‘The Colony’ trailer shows the struggle for survival upon returning to a once-ravaged Earth

“She was called Mother Earth. We plundered everything she offered. None of us should’ve come back,” the opening monologue for the new sci-fi thriller from executive producer Roland Emmerich is daunting to say the least. 

There’s a definite “Children of Men” meets “Waterworld” vibe as the voice giving the monologue changes. “Where I’m from, all reproductive efforts for both men and women failed,” a woman now explains in the new trailer. 

Cataclysmic climate-related disasters have left most of the world submerged, causing the Earth to be abandoned and forcing a mass exodus to a distant planet. However, the colonists who escaped have found themselves unable to procreate. So generations later, a crewed mission returns to Earth to assess whether it’s possible to procreate there

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The sole survivor of the expedition, Blake (Nora Arnezeder) is attacked by a violent band of scavengers, themselves locked in battle with a much more sinister foe. She meets the survivor of a previous expedition to Earth named Gibson (Iain Glen) and discovers children among the inhabitants. He believes now is the time to bring everyone home, but in order to survive, great sacrifices will need to be made.

This seemingly gritty, dark, dystopian sci-fi thriller marks an apparent change of direction for Emmerich, a name certainly associated with entertaining sci-fi flicks in the past, but more of the blockbuster ilk, including “Godzilla,” “Independence Day” and “Stargate.” 

“The Colony” is also known as “Tides” and has already been shown at both the Berlin International Film Festival and the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival in Switzerland. Consequently, if you look it up on IMDb, you’re going to find it already has over 40 user reviews. So, be mindful if you want to avoid spoilers. It arrives in theaters and digital home release in the U.S. on Aug. 27. 

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