Review of Soylent Green (1973) by Tim B — 04 Aug 2009

An underappreciated movie of it's time, and a movie most well known for both it's signature line and bizarro plot twist. But if you strip away the cult appeal, you'll find a remarkably disturbing storyline.

While WALL-E sugarcoated a destroyed planet, the pessimistic Soylent Green shows a destroyed planet that's unlivable but lived in. As overpopulation has lead the planet into a destroyed ozone, a depleted food supply, a lack of space for virtually anywhere and whole poverty, the human population is relying on a government-sanctioned food stuff. It just so happens to be that Charlton Heston's New York City detective is on the case of a murdered CEO who ran the company that produced the food stuff and he discovers it's sinister inner workings.

Soylent Green is indeed a funny movie, and it came out of the spate of apocalyptic movies like Logan's Run and another Heston starrer by the name of The Omega Man. But Soylent Green is a depressing experience, showing a world with absolutely zero hope of finding light at the end of the tunnel as poverty, overpopulation and starvation will forever doom the Earth. But it's also the overpopulation that proves to be the biggest liability for anyone living, and the emphasis on life is nothing more than just a fleeting thing that can be casually destroyed (literally). I think if this movie were to be remade now, it has serious potential to really get a message across.

Based on a good (and now out of print book), Soylent Green is a movie for the ages. It certainly is outdated but you don't forget the film's central message (and I ain't talking about the film's most memorable quote).