Review of Silent Running (1972) by Aaron A — 10 Nov 2011

"She's never going to be able to see the simple wonder of a leaf in her hand. Because there's not going to be any trees.".

Synopsis: In a ruined future in which huge, orbiting spaceships preserve the last remaining trees from pollution and overcrowding on Earth, everyman botanist Freeman Lowell receives an order to destroy the trees.

Silent Running is the pet project of Douglas Trumbull, most notable as the guru behind the groundbreaking special effects of the star-gate sequence in Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" and Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner". Unsurprisingly his expertise in visual and special effects shows tremendously in Silent Running, where a number of top notch visual splendors steal the show; including a "2001" reminiscent trip through the rings of saturn as well as numerous spacewalks on meticulously designed starships. The niceties do not stop at the special effects either, as the actual set design is well above average for a sci-fi flick at this time, and when combined with the superior work done by the special effects department, the picture does much to set the stage for a visually believable story.

It's a shame the same virtuosity isn't present in the pictures script. The actual premise is strong enough, but the film's concept is supported by a very thin plot and the writing (for most of the picture) is far too blunt to be terribly effective. Just about the entire first half of the film feel fairly stagnate despite copious amounts of story progression and event occurrences. Thankfully though the feature's final chapters are backed by some relative ambiguities and unexpected thematic shifts that infuse the picture with a more challenging, professional experience.

Though the narrative feels a bit thin for it's hour and a half runtime. a solid performance from Bruce Dern and a strong finale make Silent Running worthwhile.