Movie review: Eden

A soccer team on their way home is stranded on a deserted island when their plane crashes. In no time the surviving members begin battling for dominance as their social structure breaks down and the struggle for survival at any cost becomes reality.

Nate Parker (Slim), James Remar (Coach), Jessica Lowndes (Elena), Eugene Simon (Kennefick), Sung Kang (Connie), Ethan Peck (Andreas), Diego Boneta (Arnie), Joey Pollari (Georgi), Nicole Pedra (Eva).

Eden begins with plenty of plot setup, character introductions and development, and lack of energy. About 9 minutes in when their plane crashes, things start to get a lot more interesting. The rest of the film moves along pretty well with several twists and plenty of drama. Stranded on an island, surviving the plane crash was just the beginning. Now they battle not only the elements for survival, but each other as well as the worst of humanity is revealed.

Acting was actually pretty good in Eden. Parker was solid for the most part, as was Kang, Boneta, Pedra and others. Lowndes was enjoyable, despite her character feeling inconsistent. Peck was enjoyable with good delivery and emotion.

Camera work, sets, and backgrounds were lovely. Natural scenery was beautiful and enjoyable. Action scenes were good with nice detail and a realistic feel. Dialogue had nice depth, variety, and kept things moving despite some poorly explained events. Sound and soundtrack were good.

Eden was okay but seemed to rely a lot on simply stranding people on an island. Some of the personality issues that appeared are what kept things interesting but they weren't explained or explored well at all. Drama fans should enjoy this one.

With disturbing images, violence, foul language, mild nudity and sexuality, older teens and above should be fine with this one.

Released: 2014
Reviewed: 4.27.16
Star rating: 3 out of 5
Genre: Drama, Thriller

copyright ©2016 Dave Riedel