Reel 2 Reel Films, out now on digital platforms

A wounded deserter escapes the war against machines, allying himself with a female resistance fighter.

Director Daniel Raboldt’s German, high concept sci-fi thriller boasts an angle that helps disguise its non-English language origins while also creating inevitable comparisons with a larger franchise.

We’re living in a world where the machines have risen (or invaded) and destroyed most of mankind. Tomasz (Stefan Ebel) may indeed be the last man man on Earth, living in a cabin in the woods with a force field to protect him from the robot overlords. In stumbles Lilja (Siri Nase) and they forge a delicate alliance, while never talking, because the machines can pick up human speech signals.

I’ve no idea why their technology allows them to zone in on words but not other sounds, but this is the MO of the metal meanies, which of course is very A Quiet Place. But the robot army are soon on the doorstep, a combination of War of the Worlds-like tripods and flying drones. For a low budget Kickstarter the effects are very good, there’s no subtitles needed to decipher foreign dialogue, and I enjoyed the ending.

Verdict: Solid, low budget sci-fi that spends its money in the right departments, and while bringing nothing new to the genre, enjoys playing in the wake of bigger productions. 7/10

Nick Joy