3 Star

After the Dream, Comes the Reality.

From first feature film writer/director Wyatt Rockefeller brings us an ambitious project in Settlers. A story of the far future when our attempts to get to Mars have been fulfilled and terraforming is a thing of the past. Now it is up to humans to tame the new frontier and make Mars their home.

Set to three chapters, Settlers takes us through the main characters, starting with Reva. Reva (Jonny Lee Miller, Trainspotting, Æon Flux) lives with his wife Lisa (Sofia Boutella, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Star Trek Beyond) and their eleven-year-old daughter, Remmy (Brooklynn Prince, The Florida Project, The Turning). They are starting to get their homestead up to full efficiency and Lisa spends her time working in the greenhouse, while Reva keeps an eye on the horizon for raiders. Remmy wonders what is out there as she plays in the bright sunshine on this harsh planet.

Reva takes his downtime to teach Remmy the night sky and identify Earth and the Moon. Remmy is strong-willed and keeps wandering off exploring, which worries her father, but he knows she is strong.

I’m going to poop on your head. Geez, nobody is going to mess with you kid.

While mom tends the vegetables and the farm animals, Reva goes scouting the surrounding area, Remmy is always on the walkie-talkie awaiting her father’s signal, and when he comes back the news isn’t great.

Knowing there are others out there, the family go on high alert, but Remmy is more concerned for the animals, and she goes to check on the piglets . This is when the raiders make their move.

Mum and dad spring into action and soon the immediate threat is over, and dad has to make sure that the threat is really over. This is when Remmy and Lisa’s life changes forever, and not for the better. We meet Jerry (Ismael Cruz Cordova, Mary Queen of Scots, In the Blood).

This place was my parents, I was born here, I’m here to stay.

Life is differnt now and as time goes by we see Remmy become a young woman (Nell Tiger Free, Game of Thrones (TV Series), Too Old to Die Young (TV Mini Series)) and the introduction of the robot ‘Steve’.

What is out there, and how will Remmy fit into this harsh world?

Settlers is an ambitious project with such few actors and the story line of life on the edge, as there isn’t a lot of dialog between the characters, but there is a lot of sweeping shots of the surrounding area with almost constant incidental music in the foreground.

My hat goes off to the rising star that will be Brooklynn Prince.

Settlers is available at Cinemas and on Digital as well as Amazon Prime