Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

The Humanity Bureau Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 15, 2018

The Humanity Bureau offers a vision for a dystopian future that's a byproduct of today's social and political cultures and environmental conditions. It's not preachy, but it does take a few swipes at contemporary America -- her culture, her political climate -- that don't remain fixtures but that do subtly influence the story's construction and unfolding. Ultimately, beyond any subtle-not-subtle social and/or political jabs, the film evolves into a lower budget but modestly entertaining journey through a fairly large and empty world that neither betrays nor reinforces the concepts introduced. The picture's limited resources mean it cannot paint a fuller picture of the world it has created, but by focusing its attention on characters and ideas rather than sights and sounds, it necessarily must dig in and double down on narrative rather than try and mask shortcomings behind poorly rendered visual effects, which are fortunately kept to a relative minimum in the movie.

An economic collapse and irreversible climate change have all but destroyed the world as it was. Famine, mass migration, and civil war are the new normals. Manufacturing and food production have come to a halt. The United States has sealed itself off from the rest of the world. A new government agency has risen from the remnants, its task to weed out undesirable burdens on society, people who are not contributing their "fair share" to whatever semblance of human productivity remains. The agency is known as “The Humanity Bureau.” In Nevada, Bureau Agent Noah Kross (Nic Cage) is visiting an elderly gentleman, scheduled for deportation the following week. The man, once the governor of Colorado, is killed in a shootout after refusing reassignment to the supposedly utopian “New Eden” where the government sends its undesirables. The action earns Noah a promotion and a new assignment to visit a mother and her son who are struggling but feigning modest success and contributions to society in order to keep their modest, remote home. But they fail Kross’ examination, anyway. The family is ordered to relocate to New Eden, a supposed fresh start and safe haven that, in reality, offers anything but. Over time, Kross’ fondness for the family grows, spurred on by his own secret past and various revelations that change everything he thinks he knows about his job and his government. His actions put him at odds with the Bureau and in the crosshairs of a relentless pursuer, Adam Westinghouse (Hugh Dillon).

The movie remains focused on characters and ideas and less on supporting them with a concrete and complex vision of the quasi-apocalyptic landscape. That’s to its benefit. Distractions are few, budget visual effects are used sparingly, and the filmmakers -- Writer Dave Schultz and Director Rob W. King -- play to the picture’s strengths. And perhaps it was conceived that way. The Humanity Bureau, to its credit, does describe and present its world not in a classically destroyed apocalyptic landscape but crafts it as one in which ideas and the human condition have eroded a bit more so than the physical world, even if climate change is blamed for some of the stumbling blocks that have led the world to its presented state. Essentially, the movie doesn’t grow too big for its britches. It’s presented on a very small scale, even if the action is expansive, and kudos to the filmmakers for not overstuffing the movie with dead weight and budget-impossible scenarios that, as they do in so many other overly ambitious films, would pull attention away from the story and the viewer out of the film.

The movie doesn’t lack pace, even though its action scenes are intermittent at best. Narrative holds together just well enough to keep it going, and the accomplishment of the movie to hold interest is to be commended given the various obstacles it must overcome, including budget and characters who are not particularly novel but who are written and acted well enough to carry the movie. Much of the film must be taken on faith. The viewer never really sees the world in the state of disrepair in which it’s explained to be. In fact, the world seems to function rather well all things considered, all of the doom and gloom the opening text and the subsequent narrative developments share. Praise the cast for finding an ability to sell the material even if the peripherals don’t, at least not full time. Cage doesn’t rise above his fairly well established type, but he brings enough passion to the role, particularly as his character undergoes a change of heart with developments and revelations, to sell the idea of the world’s decay and the greater dangers that exist within the truth hiding behind the lies he and the Bureau peddle to the people.

The Humanity Bureau Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Humanity Bureau, like The Recall, was shot for presentation with Barko Escape technology, which cannot be replicated in the home at this time. Instead, Echo Bridge has released the film with a basic widescreen aspect ratio 1080p transfer. Blu-ray presentation never excites nor disappoints. This is a fairly baseline digitally sourced image. The image delivers essential details well enough, finding good, basic complexities in skin textures, clothes, natural environments, and odds and ends like tables and curtains in the Weller household. The film lacks vibrant colors, generally, favoring a more streamlined, dull, occasionally flat, and sometimes pasty palette that renders skin tones pale and ghastly, at times, though the image finds more color balance, and increased detail, in certain scenes. Check out a scene around the 40 minute mark. It's very firm and crisp, suffering from some of the issues that plague the whole movie, such as light noise and macroblocking, but the baseline textural qualities and colors are much more balanced here than in most places elsewhere. The picture is certainly constrained by the film's budget roots, but Echo Bridge's Blu-ray presentation delivers it in a manner that is probably fairly close to best-case-scenario for this particular movie.

The Humanity Bureau Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Humanity Bureau's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is a bit shallow and flat, particularly at the beginning. It seems to even out by chapter three, still lacking the volume and crispness of better tracks but at least finding a higher gear. While gunshots are weak in the opening sequence, there's a marked increase in vitality thereafter. A fight in chapter five offers a more substantial heft, gunfire enjoys a slight bit more weight (though still delivers with a rather puny sensation), and stage spacing is increased, with even a few good discrete effects thrown in throughout the film. Then a car tumbles out of control at the 68 minute mark. The sound is unkempt, sloppy, lacking any kind of distinction or clarity, and the shallowness and tinniness pull the listener out of the entire scene. The track does produce a little bit of decent atmospheric echoing during a recital of the Pledge of Allegiance in chapter four, though it's contained to the front sides and without an extreme push to the farthest edges. A similar sensation, perhaps a bit wider, can be found in a scene in chapter eight, though dialogue is a little shallow in the scene, and the reverberation competes with vocal audibility. Dialogue is otherwise clear, focused, and well prioritized elsewhere.

The Humanity Bureau Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Humanity Bureau contains one supplement. Behind the Scenes (1080i, 14:14) offers a basic plot recap, thematic deconstruction, a look at the film's core humanity, shooting in British Columbia, characters, cast and performances, shooting on the Barco Escape and in virtual reality, and more. A DVD copy of the film is included with purchase.

The Humanity Bureau Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Humanity Bureau is an effective...whatever it is...dystopian human interest story, perhaps? Cautionary tale? It's certainly not a straight Action film or anything with deeply rooted drama, but however one wishes to describe it, it works well enough to rise a little bit above the low-budget morass. Low-end visual effects are kept to a minimum, connects are grounded but interesting, pacing is surprisingly good for a movie without much in the way of visual support or narrative depth, and the acting exceeds expectations for a movie of this sort. It's hardly a great film, but as a 90-miniute diversion with mild notes of dystopian elements and some critical thinking required, it's not at all awful. Echo Bridge's Blu-ray features passable video and uneven audio. One extra is included. Worth a rental or a deeply discounted bargain buy.