The cast and the concept for The Colony is actually pretty decent, but sadly the script and execution is not only bad, but proves to be another example of a studio ruining a project. Back in 2008 this was being described as an "eco-thriller" and "Hitchcock's The Birds, but with bugs" making it sound like it could have some potential. Unfortunately, after passing through various hands (the studio's hand being the most dominant) we now have this clichéd mediocre effort that's lacking in any ounce of creativity.

The story is set in the future where Earth is pretty much going through its next ice age, forcing humans to live in underground colonies where it's warm and somewhat survivable. We focus on Colony 7, where the sick are quarantined and a power struggle between leaders (Fishburne & Paxton) is nearing its peak. To complicate matters, they receive a distress call from another colony seeking assistance. Naturally this means a few members of the group has to make the long arduous trek through the snowy terrain to discover the reason for the call (oozing with originality here people).

Once they've reached their destination the men are met with a seemingly abandoned colony. That is, until they find a delirious survivor who has locked himself in a small room. Aside from the lone survivor, they soon realize that the place isn't abandoned at all, but instead now inhabited by a small army of cannibalistic tribesmen. The guys must now attempt to make it back to Colony 7 before it's too late, but going back will only serve as an easy path to more food for these cannibals.

Although this was clearly not going to be a good flick from the beginning, it at least offered decent production values and some interesting tension between colony members, but once they reach their destination everything just falls apart even further than it already had. For starters, they're met with these cannibals that look like they walked straight off the set of 30 Days of Night, while the rest of the movie plays out like you'd expect, full of plot-holes and logical issues. It's just sad to see a project with potential and an above-average cast fail due to such a poor script, but that seems to be the nature of filmmaking nowadays.

If you've been watching films for the past decade you've probably already gotten a general idea of how The Colony will play out, as it's every bit as clichéd and predictable as a flick like this can get. Aside from the cast and the okay pacing, this is just your standard genre fair, offering a poor script and little-to-no creativity.