Welcome back to Movie Recaps. Today I will show you an action,
thriller film from 2008, titled Terra Nova. Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care.
On the cold hills of a deserted island, Zhilin is trying to find a safe spot to camp. He walks for
miles until he slips and falls into a freezing river, but after floating away for a while,
he manages to climb out and continue his journey. When he gets too tired to keep going, he stops to
rest against a big rock, grabs a flower to eat, and begins thinking back to how all this started.
Zhilin is in jail for life for the assassination of six men, when one afternoon, he's taken to see
the prison governor, who asks him what he dreams of. He isn't the only person going through this,
various of his fellow prisoners are also being called to the governor's office and are asked
the same question. Moryak says he wants to see the sea, Yakut wants to witness the war against China,
Obezyanka won't speak, Obezyan wants to work in this prison and be a governor, Tolya wants to
follow the progress of the space station and Sipa wants to see women again, but Zhilin's answer is
never shown. The governor tells them they've been selected to be transferred to a penal colony,
and shortly afterward, all prisoners are boarded into a ship. Just like in the actual prison,
the prisoners are divided into groups and put into cells, although Obezyan acts like he is the boss
and even kills a man to take his bed. When the hatch is finally closed and the boat takes off,
the prisoners start panicking, thinking this has all been a trick to let them die at sea. As the
men begin getting violent, Zhilin remembers a conversation he had with Sipa back in prison.
Sipa has some severe mental issues and would always draw on the wall and talk nonsense,
but that day, he mentioned Heaven and Hell not having any seats left and a third purgatory-like
place being prepared for people like them. Zhilian had thought it was more of his usual nonsense back
then, but he's starting to see the merits of it now. After a while, everyone calms down and tries
to spend the trip chitchatting and eating, but in the middle of the journey, a gang escapes from
one of the cells, looking for their compatriot. Obezyan pretends to negotiate at first only to
kill the man they're looking for, causing a riot to start: prisoners on both sides begin hitting
and killing each other through the bars except for Staryy, an old man that stays behind praying.
The fight doesn't last long though, the guards quickly arrive and after stopping them with a
warning shot, they throw a sleeping gas grenade to knock them all out. Eventually, they make it
to a deserted island, where the prisoners are put into numbered handcuffs and left at
the beach so they can listen to what Mr. Olafson and Marta, the heads of the "Terra Nova" project,
have to say. Since the death penalty has become illegal in all countries, prisons have been
running out of space to hold such a large number of criminals, which is why the Russian government
has offered this land to start this project, funded by some international organizations.
Starting today, the prisoners are colonists living under their protection, and everything
they need to survive is being provided, including food that should last three months. A satellite
will be watching them all the time, and there also are some communication buoys around.
They have the possibility to take a boat to one of them to press the red button and say
what they need, if a green light appears, that means the request has been accepted.
Obezyan isn't happy about the idea of being recorded 24/7 so he throws a big rock in protest,
but the guards quickly make him stand back with some warning shots. Marta clarifies that the buoys
can also be used to ask to leave the project by saying their name and the reason why they
want to leave. If they do, they'll be returned to prison. By putting the buoys on the sea instead
of on the beach, they make sure that the decision is thought twice before risking getting on a boat.
Before leaving, the guards drop a bunch of keys on the sand, explaining they are numbered to match
their handcuffs. The prisoners rush towards them and start fighting over them while Zhilin and Sipa
stay safely behind, only grabbing the keys that the others drop. Staryy also decides to
stay behind and watch how a gang forms a line around the keys to keep their rivals out and a
group goes to the crates the guards left to pick up some weapons and attack the crowd with them.
Eventually, Ali's gang takes control of the situation. Ali gets a jacket and good shoes for
himself and Staryy before choosing a man to send out on the boat, but as soon as he grabs someone,
the group takes the chance to attack and the fight starts again. Dozens of men die in the
fight - Moryak kills Ali with a rock, Obezyan kills Staryy also with a rock,
and the three men that get on a boat to reach the buoy fall to the sea and die drowning.
All the remaining prisoners go to the warehouse and begin distributing the supplies,
and Obezyan takes advantage of the tools found to get his cuffs open by force. Zhilin packs a bunch
of supplies in a bag and grabs himself a jacket while listening to Sipa say there is no way the
food will last three months, then he leaves the area to survive on his own and hopefully
find a way out of the island, taking us back to the beginning of the story. Zhilin explores the
island until he finds an area with no snow and a rocky formation that will provide some shelter,
so he decides to sit there while looking at a picture of his family that he's kept hidden in his
prison uniform. He misses them terribly, and falls asleep with tears in his eyes. Sometime later,
he wakes up when he hears some squealing: turns out the supplies were filled with rodents,
and they are now eating through his food and bag. When it starts raining, Zhilin finds shelter under
the rock formation he saw before, getting a fire going for warmth and heating some water.
After it stops raining, he catches a bird and roasts it over the fire, that's when Sipa finds
him. As he chitchats with him, he tries to steal his knife, but Zhilin sees him and takes it back.
Sipa offers some salt he had with him and his help in exchange for some meat, which Zhiling accepts,
so Sipa goes to pick up more wood and sees the family picture on Zhilin hung on the rocks, which
makes him blow a kiss at Zhilin's wife. Afterward, they share the bird, and when they're done eating,
Sipa walks to the edge of the cliff, explaining he doesn't jump because he's too afraid.
He asks Zhilin why he won't die either, and Zhilin explains it's because of his family:
they're dead and he wants to be buried next to them, which can't happen if he dies on the island.
The two men fall asleep, and when Zhilin wakes up, he finds Sipa has stolen the picture to use
it as inspiration for his debauchery. Furious, Zhilin beats him up and pushes him off the cliff,
but Sipa doesn't die because he doesn't fall into the ocean, he drops on a hill right underneath.
But even after this disagreement, the two of them travel together as they explore the island:
Sipa easily amuses himself with the trash he finds in the water while Zhilin tries to fish, but the
only living being they find in the water is some sort of aquatic centipede, which freaks Sipa
out. While looking around, Zhilin is shocked to suddenly find part of a seaplane among the rocks.
It only takes going a bit farther up the hill to find the entire plane, which gives him a bit of
hope because he used to be a pilot and would be able to fly it. However, two men aren't enough
to move it, so for now, they go back to their shelter. Zhilin starts a fire with some matches
he had grabbed at the warehouse, but there's something in them that creates a very toxic smoke.
He moves away from the fire and drags a sleeping Sipa with him, who at first won't wake up.
It takes a few shakes from Zhilin for him to finally regain consciousness, but his mouth only
continues to spout nonsense, and Zhilin realizes the cold will kill them any minute now. The two
men decide to go back to the base and see if they can steal some coal. Back in the base, life hasn't
been easy for everyone. Obezyan and his gang are in control and keeping a routine while sharing the
supplies, and Obezyan even asks them to call him Governor. But they keep anyone that isn't in their
team inside the barracks - they only allow them to come out to have a walk in an enclosed area,
similar to real prisons, while Estonets yells at them from the watchtower. When they're sent back,
they need to run because whoever is last gets killed to be used as food later. Zhilin and
Sipa manage to reach the coal box and find the remains of a fire. After walking for so long,
they're almost freezing, so they can't help laying down next to the fire and falling asleep. But Sipa
wakes up quickly when he hears some noises: the gang is coming over with their latest prisoner
for roasting. He runs to hide behind a rock, but Zhilin is still out there, so he comes back out to
rescue him, but he isn't fast enough and Obezyan's men find them and capture them. The two of them
are taken back to base, where Obezyan tries to decide what their punishment will be for having
run away with supplies when they arrived. Yakut tries to remind them that they were on their side
during the ship fight, causing Estonets to insult him for trying to meddle. Yakut replies by hitting
him, and this causes the whole gang to team up to hit him in return, earning Yakut a place in
the barracks with Zhilin and Sipa. They walk around for a while and when Estonets announces
it's time to return, Zhilin stays behind, but Sipa comes back from him and drags him inside with him.
They can only watch as the last standing man is captured and tied to a pole, begging for some
water as his last wish, so Sipa takes pity on him and brings a cup to his lips before he is killed.
Later, before going to sleep, the group discusses the possibility of rebelling. They're unsure
because it may be dangerous, but Shram convinces them is worth trying. The next morning, Tolya
shows Obezyankat that he's installed a secret trap in his workshop to catch any potential thieves.
After the group takes his daily walk, Estonets tries to get them back inside to get the usual
game going, but only two men run: the rest stand back and come together while Yakut throws a rock
at Estonets to shut him up. Zhilin walks up to Obezyan and offers him a deal: if he lets them go
to the buoy and ask for food, he'll tell him the location of the plane he found. Obezyan accepts
and opens the gate to let them out. While Tolya and Zhilin go with two other men on the boat,
Obezyan asks his men if they know anything about Zhilin, and that's how he learns he was a pilot,
that his family died in a plane crash, and he went to jail for killing flight dispatchers at the
airport with a rifle. This crime was classified as "murder in a state of severe emotional agitation",
which Obezyan thinks means Zhilin has a guilty conscience. As soon as the boat is far enough,
he orders the group to go back to the barracks, canceling his deal. Yakut tries to confront them,
but he's immediately killed, so Obezyan grabs one more man before declaring the game is on again.
The group can only run back to the barracks since a fight would be a very idea because Obezyan's men
are armed. Meanwhile at sea, one of the men falls off the boat, but they catch him just in time and
drag him back up. Tolya reaches the buoy and asks for help, but it's broken, and not even his tools
will help. They go back to the shore and Zhilin tells Obezyan that food is on its way, but Obezyan
doesn't believe him because there wasn't a green light of confirmation. Tolya reminds him of the
existence of the plane, but Obezyan doesn't believe that's true either, but it inspires
Obezyanka to move around with his arms open like one. Obezyan finds this distracting and grabs him
by the neck, so Tolya uses the chance to come at him from behind and kill him. Two other members of
his group, Amurbek and Arzhanov, kill the rest of their gang and watch Estonets run away before they
can catch him as well. They ask Zhilin what to do next, and he asks them to free the men from the
barracks because he swears food is coming and they just didn't see the light because it was broken.
The men are skeptical about this and remind him now they have plenty of bodies to feed on later,
but Tolya thinks they should be buried. Zhilin reminds him about the plane as well,
so Amurbek and Arzhanov finally accept. They free the prisoners and tell them they'll be
waiting a few days for the food to arrive, but they won't be using each other as food anymore,
so everyone needs to stay calm and cooperate. They'll also send a group to rescue the plane,
which they'll put in a hangar they'll build and slowly repair it to escape later.
Suddenly, Sipa interrupts their plans claiming there's no satellite while writing an SOS message
using sand and three bodies. Sometime later, Estonets returns to the base, and because of
the new rules that say they need to keep the peace, they decide to ignore what he's done to
them for now and share their food with him anyway. Zhilin guides a group of men towards the plane,
and their moods greatly increase when they see he's been telling the truth.
Together they take it apart for easier transport and carry the pieces back to base.
Eventually, Marta arrives at the island with a bunch of guards. They use gas to keep the men
away, but they do allow Zhilin come to talk to her and discuss the list of things they've requested.
She's confused on why they're asking for gas, and he explains it's for the generators, which
are supposed to be wind-powered but they don't work during the polar night. In truth, they want
the gas for the plane. Zhilin takes the chance to ask why they didn't answer Sipa's SOS message, and
Marta explains their satellite is of the infrared kind - they see heat. So they can locate people
and stoves but not words. She also wants to know what people were doing so far away from the base
some days ago, and he tells her they were fishing. They don't believe him because there's no fish in
the area, so he lies again and tells them they've been eating those centipede-like creatures, which
she finds very shocking. They also want to know how many of the original 206 colonists are left,
which Zhilin finds suspicious because they should be able to tell with their satellite. He tells
them 87 are left, and many are sick, but nobody wants to abandon the project and return to jail.
Before Zhilin leaves, Marte tells him he has the right to one personal request,
so he gives her a few sheets of paper asking her to provide the group well.
Once the guards have left the new supplies, Zhilin and his men try the gas in the plane hidden in
the hangar and happily confirm it does work. Afterward, they watch a new group of American
prisoners arrive as the guards and Marta leave the island. These prisoners have a leader too,
a very large man that Zhilin tries to shake hands with. The man doesn't take it - in fact,
he hits Zhilin, which triggers a fight between both sides. The encounter is brutal and nobody
hesitates to go for the kill, so Sipa drags Zhilin with him to hide him in the workshop.
One of the Americans tries to follow them, but he falls on Tolya's trap and instantly dies.
Arzhanov goes up against the American leader and gets overpowered, but before he can get killed,
Amurbek cuts in and kills the big man instead as the buildings around them catch on fire. All
this is being watched by the heads of the project. When they realize the situation is finally out of
control and that over 40% of the colony has been killed, Marta calls the central office and is told
to proceed with Code Naked Island, which sends a bunch of guards to the island that shoots all
the reminder prisoners while Marta burns Zhilin's letters. Luckily, a few men are still alive thanks
to having hidden in the mountains or the hangar: Zhilin, Sipa, Arzhanov, and Tolya. Together they
push the plane out, but when they're about to board it, Sipa tells them goodbye and runs to
the hills so he can jump into the ocean, not afraid anymore. The remaining trio gets in
the plane and Zhilin manages to make it take off safely, although the guards shoot at them on the
way. His two companions die, but Zhilin isn't hit by the bullets, so he flies away into his freedom.