Even when he’s phoning it in, the prolific Cage is still better than most actors.
Taking place in 2030, The Humanity Bureau stars Nicolas Cage as Noah Kross, an agent for the titular organization. In the film’s near-future, climate change has devastated the planet and economic resources are scarce. If one cannot prove his or her worth to society, relocation to a place known as New Eden is necessary. New Eden is promoted as a “fresh start” for people who have fallen on hard times as a result of the economic downturn. The Humanity Bureau is a government organization dedicated to determining someone’s productivity and value to the United States.
Noah is a dedicated agent and is up for a promotion when he is assigned to the case of Rachel Weller (Sarah Lind.) Rachel lives with her son, Lucas (Jakob Davies,) in a small farmhouse in Nevada. When Noah takes a personal interest in Rachel and Lucas, his co-worker and friend, Westinghouse (Hugh Dillon), begins to investigate. It seems that The Humanity Bureau isn’t telling the whole truth about New Eden and Westinghouse doesn’t want that truth exposed.
Being that I picked up a copy of The Humanity Bureau on Blu-ray at a dollar store, my expectations were extremely low. But as low-budget science fiction films go, it features an interesting (if derivative) premise and some keen cinematography. Director Rob W. King (Distorted) keeps things moving at a decent clip and I was interested to see how the story would wind up. Unfortunately, the script can’t maintain the forward momentum and the movie crashes and burns in the last fifteen minutes. I’m not sure if scriptwriter David Schultz ran out of ideas or simply wanted to shock the audience but the final moments of the film are head-scratching.
The Humanity Bureau is one of six movies in which Nicolas Cage appeared in 2017. Even when he’s phoning it in, the prolific Cage is still better than most actors. This isn’t one of his best performances but it works in context with the character he plays. Sarah Lind is saddled with a somewhat generic concerned mother role and does what she can with it. The young Jakob Davies delivers a plucky turn as Lucas. Hugh Dillon plays the film’s villain with proper (if sometimes hammy) gusto. I’ve got no real complaints with the cast as a whole.
So, in light of my expectations, The Humanity Bureau was a surprise. For fans of dystopian science fiction, this is worth a look as long as you aren’t expecting much in the way of special effects or balls-to-the-wall action.
2.5 out of 5.0 stars
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