Cargo (2009)

We have here a rather interesting sci-fi film in the vein of Sunshine, Moon or Solaris, where most of the action takes place in an isolated, enclosed artificial environment. It's in the future, Earth has been rendered uninhabitable for some undisclosed reason, and people live in squalid conditions on space stations in orbit. There's a new heavenly planet, Rhea, where people can emigrate to if they can afford it. Our main character, a doctor, gets hired for a very long (8 years) shuttle cargo round trip to resupply a remote space station. With her salary, she should be able to rejoin her sister already on Rhea. She, like the other crew members, is in cryogenic sleep most of the time except for 8-month awake shifts. As one can suspect, she starts hearing strange noises, senses some kind of presence in what should be a deserted ship. She wakes up a few people, and then things get worse when somebody gets killed.

One would think that this would be a premise for some kind of thriller involving a nasty alien creature. Cargo is not really that. Sure, it has good suspenseful moments, but it's the kind of slow-paced atmospheric pensive movie where you're more likely to be interested in the unfolding secondary mysteries than on discovering who the killer is, or who might be struck next. At least that was the case for me. My mind was going in overdrive trying to figure things out, inventing hypotheses, and I like that. Unfortunately, and I don't know if it's a translation issue from the original German (although it's a Swiss film), certain important plot elements were not made clear when they should have been. I had to check the Internet afterwards to properly understand a few things. Don't worry, we're not talking 2001 metaphysics here, far from it. :)

The characters were rather stoic most of the time, but at least they were ambiguous and not easily predictable. A particular blossoming romance didn't feel quite right, especially how it started. It somewhat hurt the emotional involvement later on, although you can see the director really tried for a good pay-off. I thought the main actress lacked a certain something, but she became more convincing as the film progressed, especially in one of her final scenes involving greenery. The special effects were of tremendous quality especially for a non-American film. Every space structure from the outside looked amazing. On the inside, it was appropriately dismal, sinister and even grandiose sometimes. I think Cargo might disappoint if you're expecting something more action-oriented. I personally enjoyed the story despite certain badly explained plot elements. I also liked it more from an intellectual perspective than from an emotional perspective.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10 (Good)

Fmovies: Without spoiling anything, I want to recommend this movie as a real thriller where nothing is as it seems, but everything makes sense in the end. And it is a fresh look on a VERY IMPORTANT issue, giving a wonderful but sad perspective on it.

If you like "big thinking" in SciFi, this movie will give you the visuals on how huge things can get in zero gravity, with a beautiful space city in the beginning and a cargo ship the size of the empire state building.

While it is a little bit lengthy, I think this is a necessary part to truly give you the cold and lonely feeling of space, and so to make you appreciate the ending and conclusion.

Just keep sitting, and you will understand ...

Laszlo

I've watched this in the English dubbed version. It was horrible. The voice actors had no emotion in their voice which made the movie very dull and drawn out. In the English version, the character development was zilch. Be ware of the captioning as well - things like "enjoyable" in the audio become "unpleasant" (so the complete opposite of what the character is saying) in the captioning. You aren't drawn to the characters so you don't really care what happens to them.

The plot was okay but in no means fantastic. If you enjoyed movies like The Matrix and Sunshine (though without the science background in Sunshine) you might enjoy Cargo. Just make sure you watch it in the original German!

Cargo fmovies. When I watched the science fiction movie „CARGO" I was astonished. Cargo is a low budget movie with a superb look and an amazing story. The film was entirely shot in Switzerland - a country not at all known for producing science fiction movies.

The story is solid and involving. It develops steadily, gets more and more momentum and works its way to a climax with some very nice twists and breathtaking space scenes.

I was fascinated during the entire movie how these guys were able to produce such a good looking film with so many special effects for such a small budget. The sounddesign as well is an outstanding piece of art. I recommend to watch "CARGO" in a theatre equipped with a very good sound system.

"CARGO" is a must-see, it guarantees a lot of excitement.

Switzerland's first attempt at sci-fi, and Ivan Engler's first feature film, Cargo harks back to numerous icons of science fiction cinema – everything from The Thing to The Matrix, and, most notably, Ridley Scott's Alien. It belongs to that particular breed of dystopian science fiction – where the world is ruined and the human race is living on borrowed time.

Cargo is a competent sci-fi, but it's nothing special. The first half is effectively tense and engaging, but it loses its way towards the end. Visually stunning considering the budget, but unfortunately, it's nowhere near original or creative enough to be considered a particularly revolutionary sci-fi film. SSP

Take one part Matrix, one part Event Horizon, add half a measure of Alien, a dash of Solaris and gently stir. Cargo delivers what many sci-fi films fail to deliver these days, and that is real style as well as substance. It's easy to set a 'shoot-em-up' in space or a detective story, but Cargo has so much more. It's moody without being cloying, it's scary without cheap horror tactics, it's thought provoking, it delivers twists and turns, and it is not predictable. It is hard to classify Cargo as it has many elements, and this is what makes it so engrossing. The acting is believable i.e. being in space for a long time leads to quirky behaviour, people will do anything for a better life, and who can you trust? This is absolutely not a Hollyvoid film with predictable characters and lame values. Instead, Cargo delivers a thoughtful and absorbing film that ranks alongside classics such as Solaris (not the Clooney version).