"Influences from "2001" through "En attendant Godot" to "DAS BOOT" and the "Odyssey" (including the sirens) add up to an original story with an existential touch, in which everything fits: a manifesto of cinematic creativity, powerful and thrilling."
- Indiekino.de, 10/2020 (full review)
"Celebrated at several festivals, this science fiction film is a chamber play that is carried by its claustrophobic mood, its intensity, its dense field of tension on melancholy and manic obsession. An impressive film that shows that science fiction with little possibilities but great vision is also possible in Germany."
- Programmkino.de, 10/2020 (full review)
"The Final Land is a gritty, energized sci-fi mystery, piercing with intrigue and claustrophobic atmosphere. It’s a film that rewards paying attention, as the more you look, the more you find. The film’s immersive atmosphere sucks you into the ship’s story. I’ll certainly be rewatching this film to see what more I can find."
- TheKnockturnal, 03/2020 (full review)
"The German film The Final Land stands as one of the best of the festival’s six-year run thus far. [...] It stayed with me for days afterward, charting our collective dreams to the stars…and for Other Worlds Austin, a capstone for its sixth year. "
- Medium, 12/2019 (full article)
"The German filmmaker Marcel Barion, in his first film, crafts an outstanding story, full of wonder and paranoia. Taking place primarily within the confines of a tiny old spaceship, conflicts erupt as two disparate men struggle to find a new home. The Final Land is a brilliant atmospheric film that incorporates the best of elements of science fiction, both hard and soft. Barion achieves magnificent, mindblowing vistas from outside the ship using only traditional effects. With nary a dull moment and an ideal science fiction ending, The Final Land comes highly recommended!"
- The Geek Curmudgeon, 12/2019 (full article)
"Föllmer and Pesl are both superb in this two-hander, which naturally relies heavily on the actors to carry the weight of the film. Föllmer portrays Adem with a sort of reserved, optimistic melancholy, while Pesl invests his brusque alpha male with a manic obsessiveness.
Writer/director/cinematographer/editor Marcel Barion — who also did the breathtaking visual effects, which include gorgeous shots of outer space — creates a tense, claustrophobic setting within the spaceship, aided greatly by Massimo Muller’s masterful set design. [...] Barion and Oliver Kranz’s sound design is superlative, with each swipe of something dusty or dingy giving off sounds that practically make you feel the decay and squalor. The Final Land, a bold feast for the senses, is a mesmerizing journey that pits the wills and minds of two men against each other, themselves, and enigmatic outside forces."
- Diabolique Magazine, 10/2019 (full review)
"The Final Land would deserve plaudits for its design and cinematography alone. Channelling the sensibilities of films as diverse as Dark Star, Alien and Delicatessen, this imaginative piece of low-budget European cinema makes great play of a ship that’s almost entirely built of vents, ducts, pipes, shafts, dimly-lit display panels, grimy keypads and failing tech. Beautifully lit and shot, the intensity of these strangers’ shared predicament feels up close and palpable."
- Starburst Magazine, 5/2019 (full review)
"If you get the chance, you have to see this film. It is a dark, subtle and remarkably well made deep space film, something that is far too rare these days."
- Mark Cole, Rivets on the Poster, 5/2019 (full review)
"Both Pesl and Follmer perform the roles admirably. Pesl shines when he’s going off the rails, whilst Follmer is the frustrated escapee, struggling to bring Pesl around to the reality. [...] A brilliant debut, a visual feast for the eye and a head-scratching sci-fi which, at times, is just what you want."
- OC Movies, 5/2019 (full review)
"Suggesting that Barion could go anywhere next."
- Sight & Sound (BFI), 5/2019 (full review)
"An Odysseus style pull to its conclusion and a desire to look closer at our protagonists, their experiences and motivations and while that doesn't sound like a thrilling adventure it is a brilliantly scripted, excellently performed and stunningly filmed one."
- Horror DNA, 5/2019 (full review)
"Eine spannungsreiche, transzendental aufgeladene Film-Melange, die den Beweis antritt, dass man für clevere Sci-Fi-Geschichten keineswegs nach Hollywood schielen muss."
(An exciting, transscendentally charged film melange that proves that you don't have to look to Hollywood for clever sci-fi stories.)
- Kino-Zeit.de, 1/2019 (full review)
"Atmosphärisch dicht, eine Art „Das Boot“ im Weltall."
(Atmospherically dense, a kind of "Das Boot" in space.)
- Der Tagesspiegel, 1/2019 (full article)