It’s not often that a feature film ends with a teaser for a series that is already available to stream, but “Homestead,” released by Angel Studios, the distributor of “Sound of Freedom” and various Christian-themed projects, is less a self-contained movie than a pilot for a show that already exists. The quality of the acting can only improve.
Not counting a cryptic opening aboard a “Waterworld”-like ship — these seafaring characters will presumably resurface in an episode — “Homestead” begins with a nuclear attack off Southern California. The East Coast is in chaos, too: We’ll later learn that the power grid is down, probably because of a cyberattack.
But the principals have been preparing for an apocalypse. Jeff Eriksson (Bailey Chase), with a military background, has arranged to run security for a tycoon named Ian Ross (Neal McDonough), who built Homestead, a largely self-sufficient compound in the Rocky Mountains intended for just this eventuality.
Ian and Jeff’s family members trickle into the compound, designed to hold dozens. (The timeline is murky, but “Homestead” spans about a month.) They will survive as long as they can continue growing sufficient food.
But starving refugees are at the gate, and they may die trying to get in. “You’d better square yourself with that reality,” Jeff, who prefers to err on the side of lethal force, warns Ian, who holds what is portrayed as a misplaced belief that the Federal Emergency Management Agency may still bail everyone out.
Ian bristles, though, when a bureaucrat wants to inventory Homestead. (“You can play survivalist camp-out all you like, Mr. Ross,” the man says, “but there are still taxes to be paid.”)
Ian’s wife, Jenna (Dawn Olivieri), suggests that prayer is the answer to scarcity. “Lucky for us, my God is bigger than the math,” she says, although her solution addresses the math rather elegantly — at least for those fortunate enough to be at Homestead, a luxury that viewers are meant to assume they would share.
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