By Keith Walther | Rose Law Group Reporter
Straying from their typical genre of true stories, Angel Studios presents a fictional tale of a post-apocalyptic America. This relatively new studio should have stuck to what they do well because “Homestead” is a dramatic story based on the novel “Black Autumn,” and is riddled with plot holes, unnecessary subplots, and faulty logic. Coupled with subpar acting, the promising premise and positive messaging gets lost, leading to a forgettable filmgoing experience.
Chaos erupts across America as a nuclear bomb detonates off the coast of California and a simultaneous cyber-attack wipes out the power grid along the east coast. Fortunately, Ian Ross (Neal McDonough) has been doomsday prepping with his wife Jenna (Dawn Olivieri), outfitting their massive compound nestled in the Colorado Rockies with enough food and weaponry to keep them safe for months. Ross also had foresight to hire a trained security detail of former special forces soldiers led by Jeff Eriksson (Bailey Chase).
As it becomes increasingly clear that America’s government has collapsed and unable to recover, their sanctuary in the mountains gets put to the test with friends and neighbors camping out in front of the gates yearning for basic necessities. The Ross family is confronted with a moral dilemma of whether they should retain their supplies, not knowing how long they’ll need to last or help the people outside. As the struggle for survival becomes all too real, others with malicious intentions begin showing up to take what they don’t have, resulting in tense confrontations.
Directed by Ben Smallbone, who has only ever helmed music videos and documentaries, this film acts more as an overly long advertisement for its TV series of the same name than it does a standalone feature. In fact, there’s even a trailer for the series at the end of the movie. The setup teases viewers of surviving the aftermath of an apocalyptic event with a militaristic intent, only to take a turn into force-fed religious fervor that paints human behavior in an unrealistic gloss. Unfortunately, the audience is not given the courtesy of beer goggles to enjoy the phony spectacle. While the underlying messaging and themes are positively uplifting, the turning point events that the director portrays are unnaturally forced and telegraphed with predictable outcomes.
Smallbone makes a series of missteps that collapse “Homestead” under its cumulative weight. He inexplicably introduces subplots and characters that are poorly developed and only act to confuse the audience from the primary storyline. For example, starting the film focusing on a particular family’s frantic escape from the nuclear fallout in California leads viewers to the incorrect assumption that they will be a focal point of the film. Instead, they make one more brief appearance midway through the movie and have absolutely no impact on the story, making their inclusion incredibly wasteful. He also introduces a badly timed teenage romance subplot with a scene that is head shakingly awkward. These drawn-out additions bog the movie down and create unintentional comedy.
The competing subplots, underdeveloped and pointless characters, and poorly written dialogue are reminiscent of a daytime soap opera, and sadly, so is the acting. Dawn Olivieri and Neal McDonough provide one-dimensional performances as the husband/wife team who oversee their little empire, offering no depth or background to their motivations. Bailey Chase seems to play his role without any clue as to whether he’s supposed to be a protagonist or antagonist in this story, consistently contradicting his dialogue and actions throughout the film. There’s not a single redeemable performance among the bloated cast.
If this movie is any indication, the TV series will not be worth watching. The production seems to be unsure of its identity, confusing itself as an amateurish pilot episode. While it poses interesting, morality-based questions, it answers them with a whole lot of cheese and uninspired faith. It is a rare miss from Angel Studios and is one “Homestead” you won’t want to visit.
This movie earns:
