Soylent Green

Rating:
Summary: There should be a remake starring Arnold Schwarzenegger
Review: I don't think SOYLENT GREEN much of a Science fiction movie, i think SOYLENT GREEN is a thriller set in the future. Five years after the classic Sci-fi movie PLANET OF THE APES which in 2001 was re-made into Tim Burton's own vision of the 68 movie. Academy award winner Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson who stars in his final performance stars in this 1973 classic futuristic thriller, where once you view SOYLENT GREEN you will never think the same way about food ever again. Forget LOGAN'S RUN and the 1997 drama GATTACA, this is truly a great classic. Heston stars as a New York police detective in a poullted future New York City who is assigned to investigate the murder of a food company president and uncovers a disturbing secret behind a food product. Heston who also was in TRUE LIES looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger If PLANET OF THE APES was remade, SOYLENT GREEN will be good enough to be remaked, Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Thorn, Sean Connery as Sol and Denise Richards as Shirl. This is defanly a film for all Cheston Heston fans who loved his 5 years before film PLANET OF THE APES. Prepare to uncover the disturbing secret behind SOYLENT GREEN.

Rating:
Summary: Part of the cultural lexicon
Review: This is one of those films like The Wizard of Oz, The Stepford Wives, and many Saturday Night Live skits - the wide variety of films that has impacted our language through cliches and expressions that everyone seems to understand, but don't necessarily know the origins of.

This sci-fi film's premise is of a dark, oppressive, and cold hearted future. Charlton Heston fights for survival as he tries to eke out a living. But the real story behind the scenes is what he accidentally uncovers. It's the dark secret Heston finds that makes the film's mark in history.

I didn't so much enjoy this film as I found myself studying it. And it's not one that, quite frankly, I would love to watch many times. It's more one that you should have watched once in your life to understand it's impact on culture and expressions.

Rating:
Summary: Almost not even worth seeing for the memorable quote
Review: What attempted to be a commentary on the way society seemed to be going in the 70's, _Soylent Green_ turned out to have little more plot than a 70's porn, complete with the lounge music. Evidently, there was not much faith that the American public would waste its time going to a movie that was all commentary and no sex. Somehow, in the future the rights of women are reverted to little more freedom than they had in the dark ages...but I guess that's a turn-on, huh. And how do you explain there being so many people in Manhatten that they sleep on the steps, but are somehow too good for the streets? If you're looking for some mediocre acting and pretty girls, look no further than _Soylent Green_.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Eye Opener
Review: This movie challenges the idea of a dying world. With no resources left to mine, Soylent Green is the best nutritional source of food in which there is a shortage of. Charlton Heston plays a cop investigating a bizzar murder. While investing this murder, he gets rapped up in a top secret conspiracy which will change how the world lives. This movie is a must see. It will open your eyes to how important preservation is to our planet.

Rating:
Summary: What? No DVD?
Review: This movie should be on DVD, together with The Omega Man, two apocalyptic movies of the early 1970s to star Charlton Heston. Warner now has the rights to both films, but The Omega Man keeps being delayed on DVD, and Soylent Green hasn't even been considered for a DVD release. It moulds away in the vaults and degrades on VHS. What a shame.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful Performances ask Deep Questions
Review: This film touches on the nerve of what science fiction is all about. Man through his evolution, his experimentations, his encountering of the unknown always must confront what he has wrought. I was always impressed by Edward G. Robinson's performance in this film. It raised the meaning of realism in acting to a new height. His death scene was very moving to me and seems ever more prophetic as the days go by. I saw this film again recently and was also impressed by Charlton Heston's performance. Years ago after making "55 Days at Peking," "Planet of the Apes" and "Number One" I thought that Charlton Heston had given up on acting. I don't mean that he quit the profession but I felt that he started taking roles that were undemanding and beneath his talent. I thought he had sold out, his performance in this film being a prime example. However, I now see how wrong I was. At the time it just seemed too incredible that someone could be moved by the mere scent of a bar of soap. Such a small pleasure. However, I now see that Charlton Heston played these scenes brilliantly. The performances in this film have since transcended the shock ending of what the Soylent Green food supplement was really made of. What has come to the very nature of man in the future world of overpopulation and starvation? What has he reverted to? The powerful performances mirror these profound questions and that is the force behind this unpretentious film.

Rating:
Summary: This is poor science fiction
Review: Largely due to the cardboard performances of the actors and the low budget that this film had to work with. Not surpriseing when there had already been a number of these films already made that delt more successfully with the idea of a post-apocaliptic world, most notibly the Planet of the Apes films.

Rating:
Summary: READ THE BOOK
Review: This film completely fails to realize the potential of the book. Heston's "acting" ruins most of it. I hope someday this movie is redone by better actors and better direction.

Rating:
Summary: Science Fiction, Murder Mystery or Visonary Warning?
Review: After seeing this movie, you'll have to decide. The movie, now almost 30 years old, and made when the USA was first seriously starting to consider damage to the environment is an apocalyptic tale at its best. The setting is NYC in 2022, when the population has swollen to 40 million, the greenhouse effect is most noticeable, space is at a premium and life as we now know it no longer exists.

Charlton Heston made this movie less than two years after the very successful OMEGA MAN and carries forward as a police detective investigating the murder of "a very powerful, a rich man." To Thorn, the assailant is unknown, the reason, a real mystery. Thorn lives in a Manhattan walk-up, a luxury in the overcrowded city where millions sleep in stairwells, alleys, and church pews. His room-mate, Edward G. Robinson, in his last movie role is Sol Roth, a "police book" who knows how to read and do research at the now abandoned public library. Robinson is masterful in his final role and his performance lends a haunting dignity to the part. Little did anyone know on the set at the time, but Edward G was dying as he made the movie. Twelve days after his part was wrapped, the 79 year old Robinson was dead. The chemistry between Heston and Robinson is real and makes the cinematic death of Sol Roth that much more touching to watch. You see, Sol has come into possession of information that has caused him to "want to go home," to that place where people who have given up can be euthanized voluntarily.

While this film starts as a murder mystery, the setting, which is a grossly overpopulated NYC shows just how much the world has been ravaged by man's abuse of the environment. It is a world where real food is non-existent and where hundreds of millions exist on soy crackers of various colors. Supposedly made from real soybeans and the plankton from the world's seas, Roth and others have discovered a terrible secret. The oceans are dying, so where does the supply of soylent crackers come from?

The wealthy, still live in opulent quarters when compared to the masses below. They have power, money, protection and "living furniture" for their sexual gratification and entertainment. The government, which is anything but democratic keeps a firm grip on what is left of society to protect the privileged few and keep the masses in check. It is a harrowing vision of what could possibly happen in the future.

Heston is his usual larger than life self in this movie. His character, Thorn is a dedicated but sometimes corrupt policeman. He knows how to use his authority for his own self-comfort, but at heart he is a man in a difficult job trying to do the right thing. Despite his extremely hard shell, he has a soft heart and those scenes are very well played against Leigh Taylor-Young as a piece of "furniture" he meets in the murder victim's apartment and when he interacts with Sol Roth (Edward G. Robinson).

Some might consider this movie dated by today's standards and yet, it should be viewed and reviewed as a potential warning to all who think that the earth has a limitless supply of natural and environmental resources. Although I do not consider myself an environmentalist, I can see that there was a point to this movie in 1973. It's point is just as valid today, in 2001.

Paul Connors

Rating:
Summary: A must see...
Review: I'm tired of seeing these "futuristic" movies about flying airplanes, happy towns, and peaceful settings. This is quite possibly the most realistic movie that I have ever seen regarding the future of the world. It is a must see movie.