By Simon Thompson
Brian Johnson’s (no, not the lead singer of AC/DC) Population Purge is a frustrating exercise in filmmaking.
It’s a movie which has an incredibly distinctive and interesting look visually, but is unfortunately beset by poor acting and a lacklustre-at-best script from both Johnson and co-writer Toby Osbourne. Put another way-this film’s visuals are the cinematic equivalent of watching Kevin Garnett playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves, in that you feel genuinely sorry for the cinematographer and prop department’s endeavour of trying to create a discernible identity, only to be dragged down at every possible turn.
Population Control takes place in a dystopian United States ruled by a tyrannical government intent on pursuing a depopulation programme. The effects of said depopulation programme have resulted in the poisoning of the blood of millions of people, leaving an immune grandfather/granddaughter pair named Charlie and Maya (played by Peter Holland and Lyndsey Soto respectively) to fend for themselves against a band of blood-draining bandits, as well as a government official (and Charles Manson lookalike) lookalike named Onslow (played by S. Lamar Wilson) who wants Charlie and Maya’s blood to save his dying son’s life.
Narratively, Population Control is a drab affair complete with plot elements and standard tropes that have been better executed in a far more interesting fashion by numerous other post-apocalyptic movies such as Mad Max, Snowpiercer, Children Of Men, 12 Monkeys, Escape From New York, and Delicatessen.
Anything redeeming at all about Population Control can be found in the movie’s visuals. Every environment in the film comes across as idiosyncratic and deliberate, with the use of dilapidated and decayed Americana in the background, such as street-signs, flags, muscle cars and picket fenced houses hammering home the remnants of what came before.
To conclude, Population Control is a tedious and derivative movie, that leaves you feeling frustrated that the standard of its scripting and acting doesn’t match that of its visual storytelling. The most damning indictment is that it’s a movie which, despite only clocking in at 1hr and 24 minutes, fails to convey it’s plot in a succinct and timely way, rendering you bored as a result.
Population Purge is released on VOD platforms on 9 July 2024.
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