistic work, rather than a piece of popular entertainment, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal, made primarily for aesthetic reasons rather than commercial profit, and contains unconventional or highly symbolic content. This film was entirely just that.

This is newb writer and director Wyatt Rockefeller's first full length feature film, with only two previous short films. When an inexperienced filmmaker presents such a fine Art House piece, anything below a 5/10 is an insult. Aside from the near perfect cinematography and spot-on score, Rockefeller's directing - even towards his cast, was outstanding. Imo, he's put to shame some seasoned filmmaker's recent films I've seen (e.g. Soderbergh's star-studded No Sudden Move). So mad props and respect to Rockefeller for putting this little gem together so brilliantly. The casting and performances were great, especially little Brooklynn Prince, but I felt Sofia Boutella's character could've been better cast. S. Africa's Namaqualand desert was realistically Mars-like, and you can tell a lot of thought went into the set pieces. Simple yet very effective. Even Steve was awesome.

I'm not a fan of long dragged out films, and you can tell Rockefeller was inexperienced in a full length feature screenplay, when he's only put together two prior shorts, so this one certainly felt long and dragged out, and needed some serious trim-down editing. Its 103 min runtime was a lot of filler for the little substance his overall story had - although as far as filler goes, he used it up very well, as not once did I glance to see how long I've been watching this film.

For me it was non-stop tension, suspense and anxiety - start to finish. Had the score been your typical B-grade film - loud, overbearing, constant and unfitting, I probably would've given this film a 4 or 5 and maybe even turned it off 20 mins in. But Rockefeller's decision for an exceptional score - that really set and maintained the tone of the film perfectly, and the great cinematography, added to the excellent location and set pieces, made Settlers the epitome of a great Art House film. It was very sleek, atmospheric, well-designed, and a mood piece that will resonate with you long after the film is over. I don't want to get into any spoilers, but the messages in this film were excellent; no matter how far you travel (Mars), your humanity and the base corners of human nature will travel with you. Some reviewers slammed the ending... huh? That ending was perfection, and leaves the door open for a Part 2, which I hope Rockefeller creates.

This little gem may not be for everyone, but nevertheless, it is still well deserving of my 8/10. I hope we see a Part 2, and/or more films like this one from Rockefeller. Bravo, sir.

Awful, just plain awful

[rextonjackie · 10 July 2021]

Not really worth wasting words on this turkey, I beg you, avoid at all costs, where do they get big money to make utter trash like this ??

If you are expecting some kind of a Sci-Fi spectacular. then you are watching the wrong movie.

[iconoclastism-97106 · 7/10 · 10 July 2021]

Spoiler Alert.

This movie is about the harsh environment of Mars, a child living in a bubble didn't know any better leading to the death of her father and mother. Years later, even with guilt, she still wants to leave the bubble into the harsh Mars environment leaving her only real friend, a robot.

It takes patience and an open mind...

[mcgregor-22171 · 5/10 · 26 October 2021]

...to appreciate this film, and even then it could be better.

Mars does have water, btw, and a breathable atmosphere could be produced through various processes. The huge dome for just one farm is a bit of a stretch.

But this isn't really about Mars, and the sci-fi elements are mainly window dressing.

Many questions are raised, but answers are scant and no more than hints. If you can be patient with that, it tells an interesting story about human nature and desperation, but it is a rather grey and grim story with nothing uplifting.

That, in the end, is why I don't give it more than 5 stars, despite good performances and accomplishing a lot on a limited budget. It's very dystopian, in the most depressing sense.