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Jun 02, 2016 By Stephen Mayne Web Exclusive

Just minutes into Andron and the feeling of déjà vu has taken over. Stealing left, right, and centre, this poor attempt to ride the dystopian future bandwagon is an amalgamation of everything from The Running Man to The Hunger Games, The Truman Show and Cube with only a fraction of the quality of any of them.

The set-up finds a bunch of amnesiac strangers waking in an abandoned warehouse complex. They’re unwitting stars in a reality show beamed to the unhappy masses in a devastated world ruled by nine corporations. With memories blocked, they band together, attempting to stay alive long enough to work out who, and what they are, and if there’s any chance of escape.

Permanently underlit and shot on a camera that can never quite manage to stay still, it would be a chore to watch the action unfold even without exaggerated sound effects, barely passable CGI and dialogue so robotic it makes even the most ludicrous revelations sound mundane. These revelations, drip fed throughout, are supposed to ignite some interest. Because this is world-building at its flimsiest, it fails almost completely.

There’s mild entertainment watching a young cast of not-yet-beens and never-quite-made-its scrambling around in the dark, and even a couple of well-executed fight scenes to briefly pique interest. Away from the abandoned industrial location that makes up most of the set, old hands Alec Baldwin and Danny Glover pop up as the sinister overlords of future earth. Perhaps there could have been some fun if they’d have been allowed to let loose, but Baldwin is reduced to the occasional smug aside and Glover mostly looks tired.

Everyone else shifts gradually from confusion to weariness which comes as no surprise. By the time Andron limps to an insipid finale of murderous double-crossing it’s hard to care who’s doing what to whom. This is science fiction of the blandest variety.

Author rating: 2.5/10