With: Danielle Deadwyler, Kataem O'Connor, Michael Greyeyes, Milcania Diaz-Rojas, Leenah Robinson, Jaeda LeBlanc, Haile Amare, Elizabeth Saunders, Tyrone Benskin
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Written by: R.T. Thorne, Glenn Taylor, based on a story by R.T. Thorne, Lora Campbell
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Directed by: R.T. Thorne
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MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody violent content and language
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Running Time: 113
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Date: 07/02/2025
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Farm Guard
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
R.T. Thorne's dystopian thriller 40 Acres may feel a little too familiar in the plotting department, but it's skillfully made and nicely diverse, and with a historical context that makes it very much worth a watch.
It's the future, and a fungal pandemic has wiped out most of Earth's animals, bringing on a massive famine. Many humans have even resorted to cannibalism. But the Freeman family, led by the fierce military veteran Hailey (Danielle Deadwyler), survive with a fruitful farm, keeping to themselves and treating outsiders with suspicion and extreme prejudice.
Hailey's husband Galen (Michael Greyeyes), Galen's daughter Raine (Leenah Robinson), and Hailey's own children Cookie (Haile Amare), Danis (Jaeda LeBlanc), and the eldest, Manny (Kataem O'Connor), operate together like a well-oiled machine.
But Manny is getting older and starting to become interested in finding his own way. He likes to sneak out of the compound to go swimming, but trouble rears its head one day when he spies Dawn (Milcania Diaz-Rojas) and becomes helplessly smitten.
A feature directing debut by Thorne — a veteran of music videos and TV — 40 Acres has an effectively moody visual scheme. Somehow the images of farmland and crops, ordinarily peaceful and promising, here carry a sinister edge. Things open with a bang as the Freeman family quickly and effortlessly dispatches a band of intruders; Thorne chooses not to show the defenders' attacks, only their aftermath, as if the violence were committed by expert ghosts.
Some of the story's turns are a bit overused, and it can be frustrating to watch characters to tread tired territory and fall for old tricks, but these moments aren't too numerous and are easily forgiven. Where the movie gets most of its strength, like Ryan Coogler's Sinners, is in its sense of history and community. 40 Acres is layered in racism and slavery, civil war and migrant farming, pride and pain.
The casting of Black and Indigenous actors makes for a fascinating dynamic, as two marginalized cultures butt heads and work together to survive attacks by mostly white invaders. That the movie winds up as a somewhat typical action-thriller never dampens its overall power.
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