The future is, by all accounts told on the silver screen, a horrible place to live. There are no jobs, poverty is often rampant, and the idea of society as we know it today has long vanished. For whatever reason, people always believe those who exist in the future are doomed to explore vast wastelands that once supported thriving cities. I’m not against this approach by any means, but it’s certainly not the most original take on what is to come.

Young Ones, the second feature from Jake Paltrow, offers yet another take on a potential dystopian future. Water is more scarce than ever before, and the people left on Earth spend their days in search of the resources needed for life to survive. This leads to wars, high crime, and all sorts of nastiness that average people – like the family at the center of the film – must fight against if they hope to survive. We’ll talk about this idea more in a moment, but let’s take a moment and enjoy the film’s latest trailer:

The official synopsis for Young Ones reads:

YOUNG ONES is set in a near future when water has become the most precious and dwindling resource on the planet, one that dictates everything from the macro of political policy to the detailed micro of interpersonal family and romantic relationships. The land has withered into something wretched. The dust has settled on a lonely, barren planet. The hardened survivors of the loss of Earth’s precious resources scrape and struggle. Ernest Holm (Michael Shannon) lives on this harsh frontier with his children, Jerome (Kodi Smit McPhee)and Mary (Elle Fanning). He defends his farm from bandits, works the supply routes, and hopes to rejuvenate the soil. But Mary’s boyfriend, Flem Lever (Nicholas Hoult), has grander designs. He wants Ernest’s land for himself, and will go to any length to get it. From writer/director Jake Paltrow comes a futuristic western, told in three chapters, which inventively layers Greek tragedy over an ethereal narrative that’s steeped deeply in the values of the American West.

I think the trailer makes it a little more than obvious that Michael Shannon probably doesn’t make it to the film’s third act, but other than that I am completely sold on spending money to see Young Ones on the big screen. Paltrow has taken a familiar blueprint and found a way to make it his own, and as long as the execution is as smart as the plot itself I think he could have a modern sci-fi classic on his hands. Comment below and let us know if you agree.

Young Ones opens nationwide October 17.

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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