Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Theme
Review: I really appreciate anyone doing overpopulation awareness because there seems to be so little of it outside of China. The latest I've heard U.N. estimates 11.2 billion by 2010 and it is going to keep growing fast. Hopefully others will see this movie and find solutions to this incredibly scary problem. This is definitely a B-grade production but an A+ message.
Rating:
Summary: timeless story of environmental mayhem - needs to be on DVD!
Review: Imagine living in a city so polluted that you never see the sun. Sure, you can tell when it's daylight, but it's just illuminated filth - no sunrise, no sunset, EVER. It's always sickening to breathe everywhere you go. Now imagine that the same city is so over populated, you have to live with a roommate whether you want to or not. This apocalyptic tale takes place less than 30 years from now, when we have finally polluted our planet so irreversably, no plants will grow and humans are the only animal left. Suicide and crime is sky high and Charleton Heston plays a detective out to solve the murder of an executive of Soylent Green. Now that the world is so polluted, the only food source is Soylent Green. Little wafers you get in rations is the only thing you have to sustain you. Supposedly made of soy and lentils, it could be something else. Heston's job is to find out why this guy got murdered and he ends up learning things he never wanted to know.Edward G. Robinson's last screen performance is unforgettable as Heston's roommate who opts for government regulated euthanasia. Films of nature and sunsets are illegal for the masses as it spawns deep depression and crime skyrockets as a result, so the only way to get a taste of nature is to literally sign your life away as your last sights on earth are of films of the past, before the environment was totally destroyed. Heston sees what his up-until-then very annoying roommate has been trying to tell him for years in an unforgettable, tear jerking scene. The movie is slow-paced and dated heavily by the fashion of the 70s when it was filmed. Huge lapels, bellbottoms and lot's of 70's venacular (Groovy, man!)... but timeless in many ways. This film needs to be ported to DVD. Behind the scenes footage and commentaries would be an extra treat.
Rating: 
Summary: True, it is boring, but it is a must-watch.
Review: The introductory scene is a fitting start to this movie. It starts out with pastoral scenes and scenes of the non-congested, good life. It eventually moves to ominous scenes of crowded and busy highways. Then the "action" starts. The "action" continues for about an hour and consists of Thorn (Heston) lackadaisically investigating a murder. The most incredible part for me is where Sol checks himself into a volunteer death chamber. They ask for his favorite color-orange. They ask for his favorite music-light classical. Then they strap him in a bed, turn on the orange lights for a minute, and after the orange lights, they show wall to wall pictures of oceans and animals and fields. This sharp visual imagery is one of three types of visual themes throughout the show. The other themes are the green haze of outside and the dull darkness of inside. These themes are significant because they represent 1) the cold, hazy world, 2) the inside and brief protection from the world, and 3) the lost ideal of years gone by. Then, the exciting end, which I will not spoil for you. If you want the benefit of seeing this movie, but don't want to be bored out of your mind, watch the first five minutes and the last fifteen minutes. The only negative to this movie, besides how slow moving it is, is the violence toward women. Women are portrayed in this movie as helpless, and there are two or three scenes where these "helpless" women are slapped by men.
Rating:
Summary: Dated, but relevant
Review: This is a dated, but still very relevant, tale of the slow decline of the human condition. It is dated in that it is a 1973 image of the near future. In reality, the rate of cilivization's decline has leveld off considerably since then, so the future projected in Soylent Green is farther off than predicted. However, the general trend continues to be down, and everything does continue to get worse--not better. Thus, I think everyone should watch this gripping tale ASAP.
Rating:
Summary: A Terrifyingly Real Tale of Ecological Disaster
Review: I recently caught this film on television, and though I already knew the surprise behind the film's surprise ending (I won't spoil it for possible first-time viewers) the film's high-concept science-fiction caught me. This movie takes place in a latter-day twenty-first century not far-removed from our own: the environemnt is dying, the world is heating up and the oceans are falling apart. The world is devastatingly poor, overpopulated and food is running out. Heston, as a policeman named Thorn, is called in to investigate a high-profile murder and ends up uncovering more than he had bargained for. If you're looking for some excellent drama mixed with message-based sci-fi (along the lines of The Omega Man), then Soylent Green is for you! (Note: Watch for a great performance by veteran actor Edward G. Robinson as Solomon Roth, Thorn's mentor). Check it our and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Make Room! Make Room!
Review: Based off of Harry Harrison's book: "Make Room! Make Room!", the film presents us with an incredibily overpopulated world. Over 40 million people living in New York (location of the story) and very little in regards to privacy, housing, food, and water. Soylent Green, where the movie recieves it's title, is a popular nutrious cracker-like food source for the teeming masses. It it through the course of a murder of a governement offical that Thorn (played by Charlton Heston), uncovers an operation more clandestined than all of humanity would care to know. The movie is a painted as a picture of dred, and apathy. A future not too far off that could very well be our own if we are not too careful. Perhaps with the world population the way it is now, a film that is not too science fiction, but prophetic. A must see film for sci-fi and non-sci-fi fans alike.
Rating:
Summary: Future Plans
Review: If you have ever sat and wondered what life might be like for you in 20 yrs from now...this is definately the movie for you! It leaves you with a feeling of "what if that really happened?" and if you are a female like myself....you will wonder...would i want to bring another person into this world? i was not left w/a sence of dred...just w/awareness...the story is becoming more and more true as the yrs pass! beware citizens!
Rating:
Summary: Another realistically filmed Chuck Heston disaster picture.
Review: Not as powerful or big on suspense as 'The Omega Man', 'Soylent Green' is nonetheless fine early Seventies cult sci-fi fare. At times sensitive, at times downright stark, Fleisher's picture serves as a kind of distorted metaparable. To watch it from start to finish is to invite a sweat-laden apocalyptic futureworld into your mind. Its ambience of despair is heavy and pungent. Robinison takes the lead in terms of the acting, leaving Heston in the passenger seat. Chuck does well at that, though. He's all action, machismo and cynical wit in 'Soylent Green' although his character lacks the depth of his portrayal of Dr. Neville in Boris Sagal's 'The Omega Man' two years previously. Hampered from the beginning by the lack of scope Fleischer tries to capture on film, the only technical trouble with the movie is that it takes a while to build up speed and, conversely, it ends too quickly. After a spectacular chase 'n' shoot scene between Heston and Chuck Connors, the viewer isn't ready for the sudden conclusion. It's a sound, meaningful ending but far more attention should have been given over to effective pacing. The film's premise (based on the story by Harry Harrison) is very impressive but the director's lens can't do it justice. Still, enough of a grimy New York swarming with oily-skinned, overall-wearing people comes across to assert a strong atmosphere. State-sponsored cannibalism may yet become the way of the future so there is a very great lesson in this movie. Even so, 'Soylent Green' still must be classified as another entry in the catalogue of cliched eco-calamity pictures of the era. That's not to say that it's cheesy in and of itself but there is a noticeably dated flavour so my advice is to stick with a rental if you haven't seen it before.
Rating:
Summary: Sol's Exit the Cornerstone of "Soylent Green"
Review: This is an incredibly engaging film, and although it enjoyed little critical success, to me it contains one of the most memorable and beautiful scenes in all (late) cinema history; Sol's chosen departure from an intolerable world. Bathed in light of his favorite color and listening to his favorite music (Beethoven's 6th Symphony) he is treated to one last glimpse of the world he remembered as a child. Thorn's premature witnessing of (and reaction to) the recorded spectacle of God's creation is as moving and poignant today as ever. If for no other reason, Soylent Green remains in my top five, because it reminds us to stop, look around, and enjoy the beauty where it can still be found... and to live each day like it's our last.
Rating: 
Summary: A seriously disturbing film
Review: Soylent Green is one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen and this film was made nearly thirty years ago and I'm only 20. The image that will always stick out in my mind is the haunting image of the "Scoops", riot trucks that are garbage trucks used to scoop up people whenever a riot breaks out over the Soylent Green supply. These trucks pile people in as if they were garbage killing them by crushing them and they're hauled off to be recycled as food. Soylent Green is disturbing in the fact that it can provoke thought and make people think about what could possibly happen if we choose to neglect our natural resources.
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