{"id":12154,"date":"2025-06-30T22:49:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T02:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=12154"},"modified":"2025-07-26T13:33:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T17:33:02","slug":"40-acres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/06\/30\/40-acres\/","title":{"rendered":"40 Acres"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"40 Acres<\/strong> (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Magnolia\/Drama-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 108 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong bloody violent content and language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: R.T. Thorne\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: R.T. Thorne and Glenn Taylor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Todor Kobakov\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jeremy Benning\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 2, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Danielle Deadwyler, Kataem O\u2019Connor, Michael Greyeyes, Milcania Diaz-Rojas, Leenah Robinson, Jaeda LeBlanc, Haile Amare, Elizabeth Saunders, Tyrone Benskin, Patrick Garrow.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0The director of the post-apocalyptic drama-thriller 40 Acres <\/strong>is R.T. Thorne. It\u2019s his first feature film. The Canadian filmmaker previously did music videos, short films and episodes of TV shows like Find Me in Paris, Utopia Falls and Degrassi: The Next Generation. I can\u2019t speak to any of his other work, but he does a pretty good job with his debut film. It\u2019s a flawed piece to be sure, but it\u2019s a good start.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I cringe whenever I hear the term \u201cpost-apocalyptic\u201d. My mind goes right to The Road (2009), a super-depressing drama I still can\u2019t get out of my head after more than 15 years. Prior to The Road, I typically associated the term with the Mad Max movies. I wish I could reset my mind back to pre-2009. In any event, I wasn\u2019t exactly psyched to see 40 Acres<\/strong>. It\u2019s set in a decimated future where food is extremely scarce. Famine is everywhere. All the animals are dead and gone, killed by a plague. A second Civil War made things worse. The sole source of food is farms. The land is still arable so some people can grow their own food. This, of course, makes them targets.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Freemans, headed by matriarch Hailey (Deadwyler, Till), have a farm in rural Canada. The former soldier\u2019s ancestors settled there a few years after slavery was abolished. It\u2019s been in the family all these years and Hailey refuses to give it up no matter who comes calling. She proves this in the opening sequence when she and the rest of her family- husband Galen (Greyeyes, Smoke Signals), eldest child Manny (O\u2019Connor, Murdoch Mysteries), daughters Raine (Robinson, 1923), Danis (LeBlanc, Big Top Academy) and Cookie (Amare)- wipe out a horde of invaders. Man, this family can shoot!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Hailey and 18YO Manny have a rocky relationship. She\u2019s a tough love mama which makes sense given their circumstances. He wants to be more independent, make his own decisions. Hailey doesn\u2019t allow outsiders on her property. She\u2019s a shoot first, skip the questions kind of lady. He hesitates which could end up being fatal in this version of the world.<\/p>\n

\u00a0One day while out on an errand, Manny goes for a swim in a river. That\u2019s where he spots Dawn (Rojas, Homekilling Queen), a girl from a nearby commune run by fellow ex-soldier Augusta (Saunders, From). Being an 18YO virgin, he\u2019s interested. His mom, of course, would never approve. Then one night, she shows up at the farm seeking help. I don\u2019t want to give away too much, but I will say that the Freemans end up in a bloody fight with a band of cannibals.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What\u2019s most interesting to me about 40 Acres<\/strong> is how Thorne builds a believable dystopian world, one that\u2019s not inhabited by teens hunting each other or taking part in some big competition or whatever YA scenario is popular with teens these days. What\u2019s depicted is very plausible. The end of the world could go down this way. It\u2019s a frightening thought indeed, but 40 Acres<\/strong> doesn\u2019t wallow in misery and despair like The Road. There is a small glimmer of hope in how Hailey\u2019s family sticks together and fights for survival in a world where humanity is all but lost.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For the most part, 40 Acres<\/strong> is realistic, but not overly so. Thorne throws in a couple of decent action sequences and while they\u2019re sufficiently exciting, it\u2019s clear that he\u2019s just using them to add more appeal for mainstream audiences looking for more action. I will admit the film has pacing issues, especially in the middle section, but it\u2019s never actually boring. I found it all rather interesting, the family dynamics and their day-to-day life in a world at its end. I don\u2019t think others will share my opinion.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Deadwyler delivers a tremendous performance as Hailey, a mom who rules with an iron fist because she loves her children. She\u2019s teaching them to survive in a cruel, merciless world. In one memorable scene, she completely redefines a mother meeting her son\u2019s girlfriend for the first time. Greyeyes is also quite good as the husband obsessed with collecting spices. He\u2019s as handy with a knife in the kitchen as he is on the battlefield. O\u2019Connor is quietly powerful as the son entering adulthood in a time when there\u2019s no room to make mistakes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I saw 40 Acres<\/strong> at an AMC Screen Unseen event. A lot of us were hoping for 28 Years Later, but we knew it would likely be a film we knew nothing about. I only heard of it in passing a few days before the screening. The audience seemed to like it okay. I didn\u2019t hear too many complaints. I think it\u2019s a good movie, but I don\u2019t see it doing big business at the box office. It\u2019s not the typical summer movie. Me, I say it\u2019s worth a look. It might not have superheroes or dinosaurs, but it\u2019s interesting nonetheless.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

40 Acres (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Magnolia\/Drama-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 108 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong bloody violent content and language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: R.T. Thorne\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: R.T. Thorne and Glenn Taylor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Todor Kobakov\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jeremy Benning\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 2, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Danielle Deadwyler, Kataem O\u2019Connor, Michael Greyeyes, Milcania Diaz-Rojas, Leenah Robinson, Jaeda LeBlanc, Haile Amare, Elizabeth Saunders, Tyrone Benskin, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-suspense-thrillers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/40-Acres-POSTER.jpg?fit=620%2C918&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12154"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12346,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12154\/revisions\/12346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}