And there’s that computer-generated animation style, which looks like original Sims characters—like, ones from 2000, when the Internet still was kind of a dial-up phenomenon—jerkily and choppily brought to life on the big screen. It’s a rudimentary, frustrating visual, and when coupled with the film’s robotic script, it just feels very distant. It’s practically impossible to consider any of this as real life, worthy of your attention or fear or concern.
The year is 2019, only six years from now, and the U.S. is basically in shambles. Debt and fraud and corruption have forced the country into major-inflation and super-gentrification mode, so a beer can cost more than $100 but most people are afraid of voicing any kind of discontent. The biggest problem is with the Federal Reserve, who has grown to essentially control all aspects of government; by consolidating power, the department rules with an iron fist. One of its main initiatives is the Department of Housing Stability, whose employees go out to search and seize homes that must be vacated so the department can say it’s working to “stabilize” real estate prices across Washington, D.C., and the rest of the country.
One of those brainwashed employees (because in “Silver Circle,” no one who works for the government can possibly be a good guy) is Jay Nelson (voiced by De’Lon Grant), whose latest task is figuring out who is setting fire to homes the department needs for that stabilization effort. In trying to find the culprits, Jay meets—and ultimately falls for—Zoe Taylor (voiced by Philana Mia), a young, beautiful, and very angry rebel who doesn’t mind using a gun to get what she thinks she deserves. She has no problem blowing Jay’s mind, telling him all kinds of secrets about the Federal Reserve’s corruption and manipulation of others, but Zoe has one specific target: Reserve Chairman Victor Brandt (voiced by Peter Berkrot). He’s a man in a top position who didn’t hold anything back in his fight to get there, and oh, did you catch that he works for the government? Because he’s evil. Government! Evil! Government!
I’m mocking “Silver Circle” because it invites—begs, practically—for someone to recognize all the inconsistencies and shortcomings of its argument. The film’s title alludes to how Zoe’s rebels are working to spread silver coins as currency as an alternative to the U.S. dollar, undermining the Federal Reserve’s monopoly, but the project of illegal money printing, even when guarded over by spiky-haired punks, feels kind of archaic. And the film is clearly trying to be impactful by setting the narrative in the short-term future, but the idea that in only six years the world could turn upside-down is hysterical and fear-mongering. In that sense the film’s agenda supersedes any kind of logic.
I won’t even address the performances, because there really aren’t any? That’s not meant to be rude to the actors who voice these characters, but to how one-dimensional and expected their arcs are. There’s no dramatic tension to a film that presents one vision of the government and then does everything to keep justifying that vision. Where’s the transformation, the revelation in “Silver Circle”? This is a film about currency, but it ultimately offers very little of value.
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