Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

GrimPrecise I'll tell you why so serious

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Anthony de Jongh I wish I could unwatch this.... Purely was curious about this one, because ( going by title) to me it was an obvious follow up/remake of it's awesome predecessor Population: 1. Only a puking gargoyle could have been more off the truth: this flick ( and I use that term very positively now) has nothing to do whatsoever with said predecessor and what I came to watch was nothing but a slow moving, never ending stale production of something that should have been locked up in a non-existing online dungeon. Everyone 'acting' here should lower their heads in shame every time it comes up in a friendly chat. I'm not a fan, as you obviously can see...burn this movie and let nobody in the future ever know it actually was recorded.

Mike Stone Can I give it negative stars? I'm certainly glad to hear about the struggles that Gil Luna and Jonathan Stark had making this movie. But let me tell you about the struggles I had staying awake. It starts out slow and goes down hill from there. And if you get excited about hearing a couple of fighter pilots babble endlessly between themselves, while they fly along and we watch graphics that look like a flight sim from 10 years ago....this is for you. Why that's even in the movie, I don't know. Doesn't add anything to the movie at all. And that's saying something. I found myself wishing the only survivors would just give it up and die, then it would be over.

Stephanie Madrid I saw this film at the Worldfest International Film Festival in Houston, TX where it won a Platinum Remi for Best Sci-Fi Feature! The filmmakers, Gil Luna and Jonathan Stark, were present and shared their story about the struggles and triumphs in making this film. If you support independent film and post-apocalyptic awesomeness, then you need to BUY this film. The story will make you cry, laugh and really appreciate your life.The DP also did excellent work. There's one shot where the lead actress is looking at her reflection on some broken glass. I remember that one specifically because it was one of my favorite shots from the film. I even remember talking about it with my friends at the Houston screening.And the lead actress….OMG! I was cracking up when she was talking to herself. She's very versatile. I can't wait to see her in future films.Way to go Population 2 team!

Mike Bazanele "Population: 2" centers on a woman named Lillith, the only survivor of an ecological disaster that wipes out life as we know it on Earth. We see her past as a series of flashbacks that gradually come to explain how she ended up wandering alone through the tattered ruins of Portland, Oregon. Suzanne Tufan steals the show in her challenging dual-role as Lillith, a woman who is broken in two by tragedy. Before the disaster, Lillith is happy, bright and hopeful. Afterwards she is broken, haunted and struggling to maintain her sanity. As we delve into Lillith's past, we find that the ecological disaster was in part caused by the money-grubbing tactics of a Corporation called OmniTech, whose irresponsible use of "solar shield" technology to deflect the sun's rays and cool the earth backfired disastrously, causing a global meltdown. The evil empire is headed by the villainous Vincent Velo (Shelly Lipkin), who (before the disaster) employs Lillith's husband Simon (Jon Ashley Hall) as his media mouthpiece. Expecting special treatment for his years of service to OmniTech, Simon asks Vincent to ensure space for his family in "habitats" that OmniTech is setting up to help it's most important employees survive the disaster. Vincent tells Simon that he can only offer him one habitat, stocked with enough resources for one person. In an unfortunate twist, this all happens right around the time Lillith discovers she's pregnant.Now we arrive at the point in our story that the writer has been guiding us towards all along: an ultimatum. Early on the film establishes the existence of an over-the-counter abortion pill called "Pandora" (brought to you by OmniTech!). The "Pandora" commercial features a golden-curled young woman dancing in a sea of flowers as a soothing voice-over instructs us that "A pregnancy can sometimes come at the wrong time in your life." When spineless Simon learns of his wife's pregnancy, he takes matters into his own hands and forces his wife to abort by slipping a Pandora tablet into her drink without her knowledge. By the time we arrive at this wildly contrived moment of choice, we have already suspected for some time that this would be a pro-life flick.Or is it? The politics are quite muddled in "Population: 2". Simon takes away Lillith's right of choice by forcing her to abort, and kills himself out of guilt. How would this exchange have played out differently if Lillith were the one who wanted to abort and Simon had tried to stop her? Does the fact that Simon's choice ultimately saved Lillith's life mitigate his crime? And what does all of this have to do with the environment, corporations and the threat of destructive technology? And why the recurring religious themes? Where is "God" in this movie?Technically, "Population: 2" is one of the more impressive local features I've seen. The photography is solid, capturing some surprisingly haunting images of loss and destruction. The editing is a little uneven, and like many independent films relies too heavily on digital filters and color-correction. Overall the special effects were serviceable and managed to breath some authenticity into the filmmaker's vision of post-apocalyptic Portland. I think the strongest scenes in "Population: 2" are when Lillith is alone in the ruins of Portland. Tufan's nuanced performance is really what makes this film work, and other actors and dialogue and preachy political ideologies seem to only get in the way.