Altitude Films, out now

Set in the distant future, a female astronaut, shipwrecked on the long-decimated Earth, must decide the fate of the wasteland’s remaining populace.

Imagine Waterworld, but drained of any colour or excitement, and you’re on the way to Tim Fehlbaum’s gritty and grim dystopian sci-fi thriller.

Following a mass exodus from Earth to new home Kepler-209, a team return to the Blue planet generations later to assess conditions. Blake (Nora Arnezeder, Army of the Dead) soon becomes the only survivor of the expedition, finding a world populated by savages who speak a new language and led by Gibson (Iain Glen, Game of Thrones).

The original title of the movie was Tides, which is probably more descriptive of the movie, which presents an Earth completely at the mercy of the tides – at one point, Blake is trapped in a prison that will flood when the tides come in. Against this ticking clock, there’s another one that requires her to make contact in a narrow communication window. It’s one challenge after another in this grey world, which does at least make good use of the German Tidelands at Wadden Sea, Hamburg.

Part of the problem here is that we’ve seen so many of these tropes before, in much better films, and while a waterlogged landscape is a variation on the post-apocalyptic ruined city or desert, raggedy scavengers are still raggedy scavengers whatever the environment. Arnezeder is also rather one-note, and while we empathise with her plight, it all feels hopeless, with little hope of a positive resolution.

Verdict: Another grim dystopian future, cobbled together from multiple sources. Production values are high but originality is sadly lacking in this soggy tale. 6/10

Nick Joy

The Colony is now out for digital release