Rotten Tomatoes Rating: NA (Critics) / 88% (Audience)
Directed By: Jeff Renfroe
Written By: Jeff Renfroe, Svet Rouskov, Patrick Tarr and Pascal Trottier
Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Kevin Zegers, Charlotte Sullivan and Bill Paxton
Studio: RLJ Entertainment/Image Entertainment

Synopsis:Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix), Bill Paxton (Aliens) and Kevin Zegers (Dawn of the Dead), headline an all-star cast in this savage and unrelenting thriller about mankind’s greatest enemy: himself. As an endless winter engulfs Earth, humans struggle to survive in remote underground outposts. When Colony 7 receives a distress call from a nearby settlement, Sam (Zegers) and Briggs (Fishburne) race through the snow on a dangerous rescue mission. What they find at the desolate base could mean mankind’s salvation-or its total annihilation. Terrifying discoveries will unfold that will change the rules of survival forever. – (Source)

The Good:
The beginning of the movie set up a really intriguing situation with the survivors where paranoia over a simple head cold (which in this situation could evolve into a full blown plague) was leading to a breakdown in the compassion and overall humanity of some of the people in the colony, mostly Bill Paxton who was really good as the primary underminign influence to Laurence Fishburne’s leadership.
I also thought the frozen landscape set pieces were very well done and made me want to see even more of the iced over future USA.

The Bad:
The moving away from the internal conflicts within the colony and introducing an outside element of danger was a real let down to me. What was going on within the inner political and social workings of the colony was far more interesting than a rampaging band of cannibals wanting to eat everyone.

The Ugly
Why not just blow the bridge, Larry Fishburne? It would have solved the cannibal problem and gotten us back to you and Bill Paxton fighting for control of the colony.

Final Verdict: A wasted opportunity to show how societal norms breakdown in an unthinkable situation was jettisoned in favor of a run-of-the-mill action thriller plot that was not nearly exciting orinteresting enough to capture my attention.

Grade: C+