Division 19 is a 2019 sci-fi thriller about a time where jails have been turned into online portals where the public gets to choose what prisoners eat, wear, watch and who they fight.
Comparisons are bound to be made with Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s 1987 classic movie adaptation of Stephen King‘s The Running Man while getting started with writer and director S.A. Halewood‘s latest feature Division 19 (at one point a main character is called ‘the fighting man’). Both feature a future where the incarcerated are used as sport on nationally-televised shows, though here there’s also a kind of social commentary about it à la The Truman Show. It’s an intriguing theme, especially as predictions made in those older films seem ever more closer to coming true, though the overall impact is somewhat bland as it embraces a more conversational tone then something with more physical momentum.
It’s 2039 and as you can expect, everyday life is even more transparent than it is now, with the country’s correctional facilities becoming the new home for the public’s magnifying glass. Inside are an elaborate system of surveillance cameras that openly broadcast life behind bars, turning them into celebrities where viewers control their fates, from food and clothing to of course, combatants. Controlling all this is Director Neilsen (Alison Doody), in charge of a thing called Paniopticon Organization, whose making legends out of inmates, including Hardin (Jamie Draven), who is a branding juggernaut, his look and habits making her and others a lot money. In steps Hardin’s brother Nash (Will Rothhaar), part of a resistance league called Division 19, who struggle to save him and others like him. Meanwhile, Hardin actually escapes and finds himself in an unfamiliar world.
To be fair, given what Halewood is working with, she manages to build a small but believable little space that feels appropriately sullied and ruined by over consumerism and an oppressive literal eye-in-the-sky government force keeping tabs on every single citizen. While it doesn’t get much of a chance to give greater presence to the people living there, it does at least try to give the bleak cityscape some grit, mixing in a grimy street level dankness with an array of flashy video billboards streaming content and pumping ads like those blimps in Blade Runner. Not surprisingly, we get no sense of what it’s like beyond this singular setting, but such are the limitations of an indie filmmaker.
Either way, the manhunt story is weakened by a lack of inertia as the film relies on expositional dialogue confined by tight spaces where darkly-lit characters talk and talk, often staring at monitors. It leaves the film nearly devoid of action, something the genre and plot feel certainly primed for, the occasional bits of running and punching themselves not given much weight.
There’s nothing wrong with that of course, plenty of good films made so by sharp writing and innovative visuals that spin a story not needing a more pulse-pounding energy. To be sure, Halewood does have some strong moments, getting a lot out lead Draven, who does plenty good with a guy over-drugged and out of sorts, manipulated and dehumanized, trying to reconnect to what he thinks, or at least remembers, as real life.
While there’s a lot on tap for jabs at Big Brother and all that, the takeaway isn’t really all that impactful even as the filmmakers string together some impressive sequences with loads of larger potential. It’s far from a disappointment, in fact looks great and features a slew of strong performances, yet never quite makes the menace all that imposing or the fight to be free of it urgent.