Greetings again from the darkness. With billionaires building their own rockets and blasting off into space, a film about the colonization of Mars doesn't seem as far-fetched as it did in TOTAL RECALL (1990),or even THE MARTIAN (2015). In his first feature film, writer-director Wyatt Rockefeller minimizes the science-fiction aspects and focuses more on human nature.

A family of three is making their way day-to-day in a compound. Father Reza (Jonny Lee Miller, "Elementary"),mother Ilsa (Sofia Boutella, THE MUMMY, 2017),and daughter Remy (an excellent Brooklyn Prince, THE FLORIDA PROJECT, 2017) have their own greenhouse to grow food, and even (somehow) raise their own pig. We learn they are living in some type of bubble which allows them to breathe without masks, and they have a water supply, though that's one of countless things that are never explained.

One morning the family awakens to find "LEAVE" scrawled across their kitchen window. It turns out Jerry (Ismael Cruz Cordova, "Ray Donovan"),has returned to reclaim what he says was his family's home. A battle ensues, and Jerry invites Ilsa and Remy to stay - as long as they don't bother (or attack) him. Everyone seems to have weapons, though again, we never learn "what's out there" as a threat.

Remy befriends a droid that resembles WALL-E. She names it Steve. Steve mostly lurks until one crucial scene which seems to come out of nowhere. This is after the 'last man and last woman' scenario is introduced with Nell Tiger Free ("Servant") playing older Remy. Director Rockefeller filmed in South Africa which proves to be an effective stand-in for the surface of Mars, but just leaves too many questions unanswered for this viewer. The human nature aspect is well-handled. We hear Reza tell Remy, "We left Earth because we wanted more." And later, "Someday it will be just like Earth", the latter statement seemingly contradicting the first. However, the actions and attitudes of people on Mars seem to be all too similar to Earth's inhabitants - and that's a shame.

Opening in Theaters and On Demand on July 23, 2021.

Initially when I stumbled upon this 2021 sci-fi movie from writer and director Wyatt Rockefeller, I must admit that the synopsis for the movie sounded interesting enough. So I opted to sit down to watch "Settlers".

But wow, what did I just suffer through here? At least you'd think the movie makers would even just put in an effort to make the environment feel like it was actually taking place on the Martian frontier. But no, instead we are treated to an environment that just feel like a dried out Texas backyard. It was lacking so much creditability that it was hard to take it serious. Especially because there was no sense of it being Mars or even having much of any sci-fi feel to it.

And there are so many questions to be answered in "Settlers". Why is there water on Mars, and where does it come from? How is there air on Mars, and where does it come from? Why are there chickens and pigs on Mars?

Not only does "Settlers" lack a sense of sci-fi atmosphere, but it was also lacking interesting characters. I kid you not, the most interesting character in the movie was Steve. Yeah, and he was a single-function work robot with no dialogue. Indeed, out of a whopping five characters, four humans and a robot, it was the robot that carried the movie.

I am in awe that dribble such as "Settlers" could make the transition from script paper onto the screen, and even more so that people actually funded this project. Didn't they read the script and see how barren and pointless it was?

Even the storyline told in "Settlers" was uninteresting, and it progressed so insanely slow that you could easily drift off to sleep, wake up 30 minutes later and still be up to speed with the movie and not having missed out on anything crucial.

"Settlers" was a massive swing and a miss, and it was a shame, because there definitely was potential for something entertaining and enjoyable here.

It should be said that the movie did have a good ensemble of casted actors and actresses, despite it being only four people essentially. But the actors and actresses never stood a snowballs chance in Hell here, because the script was atrociously bland and pointless, and the characters and dialogue was just so amazingly poorly written.

I am not overly keen on sci-fi movies in general, and it is movies such as "Settlers" that just adds fuel to the fire and keeps the sci-fi aversion going.

I am rating "Settlers" a generous two out of ten stars. This was a complete and utter waste of time and effort.

There are settlers on Mars who have been there at least a generation and don't like people from Earth anymore. The air is breathable yet there is no sign of any greening, just barren land and green houses. A family of three try to survive while the only other people we see want to drive them out.

The explanations they give lead to more questions than answers. This was a poorly written drama with a more poorly written science fiction background. And what was that ending about?

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity. Attempted rape.