A sign that you’re old: you can remember when movies depicted the future in a positive, optimistic manner. Now we get little more than dystopian views of what the Earth can expect, and 2021’s The Colony falls into that category.

When climate change and other calamities render the Earth uninhabitable, the elite flee. They take up residence on Kepler 209.

As times passes, though, some suspect they may be able to return to Earth, but a mission to check this out fails. Along with a small crew, astronaut Louise Blake (Nora Arnezeder) takes the baton and heads back to Earth to discover what happened and the future might hold.

As I alluded at the start, The Colony ventures into territory that we’ve seen covered an awful lot through other movies. In particular, the movie gives off an Interstellar vibe, with signs of Oblivion tossed in as well.

Actually, the dominant influence here appears to come from an unlikely source: 1995’s oft-mocked Waterworld. As Blake explores the version of Earth she finds, many elements – production design, character portrayal, etc, - seem reminiscent of that Kevin Costner flick.

Because it consciously evokes so many other movies, Colony struggles to find its own personality – or much narrative/character material to truly intrigue the viewer. Though she resides at the story’s core, Blake rarely feels like a well-developed role.

With some backstory involved, we get a few snapshots of Blake and what motivates her, but these components lack real depth and impact. Blake feels like a perfunctory protagonist who doesn’t receive enough exploration to become more than that.

This means a story without a lot of momentum or intrigue. Colony gives off a soap opera vibe at times, as it never quite becomes as gripping as it should.

I do like the production design of Colony, though. It manages a grimy look that befits the subject, and this gives the movie a more impressive feel than it otherwise merits.

I just wish the story and characters lived up to the film’s visuals. This never turns into a bad film, but The Colony seems slow and lackluster.

The Colony appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a more than competent presentation.

Sharpness usually seemed positive. A few mildly soft shots materialized, but the majority of the film looked well-defined.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects appeared, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws also failed to materialize.

Colors tended toward a dull teal-gray or some orange/amber, the latter mainly represented via fire. The hues felt drab, but that acted as part of the design choices, so the disc reproduced the tones in an appropriate manner.

Blacks looked dark and dense, while shadows displayed nice delineation. This ended up as a satisfactory image.

Similar thoughts greeted the fairly good DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Colony. Unsurprisingly, the movie mostly opted for a foreboding sense of atmosphere, so we didn’t get a lot of standout moments.

Spaceship-related material added to the impact, though, and a few violent moments also used the spectrum in a satisfying manner. None of these turned this into an impressive soundscape, but it worked fine for the material.

Speech seemed natural and concise, without edginess. Music appeared vivid and full as well.

Effects demonstrated quality reproduction, with clean highs and deep lows. Again, this became a more than workable mix for this story.

A few extras fill out the disc, and we open with an audio commentary from writer/director Tim Fehlbaum. He provides a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, sets and locations, photography and effects, editing, music and audio design, cast and performances, and related domains.

Fehlbaum delivers a pretty satisfying commentary. While he goes MIA a little more than I’d like, he nonetheless covers a lot of useful territory and turns this into an insightful chat.

Visions of the Future runs 19 minutes, 26 seconds and provides remarks from Fehlbaum and actors Nora Arnezeder, Sope Dirisu, Iain Glen, Nicola Perot, Joel Basman, Sebastian Roche and Sarah-Sofie Boussnina.

“Visions” looks at story/characters, sets and locations, cast and performances, the film’s invented language. Too much of this leans toward happy talk, but we still get a mix of useful insights as well.

Though it manages some good elements, The Colony too often feels like an amalgam of factors from other movies. While it keeps us moderately engaged, the film doesn’t create its own identity. The Blu-ray provides generally good picture and audio as well as a few bonus materials. This becomes a mixed bag of a sci-fi tale.