LogFAQs > #912448898

"What It Is: People.

Why It Matters: This movie's iconic ending has passed out of its time and into the lexicon of the greatest film endings of all time, right there with Keyser Soze, Dead People, and Gwen's Head in a Box. That alone would land a spot on this list, but the rest of the film was extremely indicative of the late-60s and early-70s push to study the hopeless dystopian potential that hid within the issues pressing modern society. The concept of overpopulation is summed up in a time capsule here that allows us to really understand a generation that came before.

What I Think: I like this film a lot. It has a certain sloggy quality mixed with a roughness that was extremely prevalent in science fiction of the time, but I bought the world and I bought its inhabitants. There are some questionable bits of dialogue that really bugged me from time to time, but this is the sort of movie that sets itself up perfectly for a mini-series on HBO. If you watch this movie, you'll feel all of the plot beats and likely visualize exactly what I mean. This is a great proof of concept for something that could be one of the greatest pieces of Hollywood ever, provided the right director came along. As for the issues explored in this movie, it still is hauntingly prophetic of problems we could very well eventually face in the decades to come. The idea of overpopulation leading to mass starvation is not only frightening, but it's real. We've already faced it in India once before, and only by the grace of scientific gains did we avert it then... but the next crisis is going to be water, and we're woefully unprepared for that. Soylent Green is the sort of film that serves as a potential harbinger for mass casualities in a war against our own planet if we don't heed the clarion calls of films like this one." ~scarlet

"The ending twist is right up there with I see dead people, rosebud, and I am your father. It was spoiled for me way before I ever saw it, and it still gives me the chills to hear it for myself. Thats how you end a movie! Otherwise, its a pretty good police noir type story set in a super crapsack world that exemplifies some deplorable and depressing conditions that are a reflection of the times. " ~Snake

"You know that song Power to the People by John Lennon? Well since watching this, I cant help but plug a new line of Soylent Green is people! into it. But yeah, Soylent Green, wow. It was a weird one. It had some really cool stuff like the crowd control trucks and some wild futuristic tech. But then it also focused very little on the title substance for like half the movie. Until Heston actually started investigating Soylent Green, the movie was more like a food tasting and shower simulator. I enjoyed the world building in the first half, but it was honestly just fluff as far as the plot was concerned. It almost felt like episodes of a TV series in how disjointed it felt. Like the murder mystery was a two part episode and then they went into the Soylent Green arc. Kind of a strange format. But I actually did quite enjoy it so hey.

Traviss Opinion: Travis liked the MGM Lion. He said yay scary lion! But as for the movie itself, it was a pass. He mostly just wanted to play catch with me. " ~Stifled
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"It is too easy being monsters. Let us try to be human." ~Victor Frankenstein, Penny Dreadful