Science fiction presents a reality where anything with even the slightest chance of happening can thrive. Perhaps that’s why it’s also the most ripped-off genre in cinematic history: when auteurs like Asimov, Clarke, Le Guin (rest in peace ma’am), and Spielberg have explored the most popular avenues, why bother straining yourself trying to do something original when you can just combine past works and Frankenstein something decent? To quote Roger Ebert’s review of Predator “in today’s Hollywood, that’s creativity. Most movies are inspired by only one previous blockbuster.” As I watched Reese Eveneshen’s Defective, I couldn’t help but spend the duration of the film trying to guess which prior works it was incorporating into its narrative, which doesn’t bode well for any filmmaker trying to create an immersive experience. In Eveneshen’s case, that experience is living in a future dystopia where security guards from the State Enforcement Agency (S.E.A.) roam the city’s streets and buildings. These guards, labeled the “Preservers of Peace,” are theoretically meant to do their namesake, and a statistic spouted by the S.E.A. corporation about decreased crime rates seemingly confirms it. But other scenes hint at a radical broken windows policy being initiated behind-the-scenes, one of which sparks the main characters’ journeys.Those characters are brother and sister Rhett and Jean, who find themselves on the run after violating one of the core tenets of the society they live in. Having characters be a part of a prolonged chase is a typical dystopian trope seen in works like Logan’s Run,The Handmaid’s Tale, and the recent Star Wars: The Last Jedi. And it’s something that Eveneshen could have simply left as the basis for his action set pieces. But he makes the decision to expand upon this narrative driver by simultaneously tying it in with the slow revelation of the protagonists’ background.
