This pompously prophetic thing of a film hasn’t a brain in its beanbag.

Its greatest attribute is not that it accurately anticipated many things about humanity's future. "Soylent Green" stands the test of time because it does these things while slamming you right where real anxiety festers and brews . . . in your guts.

Soylent Green is Edward G. Robinson's movie. As a man who remembers the wonders of civilization before it died, he is witty, cultivated and endlessly appealing.

In many ways, this is Robinson’s film. A scene in which he eats real food with such relish and then realizes how profoundly sad it is that they’ve come to this state is a study in expertly modulated acting.