Nicolas Cage Starred In A Dystopian Sci-Fi Movie Virtually Nobody Saw In Theaters

Nicolas Cage's career is one of triumphs and defeats. At his commercial peak, he led '90s John Woo sci-fi action masterpieces like "Face/Off," which will go down in history as a bona fide classic. However, the lows have been particularly noteworthy, which brings us to 2018's "The Humanity Bureau," an unseen movie that made just $59,000 during its theatrical run and $75,000 on home video. Directed by Rob W. King, "The Humanity Bureau" is a post-apocalyptic dystopian sci-fi story about a government agency that deports undesirables to a so-called paradise known as New Eden. 

Cage plays Noah Kross, one of the agents tasked with giving citizens deemed unfit for purpose their marching orders, but an incident forces Kross to have a change of heart and end up on his employers' bad side. "The Humanity Bureau" is reminiscent of '70s dystopian sci-fi movies like "Logan's Run," which tells the story of an oppressive regime that fools citizens into believing there is a paradise waiting for them when they die. King and Cage's effort didn't exactly enjoy similar levels of acclaim following its release — but just how much did the critics hate it?

Critics and audiences agree that "The Humanity Bureau" should be put on the do-not-watchlist. The film's Rotten Tomatoes scores are 22% on the Tomatometer and 23% for the Popcornmeter, so do not go in expecting one of the best sci-fi films ever made. What's more, the movie doesn't have any of Cage's trademark scenery chewing to make it bad in an entertaining way. "Cage's lack of charisma is a major problem since 'The Humanity Bureau' has virtually nothing else to offer," Simon Abrams wrote in a one-star review for Roger Ebert. 

A similar sentiment was shared by Sean McGeady of Radio Times, who said, "Director Rob W. King makes no effort to swerve the tropes of the post-apocalyptic road movie, instead crashing head-on into cliché at every turn." "The Humanity Bureau" received some positive reviews, but they didn't exactly promote it as a must-see viewing experience. "[It] has enough standard genre elements to satisfy more open-minded sci-fi fans, and its political-allegory angle is ultimately quite potent without becoming too heavy-handed," Variety wrote. Overall, sci-fi fans can probably skip this one and check out better Cage movies like "Mandy" and "Face/Off."