Homestead

A post-apocalyptic morality fable from a faith-based bent, this action/drama poses some prickly questions and then is ham-handed in answering them.

I was intrigued by the premise of “Homestead.” America is attacked by a combination of a nuclear terrorist bomb and Russian operations, resulting in a population of survivors that is fragmented, isolated and afraid. To boot, it’s a faith-based production from Angel Studios, so it’s less focused on machine gun mayhem (though there’s a bit of that) than regular people caught in moral quandaries.

Neal McDonough, who also is credited as a producer, plays the benevolent owner of a large ranch property in the fictional Oakwood community “somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.” He invites family, friends and a contingent of special forces military types to hole up with him for the duration of whatever happens in this apparent apocalypse.

This band of survivors is well stocked with food, weapons and expertise to endure whatever transpires… or so they think. What they didn’t count on was internal strife, mostly over what to do about the increasing brigade of refugees at their front gate demanding entry and assistance.

Ian Ross (McDonough) is a decent guy, a 10-gallon hat type with a square jaw that you don’t have any doubts about who he voted for in the recent election. His wife, Jenna (Dawn Olivieri), is the kind-hearted sort who wants to fling open the doors and let everyone in. Ian is keeping careful count of the wheat and other sundries, fretting if they’ll have enough with the people already inside their fences to make it through till spring when they can replant again.

“Is this an ark or is it a fortress?” Jenna demands.

“It's our home,” Ian intones.

Jeff Eriksson (Bailey Chase) is the leader of the military contingent, who also has brought along his bi-racial family, including wife, Tara (Kearran Giovanni ), 17-year-old callow Abe (Tyler Lofton) and a foster daughter (Grace Powell) who was eerily prescient about the nuclear bomb off the cost of Los Angeles that marked the start of the event.

The film boasts decent production values and a gripping action scene or two. But overall the storytelling is rather ham-handed, failing to figure out which characters are the leads and which are background players. The movie raises intriguing questions but fails to answer them in any kind of satisfying way.

It was directed by Ben Smallbone from a screenplay by Phillip Abraham, Leah Bateman and Jason Ross, based on the book “Black Autumn” by Ross and Jeff Kirkham.

It’s also apparent this movie is seen as the first in a potential film franchise, with glimpses of the next outing during the end credits. Part of me wonders if this material wouldn’t have been better suited as a streaming series.

The best stuff is about the various factions vying for dominance over the settlement, with Jeff having to put off elbow-twisting from his more severe military bros to just take over and turn the thing into a mini-fascist state. Jenna is the love-and-peace faction and Ian ends up trying to forge a middle path between them.

It’s interesting how people become protective when threatened, even against their former neighbors. It becomes a brutal zero-sum game where a person’s potential worth to the group becomes the deciding factor of who is let in or shut out. Ian has a painful confrontation with a friend ensconced at the gate with his family, dismissing him because “you install fireplaces for a living.”

Some external threats appear in the form of hunters/scavengers invading the homestead over the hills, as well as a blustering zoning enforcement bureaucrat from town who keeps nosing into affairs on the Ross place, ostensibly to ensure proper laws are obeyed but we suspect more about getting his paws onto their stockpile of goods.

There’s also a tepid puppy-dog romance between teens Abe and the Ross daughter, Claire (Olivia Sanabia), that honestly just sucks the life out of the movie every minute it goes on.

As faith-based films go, “Homestead” is not terribly overt about proselytizing. It’s clear the Rosses are people of faith, while I’m guessing the Erikssons are not. There aren’t depictions of prayer, but there is talk of miracles and doing the right thing even when it doesn’t seem to be the smart thing. Jenna acts as the itinerant narrator, though it tends to disappear for long stretches.

“Homestead” isn’t terrible, and there’s a bones of a really compelling story underneath the ramshackle narrative.