Cargo (Ivan Engler, 2009)

The motley crew of a grungy cargo ship in 2070, en route to a distant star, gradually discover that the faceless corporation that employs them has other plans for them. Calling the firm Weyland-Yutani would of course be copyright infringement, but the rest is there for the taking.

It may be mean-spirited to pick up Cargo for being so derivative, so many rip-offs down the line from Alien, Dark Star, 2001 et al, but the prospect of a German perspective on the standard future dystopia populated by bleary dreamers and zealous bureaucrats held out some promise: after all, French directors have demonstrated a knack of adding new elements to the brew on numerous occasions over the years.
No such luck: it's woodenly-acted freeze-dried rations from beginning to end and distinguishable from a Hollywood B-film by language only. Late on, having blundered through several glaring plotholes, Engler does hit a single poignant idea, but then has to stub it out at once to end the film post haste.

3/10