On S List of Movie Reviews
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Soylent Green (1973)
Rate:
5
Viewed:
3/17
3/17:
So, what's Soylent Green made of?
People. But why is it a bad thing? When Earth has become overpopulated and there's not enough food to go around, then the
natural instinct is to eat people's bodies after they die. Therefore, why should it be shocking? It's common sense.
The problem with the film is it's mediocre, thanks to Richard Fleischer who's an awful director. He hasn't a clue of how
to make anything exciting. Even Harry Harrison, the author of the book, expressed his displeasure because the filmmakers
didn't bother implementing more interesting themes and thus turned it into a boring policier that's set in the
dystopian world.
It's Edward G. Robinson's final role before passing away from bladder cancer twelve days after the completion of filming.
When he played his character, he was almost totally deaf and therefore couldn't hear the dialogue. His career, however as
great as it was, has been littered with hammy performances; hence, it's fitting that Edward G. Robinson repeated it here,
especially how his character got ushered away to be harvested as food which is literally the last scene of his acting
career.
All in all, although a famous sci-fi picture, Soylent Green is tedious when it should've focused more on the food
problem, the environmental damage, and the situation outside the cities.