Absolon (2003)

Well isn't this timely? I mean, I watched this a few months ago and am just now getting around to writing up the post - to be honest, I had no idea how relevant this film would be. But here we are. Remind me again why people are all hyped up on watching Contagion when they could just be watching this cinematic gem?

You want an all-star cast? You got it. Christopher Lambert, Lou Diamond Phillips, Kelly Brook, Ron Perlman. That's what I am talking about.

You want hot outfits and sets in a post-apocalyptic world? This is the future aesthetic I am all about - one that was clearly modeled after a 2002 nightclub. Cops wearing belly shirts with colorful hair extensions, cops wearing sweatshirts with the iron-on word POLICE across the front...And that's just the beginning.

The scene is a post-pandemic world where everyone has to take a drug to stay alive, a drug (of course) owned and doled out by a massive corporation. Gotta love capitalism. Except, instead of money, time is now the ultimate currency. As in time off your life. Run out of time and you're dead. 22 minutes for a loaf of bread. This is Capitalism 2.0 my friends.

Some of the scientists are out there trying to help while the corporation tries to shut them down. They are operating out of my favorite kinds of science labs - the ones completely overrun by plants. Ahh the dream. Don't worry, even in this virus controlled corporate dream, there are still tacos and science grants. So what are we all so worried about?

I am not the only one thinking this film is ringing pretty close to home. IMDB user melobruce was ahead of the game in 2005, writing this prescient review:

melobruce29 October 2005

so why did i give this rather poorly constructed film a 10?? because the subject matter is true, and is happening to us now, today, and while i am writing this review. fear-mongering, creating habituation, misleading the public, lying to the public, killing the public, controlling the public, is all true. i'm used to being ridiculed for my views on this but i go on record as saying that Steven Seagall, Fernando Meirelles, Steve Mqueen, Michael Moore, and Tom Cruise are all right and telling the truth. i am only hoping that these truths will become common knowledge during my lifetime. i admit that some directors and some screen plays have done this better. but that doesn't mean that the subject here is a fantasy. and good for Christopher Lambert. i've always been a fan of his and loved him in Highlander. he was enjoyable enough to watch in this modest, low-budget film. and Kelly Brook looks good to me. big fan of Lou and Ron's too.

Final Judgement: "There's no one I'd rather have saving the world than Christopher Lambert / Almost too real right now / Leave Contagion on your netflix box and watch Absolon instead / The future is now."