Atomica (2017)
Starring Dominic Monaghan, Sarah Habel, Tom Sizemore
Directed by Dagen Merrill
Sci-fi films are a dicey go in this day and age, and it really takes something overwhelming to blow an audience away, be it in fx or a bombshell plot; and in Dagen Merrill’s latest film, Atomica, there is quite the absence of both. Yet, through one man’s performance, the film manages to keep its tail-end out of the black hole of unfairness.
The setting is off in the not-too-far future, and a nuclear plant disaster has created an opportunity for “creating a new future by cleaning up the past” – the company’s name is Auxilisun, and their stunning (and equally by-the-books) new employee, Abby (Hable), is sent to a distant power plant to correct a problem that should have never arisen. Turns out that this multimillion dollar conglomerate decided to construct engines that would convert all the radioactive waste into clean fuel, and they would be housed at these plants, and with the ever-changing compilation of data and progressive development, these plants would be able to run on skeleton crews and require virtually no maintenance…until… (cue ominous music).
So, we’ve got the attractive young technician, who’s obviously paid uninterrupted attention during her human resources training, heading off to a plant that’s showing signs of mechanical trouble. When she arrives, she’s immediately confronted by a man named Robinson (Monaghan) whose elevator clearly hasn’t reached the top floor in quite some time. He’s scattered, reluctant to offer a myriad of details, and is generally one creepy cat.
He’s also quite unaware of the whereabouts of Dr. Zek (Sizemore), the man in charge of this power station, and for those thinking that something infinitely shady is occurring here, you should go out and play today’s lottery immediately because you’re correct. Both of the gentlemen in question have concerns regarding the other’s intentions, and Robinson is all too willing to dismiss his actions as a type of cabin-fever induced psychosis…yeah, because that sounds completely harmless (just ask Jack Torrance).
It’s now up to Abby to decipher both men’s intentions, in addition to the repair of the plant’s issues – sounds like someone will be putting in for some serious overtime on her timecard. The movie works based on Monaghan’s performance and the overall mood of what’s happening, and while Habel’s portrayal is guidelined, Sizemore’s appears to be a bit more relaxed, and his ability to hold the attention of the audience is still his strong suit.
Overall, Atomica is a fairly well-constructed sci-fi whodunit that will entertain fans of the genre and keep you guessing up until the end credits. Make sure to give this one a watch when it hits the airwaves.
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Film
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