Survivor

A beautiful blonde and scenic Utah locations, but bad writing and contrived dynamics

After crashlanding on a planet, a young woman (Danielle C. Ryan) has to face two forms of humanoid threats to make it to her injured captain (Kevin Sorbo) and possible escape.

"Survivor" (2014) mixes the first act of the original “Planet of the Apes” with The Land of the Lost TV series (the Sleestak and caves), plus maybe a little “The Descent.” The rocky desert locations are outstanding (cited below) and Danielle is stunning with her long mane and fit body, but too much of the runtime focuses on her running around the landscapes while Sorbo’s role is basically limited to lying around with a broken leg.

Worse, there are too many glaringly posed shots and contrived choreographies. Plus, the ‘girl power’ element is laid on too thick, like when the heroine easily beats six athletic male antagonists. Why Sure! On top of all this is lousy writing, such as when the truth about the planet is revealed. I can’t blame the actors for the questionable acting, even the blubbering Weston (Blake Webb); the problem is the bad script.

If you want to see this type of Sci-Fi adventure done right on a TV budget, check out “The Lost Future” from 2010. It’s great; this one’s just eye-rolling.

It runs 1 hour, 33 minutes, and was shot in two areas of Utah. In the southeast: St. George, Sand Hollow Reservoir and Snow Canyon State Park; in the north: Starvation State Park and Provo to the west of there, along with South Fork Park, which is north of Provo.

GRADE: C-/D+