Andron

12 November 2018

Andron 2015

• Director: Francesco Cinquemani
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Alec Baldwin, Danny Glover, Michelle Ryan, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Alex Martin
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Alec Baldwin – The Aviator, Friends, Noting Hill, Glengarry Glen Ross, Prelude to a Kiss, Great Balls of Fire, Married to the Mob, Beetlejuice
• Danny Glover – Be Kind Rewind, Honeydripper, Dreamgirls, Manderlay, The Exonerated, The Royal Tenenbaums, Beloved, Bopha!, Lethal Weapons, Silverado, The Colour Purple, Witness, Hill Street Blues
• Michelle Ryan – Cockneys vs Zombies, Doctor Who, Merlin
• Antonia Campbell-Hughes – Bright Star, Shaun of the Dead
• Alex Martin - Spectre
• Why? Sci fi, Danny Glover
• Seen: 10 November 2018      

       A group of young women and men find themselves in an enormous run-down deserted factory type building with no memory of who they are, how they got there or why they’re there. They find a few others. Enemies? Allies? They wander about trying to figure things out.

       They are observed and manipulated by a smiling Adam (Baldwin) and stern Chancellor Gordon (Glover). A narrator has already told us only one of the contenders can survive. And one by one they’re eliminated. Slaves/prisoners are forced to watch and bet. If their chosen contender dies, they die. The year is 2154 and a network of nine corporations has caused the deaths of billions and created this competition to keep the remaining population under control. It’s all very Hunger Gamesy, or it thinks it is. But come on, ‘We have to protect the girls,’ what kind of stupid line is that? Another question, what is Danny Glover doing in this film?

       I must confess that I slept through most of the last half hour, not only because there was too much running about, but because I was in fact very tired. And the Hunger Games bit? Well, the HG felt genuine in a plausible and scary world with complex characters. This story is contrived with characters it’s hard to care about.

       Still, until I fell asleep, it was entertaining enough.

      

2 * of 5