Nerdly » ’40 Acres’ Review

28th Jul2025

’40 Acres’ Review

by Matthew Turner

Stars: Danielle Deadwyler, Kataem O’Connor, Michael Greyeyes, Milcania Diaz-Rojas, Leenah Robinson, Jaeda LeBlanc, Haile Amare, Elizabeth Saunders, Tyrone Benskin | Written by R.T. Thorne, Glenn Taylor | Directed by R.T. Thorne

Danielle Deadwyler (Till) stars in post-apocalyptic survival thriller 40 Acres, the debut feature from director R.T. Thorne, who also co-wrote the script. As such, the film delivers in terms of gore-infused action, but the story could do with being a little less muddy.

Opening captions quickly bring us up to speed on the current state of the world – fifteen years ago, a fungal pandemic killed 90% of the world’s animal biosphere, which led to the collapse of the global food chain, which in turn leads to both widespread famine and civil war. As a result, farming families and communities are highly sought after, but they constantly find themselves under threat from marauding outsiders.

One such farming family are the Freemans, led by no-nonsense matriarch Hailey (Deadwyler), who prefers to shoot first and ask questions later when strangers appear. Consequently, tensions arise within the Freemans when her teenage son Emmanuel (Kataem O’Connor) takes in a wounded young woman named Dawn (Milcania Diaz-Rojas) and attempts to hide her from his mother while he nurses her back to health. All of which wouldn’t be so bad, except the farm quickly falls under attack from both civil war soldiers and hungry thugs who have developed a taste for human flesh.

Deadwyler is terrific in the lead role, projecting fierce determination, driven by a powerful protective instinct that’s effectively turned her into a ruthless killing machine – her introduction sequence is an early stand-out in that regard. Similarly, O’Connor makes a strong opposing force as her son, who understands the necessity of his mother’s actions, but also has more hope for the future, hence his willingness to trust that Dawn is a good person and isn’t out to eat or betray them.

There are also strong turns from the rest of the supporting cast, as the other Freemans, all of whom create economically written, colourful characters that you quickly come to care about. Leenah Robinson is especially good as Raine, Hailey’s kick-ass daughter, who keeps getting told off for swearing, in a welcome running joke that’s more or less the film’s only note of humour.

Thorne handles the action well – the attack sequences are suitably nasty, and there’s enough blood and viscera to keep gore-hounds happy, especially when the cannibals show up. Similarly, there’s a degree of inventiveness in the fight scenes that feels refreshing, whether it’s various household objects getting used as weapons or a stand-out sequence that’s lit only by gunfire.

However, though 40 Acres scores highly on the emotional family drama side of things, it’s less successful when it comes to its sci-fi elements, and whatever political point it was trying to make has been somewhat lost in translation. For example, much is made of the fact that Hailey’s descendants settled in Canada in 1875 after the first Civil War, but that has little or no bearing on the plot.

Similarly, we’re told another Civil War is ongoing and we see the attacking soldiers, but there’s no sense of the wider political situation in the outside world, or even who or what the two opposing sides in the Civil War are meant to represent. Consequently, it feels like the film is a little too busy for its own good – it feels like the filmmakers couldn’t choose between two separate attacking forces for their antagonists, so they went with both choices.

In short, 40 Acres is an engaging, well-acted survival thriller with visceral action sequences and a suitably grisly amount of gore, but it would have benefited from a meatier script in terms of world-building. Worth seeing though, and Deadwyler continues to be a force to be reckoned with.