Writer/director Seth Larney’s sci-fi film 2067 is eerily prescient in these times, specifically the dumpster-fire that is 2020. Taking place in a scant 47 years from our own time we see an Earth that is beset by extreme environmental problems. Wildfires have destroyed all of the plants and trees, and therefore all of the natural oxygen. Not only does that ring true with the wildfires in Australia back in February. There are also wildfires in California that are still raging. But as mentioned, the film shows a world where oxygen is only synthetic, and anyone out in public needs to wear a mask. Sure, it’s an oxygen mask rather than a surgical one, but it still comes across as very close to home. 

Ethan (Kodi Smit-McPhee) has grown up as an orphan in these troubled times. His father was some kind of theoretical physicist that abandoned his family, and his mother also died when he was young. Jude (Ryan Kwanten) takes him in, and Jude becomes a surrogate brother to him. When Ethan grows up, his wife (played by Sana’a Shaik) has a potentially fatal illness. And Ethan works long hours to afford treatments to keep her alive. 

A tech company that his late father worked for has created a time travel device. And when they send a message 400 years into the future, they receive a response: “send Ethan Whyte”. Ethan then agrees to jump through the time portal in an attempt to find a cure for all of Earth’s problems. 

This film does have some thematic similarities to Danny Boyle’s Sunshine. A potentially one-way ticket to another world (there, the sun, here, the future). While 2067 is never quite as good as that film, it also never gets quite as silly as Sunshine’s third act. 

Visually this movie is quite stunning. The contemporary sequences are quite reminiscent of both Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049, with the future sequences being more like the History Channel series After People. We see an Earth that has come back 400 years after mankind has been wiped out. It’s stark, and yet really quite beautiful. We see the concrete skeletons of cities and industry overgrown with vegetation that is taking its power back. 

The acting in this film is hit-or-miss. It’s mainly a two-hander between Smit-McPhee and Kwanten. Both turn in performances that are occasionally very impressive, and occasionally rather whiny and underwhelming. I found myself thoroughly conflicted in considering their portrayals. 

The story however is rather strong. And while I found myself occasionally checking out a little, by the end, I was quite engaged.

I will also say that the visual effects aren’t great. They certainly don’t look poor, but there are moments where they look a little CW rather than Hollywood. Still, the score by Kirsten Axelholm and Kenneth Lampl is very good, bringing that orchestral yet electronic feel that John Murphy brought to the aforementioned Sunshine.

2067 is not without its problems, and it does get a little bogged down by the pseudo-science of its time travel conceit, but overall it’s an entertaining sci-fi adventure that feels incredibly relevant to our world today.