First-time feature director Carleton Ranney challenges you to imagine a world in which modern technology failed and ceases to exist. A mysterious event cripples the world’s digital infrastructure, disconnecting everything and rendering all but the most archaic computers useless. The people of City Sector VI are governed by the VOPO Corporation, a Big Brother presence that has returned a sense of stability to the city through the use of old tech. In exchange, the citizens must accept a curfew, total city lockdown and 24 hour surveillance. Jackrabbit tracks two of these inhabitants, Simon (Josh Caras) and Max (Ian Christopher Noel) as they join forces to solve the mystery of their mutual friend’s suicide.

Placing the world during the midst of a technological mulligan allowed Ranney to tell a very futuristic story on an indie budget. The art design is beautifully retro. Box-shaped computer monitors and huge motherboards will resonate with thirty-year-olds as will the Nintendo Entertainment System controller that sits on the dashboard of the van that Max lives in. Max, a talented hacker who rejects VOPO and lives on the outskirts of the city, represents the namesake of the film. A Jackrabbit is a solitary animal and unlike a normal rabbit, is born with its eyes wide open. Unlike the other citizens, Max is not swayed by the forced security of VOPO and believes there is something better beyond the roadblocks of City Sector VI.

The film explores the rationale of the desperate and vulnerable. We are presented with conformists, people who dare to dream of something more and the others like Simon who fall in between. Despite being employed by VOPO, he is still willing to go against them in search of the truth. The acting is solid yet the dialogue is kept to a minimum, leaving the viewer with just enough crumbs to find their way through the intricate plot. Instead, the film relies on Will Berman’s relentlessly pulsating electronic score to set the tone. The look of the film ranges from futuristic to barren. The security room at VOPO headquarters is a mash-up between the aesthetic of Tron and the vision of Minority Report. There’s a distinct difference between there and the world of City Sector VI. The dusty palette and stark desert landscape give a sense of the dryness and lack of resource on the outside. Inside the homes, the framing is tight and the mise-en-scène cluttered reflecting the grip that VOPO holds on these people. Jackrabbit may not be the flashiest of sci-fi tales but it succeeds in its heady and relevant themes and serves as a cautionary tale for a generation wholly dependent on connectivity.