Cargo

Directed by: Ivan Engler, Ralph Etter

Starring: Anna-Katharina Schwabroh, Martin Rapold, Regula Grauwiller, Yangzom Brauen, Pierre Semmler

Synopsis:

The Earth is dying, ravaged by epidemics, causing the human race to take up residence aboard huge, orbiting space stations. The lucky few have either purchased or won in a lottery the chance to go to Rhea, a planet just like Earth. Doctor Portman (Schwabroh) wants to go there and be with her sister, so she takes a position on a freighter called The Kassandra, on an eight year mission which will earn her enough money to make the trip.

The Kassandra is a rust-bucket which a skeleton crew of six people, including Captain Pierre Lacroix, First officer Anna Lindburgh, computer expert Miyuki Yoshida, and Security Officer Samuel Decker. Decker has been stationed on board due to a number of eco-terrorist attacks by a group called Maschinenstürmer.

Three years into the journey to Station 42, where they are transporting materials, Portman is brought out of cryogenic sleep to begin her lonely 8 month shift, spending her time sending messages to her sister and working out with a punch-bag. However soon Portman begins to feel she isn’t alone, and that something might be awake in the cargo hold...

Review:

Cargo is a small, tight sci-fi story given epic scope thanks to some excellent model/cgi fx. While the small handful of crew try to solve the mystery of what’s going on inside their ship, we are treated (and I truly mean treated) so stunning shots of huge space-stations, dwarfing huge cargo ships, which in turn contain huge containers, which in turn contain...parts...

The story itself is quite derivative – elements of Ghost in the Shell and Sunshine – but nonetheless quite logical in the way it’s told and how information is discovered. The film doesn’t waste a lot of time. Once Portman is brought out of sleep, we get to see her daily routine – boring as hell, cold as hell – and once that is established, we start to see shadows out of the corner of our eye...

The sheer size of the ship doesn’t really sink in until the crew enter the sealed-off container hold, which could easily contain the Empire State Building. Up until this point, there is doubt over whether Portman has really seen anything, or if there was a natural explanation. However an incident inside the hold waylays any doubt.

The acting is across the board very good, with Schwabroh proving to be an effective heroine and Rapold an enigmatic foil.The drama felt natural – no Hollywood-style histrionics here, the characters act according to their own motivations and in a logical manner. As mentioned, the fx work and production values help make the film look a lot more expensive than it probably is.

My only niggles with Cargo are with the soundtrack, which manages to be overwrought and too generic at the same time, and the over-use of a tracking shot of The Kassandra, which is used to segue between scenes. Not only does it outstay it’s welcome, but it’s also the least effective cgi shot in the whole film, so seeing it again and again only drives that home even more.

Verdict

One of those movies which comes out of nowhere – just the thing we love here at Flash-Bang. The fx work is marvellous, the story provides a great mystery and a punchline fans of hard-sci-fi will love.

8 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)

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