Soylent Green

The companion piece to "The Omega Man". Basically we have 1970s Charlton Heston playing the trademarked character of "1970s Charlton Heston with an Automatic Weapon". This time round he's a policeman in a world were the population explosion never ended and people are literally piled up on top of each other. The world is hot and humid (so Charlton gets to take his shirt off once again) and at the brink of famine. The only food available is soy based products including the infamous Soylent Green.

Anyway Charlton is charged with the investigation into the murder of a high-powered executive of the Soylent Corporation. However the further Charlton delves into this mystery the more apparent it is that nobody wants him to succeed.

A great film and the last film to star Edward G Robinson. The scene between him and Charlton eating beef and an apple is incredibly poignant.

Recommendation: Chances are if you enjoy movies like "The Omega Man" and "Logan's Run" then you've probably already got this in your collection. For those who are unfamiliar with 1970s futureshock movies starring Charlton Heston then I would definitely recommend buying this movie. The only sitcking point is Charlton never gets to shoot a machine gun in this film (only a pistol) so if you're looking for proper automatic fire from Charlton I would recommend "The Omega Man" instead.

Soylent Green is a forboding portent of the future that we are creating for ourselves if we continue to pollute and populate unchecked. The author, Harry Harrison, wrote the story to highlight the effects of uncontrolled reproduction, the film ignored this bit and concentrated on the pollution aspect. This makes the film a bit hard to follow as the focus does seem to wander a bit, it is still very relevant however.

There are few special effects in this futuristic film, and none are needed, the story does its job adequately, when we live in dirt and poverty where would the technology come from?

Brilliant acting and a chilling vision of the future make this film worthy of watching.

Classic film, foretelling the future of the planet from over-population. This is more relevant today than even when it was made, more so considering GM foods.