Slowly dying and fighting for the last few breaths of oxygen, society crumbles as mankind braces for extinction. No, that’s not today’s news headline, but rather the opening premise of the new sci-fi movie 2067, which opens in theaters and VOD today. I know what you’re thinking: “I’ve seen this movie before!” but that’s not the case. Bottom line: this is one good time travel movie!

You know the drill: a dystopian future, dwindling resources, a monopolistic corporation with a stranglehold on society, time travel. Many of the elements of the 2067 are not new to the genre, but director Seth Larney (with a script by Michael Hauge, Christopher Vogler, Sheila Hanahan Taylor, and Joan Saurs) is able to blend familiar devices into a compelling and thought-provoking flick.

I get pitched a lot of movies to review, especially low-budget or under-the-radar releases. Most of them are not worth my or your time. So when I viewed the trailer from the fine folks at RLJE, not only was I immediately shocked at the production value, I was instantly taken in by a message from the future: “Send Ethan Whyte.”

Whyte, played by Kodi Smit-McGhee (Nightcrawler in X-men: Apocalypse) is a worker in the grimy underbelly of an oxygen-deprived cityscape. An orphan after his mother is murdered and his physicist father disappeared when he was a child, he toils nearly all his time working to keep the nuclear reactor powering the city—and Chronicorp—running. With climate change advancing so far as to kill all living plant life and reducing oxygen-levels so much that even fires can’t burn, ChronoCorp seems to be the only like left to sustainability by offering synthetic O2.

It’s in this depressing situation, and further debilitated by the fact that synthetic O2 causes deathly illness from which his girlfriend now suffers, that Ethan Whyte is brought to Chronicorp’s headquarters to learn that he has been name-requested by someone or something in the future. Unsure of his abilities as humanity’s savior, Ethan enters the Stargate-esque time travel device to visit the distant future, discover the source of the message, and possibly save humanity.

You gotta admit, that’s one great set-up. What’s even better though is the follow-through.

I can’t give too many details, but once he’s thrust into an unknown future, a grisly discovery leads Ethan to question everything he’s ever known. Sci-Fi spectacle, time travel triumph, and a masterful mystery, 2067 is the perfect break from reality we all need right now.

Highlights in 2067 include top-notch special effects, fantastic performances from Smit-McGhee and Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse in True Blood), who plays Ethan’s friend and protector Jude Mathers, along with the not-too-heavy-handed preachiness of environmentalism and anti-consumerism. In PR materials, Director Seth Larney gives this quote about injecting personal responsibility as a theme:

How much control do we have over our lives and our futures? In the face of the environmental and political change that is being portrayed in the media, people can feel powerless. Do we accept what we hear in the news and or do we fight to restore our belief in the life we’ve built on Earth and our ability to have a positive impact on the world around us?

This movie simultaneously allows you to check out of reality for a couple hours, but makes you think long and hard about your future path when the credits roll. While it may be difficult to look around at our world today and think we have any sort of control, 2067 is a nice reminder that we’re not doomed to sit idly by and let predetermined events befall us. We’re writing the future as we go.

Is the movie 2067 in your future? I hope so. Check out 2067 in theaters, On Demand, and digitally October 2, 2020 wherever great movies are found!