Settlers

Name: Settlers
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama, Thriller
Released: July 23, 2021
Duration: 103 min
Rating: 56
Cast: Brooklynn Prince, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Jonny Lee Miller, Matthew Van Leeve, Natalie Walsh

2021

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 10 Ratings

See All

3.8

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

3.8	Your Score
3.8	User Score Generally unfavorable reviews based on 10 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Settlers

Now Playing: Settlers

Movie Details & Credits

IFC Midnight | Release Date: July 23, 2021 | NR

Starring: Brooklynn Prince, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Jonny Lee Miller, Matthew Van Leeve, Natalie Walsh, Nell Tiger Free, Sofia Boutella

Summary: Mankind’s earliest settlers on the Martian frontier do what they must to survive the cosmic elements and each other.

Director: Wyatt Rockefeller

Genre(s): Sci-Fi, Drama, Thriller

Rating: NR

Runtime: 103 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Stream On

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

Ronda Racha Penrice

Jul 22, 2021

Unlike many previous films and TV shows that ponder the possibility of life on Mars, “Settlers” is thoughtful and nuanced, with Rockefeller posing extremely difficult (and resonant) questions about entitlement and even the future of human existence. Read full review

Alex Saveliev

Jul 22, 2021

With Settlers, Rockefeller and his crew have created a striking little treatise on our misguided ambitions. Read full review

Polygon Roxana Hadadi

Jul 23, 2021

Rockefeller only repeats other science fiction, rather than inventing big ideas of his own. Read full review

Movie Nation Roger Moore

Jul 6, 2021

With Settlers, the filmmaker takes us on a journey as much internal as extra-terrestrial. Read full review

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

Jul 28, 2021

Settlers isn’t perfect: some of the storytelling beats aren’t hit as clearly as they could have been. But it’s a quietly impressive piece of work. Read full review

Anthony Lane

Jul 19, 2021

Tense and firm at either end, it sags in the middle like a mattress. Also, the grownups are pretty dull and flat, their mood set to maximum glower; luckily, we have Remmy—played first by Brooklynn Prince and later, as a teen-ager, by Nell Tiger Free—to steer us through the doldrums and to energize the plot. Read full review

Lena Wilson

Jul 22, 2021

Settlers purports to challenge violence against women and colonialism. Instead, the female protagonist wallows in powerlessness for most of the movie, and a boxy robot is ultimately presented as more sympathetic than a displaced brown man. Read full review

SEE ALL 15 REVIEWS

Write a Review

Positive:

User Reviews

UncleWillard

Dec 29, 2021

There's something in Settlers that makes it compelling, but it's bogged down by the weight of what the writer/director thinks it should be about. This could have been just a simple story of a failed colonization and its aftermath, but they tried to imbue it with too much bs. It's notThere's something in Settlers that makes it compelling, but it's bogged down by the weight of what the writer/director thinks it should be about. This could have been just a simple story of a failed colonization and its aftermath, but they tried to imbue it with too much bs. It's not colonization of indigenous people, and I think that was one of the points. There are no indigenous peoples of Mars, in case someone was wondering. However, one thing humans will do is find a way to hate each other and it's usually something completely incidental (race, gender, orientation). Case in point, Jerry hates the family that moved into his parents (his) farm. He doesn't ask why or how it happened, he just brings along a few friends and decides to take it back by force. After doing so, and the loss of three people, he moves in and makes the surviving mother and daughter an offer in the name of survival. This is where what could have been a decent movie about survival on a hostile planet fails. Why is Jerry so damned rapey?! His reasoning is so contradictory it leaves no room for common sense. I guess someone saw this as a statement about women not needing men? If so, this is the dumbest way to go about it. Jerry makes the case for and against himself in that the whole Mars colony is a failure and they're all gonna die. So why would he care to create more kids to die on the deserted planet?? Outside the ridiculous plot, it looks and feels okay to me (I've seen criticism about the setting, but then again, it's a dome on Mars so it can be whatever). I can only imagine this started out as a simple Mars colonization story and devolved into some kind of political/cultural/social statement that destroyed a threadbare plot. Shame. Good cast (including the ever-awesome Brooklyn Prince from Florida Project), decent filming (loved Steve), but bogged down by intent.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Mauro_Lanari

Jan 12, 2022

(Mauro Lanari)
Why does Remmy end up with an ear piercing? Was she really on Mars or was it a metaphor? If the director is not interested in being clear, let alone me. Another debut to "LEAVE" out.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SEE ALL 2 REVIEWS