Captive State

A DIFFERENT AND SERIOUS TAKE ON ALIEN INVASION - 7/10

by Mohamad Khatib

   Not your usual aliens vs. humans movie. No epic battles convoluted with weapons and explosions, this is a serious alien thriller. By serious I mean this is a strongly-written script dealing mainly with alien human control and submission issues between citizens and the government. This movie projects vibes of the chaos of Spielberg’s War of the Worlds and Invasion of the Body Snatchers with its conspiratorial and urgent suspenseful mood. In 1 hour and 49 minutes we see the aliens only about four times and this further separates it from other alien films and adding dramatic weight and credibility to the grave tone of the plot are the performances of the strong cast the likes of John Goodman, Alan Ruck, Kevin Dunn, and Vera Farmiga infused with the talented blood of Ashton Sanders.

 

   Naturally in instances of an alien invasion and domination, you would expect a resistance, but in this case yet again it is not a militarized team with the mindset of destroying the enemy in combat, this team plans and executes missions by careful manipulation and coordination, orchestrating their attacks in a indirect and nonconfrontational matter. The film moves along at an urgent pace which I liked very much and I could even go far as to safely categorize this as a dramatic disaster movie with a finale twist that, not often, arrives right after the climax as opposed to before it or with it.

Connect with Mohamad Khatib

Facebook
View other reviews by Mohamad Khatib