This could have been a great movie. The concept of China deciding to take over the US by using our dependence on their tech to run everything is chilling in its simplicity. However, beyond the initial concept and setup, the movie quickly devolved into a collection of overused stereotypes.
You've got your overweight rural sheriff who is so used to his cushy life he doesn't even bat an eyelash when some unseen Chinese someone becomes his boss, then revels in his new-found absolute authority over everyone. You've got your typical white-trash militia types who, at the first sign of any kind of trouble, start terrorizing the area, shooting, looting, and attempting to rape every female they come across. The old patriot (who seems to be claiming to have fought in WWII, despite being a good 20 years too young for that) who is perfectly happy to throw in with our "heroes" but ultimately proves to be of no use whatsoever. The Mexican immigrant with a heart of gold who is perfectly happy to do anything and everything the "heroes" ask of him, even though he can't understand them and they can't understand him. He communicates that he has a family, but makes no attempt to get back to them when suddenly the SHTF. The numerous US military folks who seem to have no qualms at all about suddenly working for The People's Republic, rather than the US. And our "heroes." A supposedly brilliant tech guy fired from the NSA who proves to be almost completely useless in every sense of the word. While our gormless tech genius is doing his best to find out what is going on and how to get resources without capitulating to the People's Republic sheriff, all his useless wife can do is whine and complain that he's not reading enough stories to their daughter. And, rounding it all out, is the obligatory, but completely characterless child who whines when necessary and conveniently disappears the rest of the time. Most of the "conflict" is predictable and boring. The whole issue of wearing the red "citizen freedom bands" just ends up feeling like the 15 minute-long fight in They Live (1988) over whether or not someone puts on a pair of sunglasses, but is even less worthwhile a use of your time. This is just a small sample of the massive collection of stereotypes and cliches that make up this 95 minute snooze-fest. There are soooooo many plot holes it would take another 95 minutes to even try to point them out. Suffice to say this movie makes Swiss cheese look solid, it's so full of plot holes.
I love a good dystopian, conspiracy, end of the world, or fighting for survival against the odds movie. This was none of the above. It was interesting for the first 10 minutes at best, then it just got boring. I've seen many, many low-budget movies that were very well written and acted, but this one just sucked in pretty much every way possible.
You've got your overweight rural sheriff who is so used to his cushy life he doesn't even bat an eyelash when some unseen Chinese someone becomes his boss, then revels in his new-found absolute authority over everyone. You've got your typical white-trash militia types who, at the first sign of any kind of trouble, start terrorizing the area, shooting, looting, and attempting to rape every female they come across. The old patriot (who seems to be claiming to have fought in WWII, despite being a good 20 years too young for that) who is perfectly happy to throw in with our "heroes" but ultimately proves to be of no use whatsoever. The Mexican immigrant with a heart of gold who is perfectly happy to do anything and everything the "heroes" ask of him, even though he can't understand them and they can't understand him. He communicates that he has a family, but makes no attempt to get back to them when suddenly the SHTF. The numerous US military folks who seem to have no qualms at all about suddenly working for The People's Republic, rather than the US. And our "heroes." A supposedly brilliant tech guy fired from the NSA who proves to be almost completely useless in every sense of the word. While our gormless tech genius is doing his best to find out what is going on and how to get resources without capitulating to the People's Republic sheriff, all his useless wife can do is whine and complain that he's not reading enough stories to their daughter. And, rounding it all out, is the obligatory, but completely characterless child who whines when necessary and conveniently disappears the rest of the time. Most of the "conflict" is predictable and boring. The whole issue of wearing the red "citizen freedom bands" just ends up feeling like the 15 minute-long fight in They Live (1988) over whether or not someone puts on a pair of sunglasses, but is even less worthwhile a use of your time. This is just a small sample of the massive collection of stereotypes and cliches that make up this 95 minute snooze-fest. There are soooooo many plot holes it would take another 95 minutes to even try to point them out. Suffice to say this movie makes Swiss cheese look solid, it's so full of plot holes.
I love a good dystopian, conspiracy, end of the world, or fighting for survival against the odds movie. This was none of the above. It was interesting for the first 10 minutes at best, then it just got boring. I've seen many, many low-budget movies that were very well written and acted, but this one just sucked in pretty much every way possible.