The film doesn’t say that man can live by carbohydrate alone but comes close to saying it.

It fails to acknowledge that plants simply cannot match the nutrient density of animals foods. It also does not acknowledge the vast body of evidence showing that a vegan diet is an unhealthy diet because it is nutritionally deficient — and not just in vitamin B12 and iron.

There are other extraordinary claims: that the meat, dairy and egg industries are as bad as the tobacco industry; that they are involved in a sinister, “covert response” to fund studies that deny the evidence of the supremacy of plant-based diets; and these industries “bury their involvement in the fine print”.

There’s also a cast of characters that is more bizarre than extraordinary.

The “star” of this movie is special-ops veteran, British-born, US MMA (mixed martial arts) champion James Wilks. The film documents his journey across the globe to find the “real truth” about meat.

His guides include medical doctors and academics, all plant-biased, of course. They are mixed up with a long list of athletes, who include pro cyclists, endurance runners, weightlifters, bodybuilders, bloodied boxers — and another former special-ops veteran, Damien Mander, a sniper who did duty in Iraq.

The images and visual presentation of this movie purportedly about plant power help to make it discordant with its core content. There’s more meaty muscle, beef and raw brawn in this film than a team of Springbok rugby players salivating over a celebratory braai of rib-eye steak.

Allied to that is a strange detour into what it means to be man. The contribution of US urologist Aaron Spitz refers.

The film introduces Spitz as the “lead delegate for urology of the American Medical Association”. His pearl of philosophical medical wisdom: “When I think of a man, I think of someone who has strength, endurance, sexual prowess and fertility”.

Spitz should have stopped right there. Instead, he quaintly claims that “the more meat men eat, the more they quickly lose their sexual prowess, fertility and manly manhood”.

He sensibly doesn’t try to back that up with any science, just with a smile. I could only interpret it as a ham-handed (no pun intended) attempt to bolster Schwarzenegger’s argument about real men not eating meat.

The makers of this movie have lost the plot from original concept to final cut.

Given that, I’ve peered into my crystal ball and predict that this film won’t make the big bucks Titanic made for Cameron in 1997.

I see it sinking on the iceberg of solid science as quickly as the Titanic sank after striking a real iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City in 1912.