Captive State (2019) Review!!

Synopsis – Set in a Chicago neighborhood nearly a decade after an occupation by an extra-terrestrial force, Captive State explores the lives on both sides of the conflict – the collaborators and dissidents.

My Take – Among the midst of superhero films and anything Star Wars, original science fiction films often end up going unnoticed, unless a prolific filmmaker is attached to it. Also in current Hollywood landscape, any film of the genre that values ideas and thematic exploration over fancy action sequences end up being quickly dismissed by the general audience, which would explain the unceremonious release of this alien invasion film from Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt.

Despite bolstering film’s generic marketing effort pre-release, the obvious authoritarian overtones and eerie realism couched in its premise made sure the audience just didn’t show up, as most importantly, what more is left to explore in the genre that hasn’t been done before?

The idea of alien invasions has been explored in very different ways in film history. Films like Arrival and Annihilation have showed a surreal and cerebral view of what occurs during these invasions, while films like Independence Day and War of the Worlds have shown the destructive intent these alien invaders possess. Somewhere in the middle there are films like Men in Black and Mars Attacks that have poked fun at the genre. But what makes this film quite intriguing is that unlike others, it picks up after an alien invasion.

It’s the story of a world where aliens invaded, humanity lost, and now they are our rulers. Of course, in that scenario, some people would want to rise up and fight the oppressors. But while director Wyatt‘s film sets up a pretty interesting landscape, it takes its sweet time getting to something we saw coming, all the while missing out on an important element required for such kind of a film i.e. a soul.

There is no doubt that the film is conceptually interesting and mostly engaging, but at the end of its 109 minute run time, leaves you feeling underwhelmed by not opting to deliver the thrills it could have and should have made.

Set nearly a decade after the world’s leaders collectively surrendered to an army of technologically superior colonizers from above, the story follows Gabriel (Ashton Sanders), a young man living on the outskirts of the law, who is trying to get by the best he can, while also planning to escape the confines of Chicago with his girlfriend (Madeline Brewer). Following their invasion, the city of Chicago has become a home base for the aliens, who used human labor, to build themselves a special area under a walled-off stretch of downtown real estate to settle down, and have named themselves, The Legislators, who govern the citizens of Earth under a strict thumb imposed by their human collaborates like the police department.

While Gabriel like most citizens feels suffocated by the oppression, mainly as he also happens to be the to be the younger brother of a legendary freedom fighter, Rafe (Jonathan Majors) who was killed the last time humans rose up against the aliens, he does his part to help the surviving resistance called Phoenix, by dealing with secret signals and hidden caches. However, unknown to him, William Mulligan (John Goodman), a Chicago police commander, has been on trial of the group for some time now. Mulligan suspects that some of the group’s members are planning an attack at the government-sponsored rally to “celebrate” the 10-year anniversary of first contact, at which members of the alien Legislature are also scheduled to make a rare appearance, and he is determined to stop them, no matter the cost.

This is not an over-the-top, kick-ass action film. The science fiction elements are handled very realistically with some of the most audacious ideas off-screen, and the aliens, for the most part, pushed to the side. If anything, this film is more like a ‘70s political thriller with sporadic heist elements, showing the intricate steps taken by a small group of strangers to come together and strike a blow against an evil hierarchy. Which, considering today’s political climate, rings a little more than true.

On the other hand, the alien overlords known as the Legislators make for terrific visuals, and they’re wisely deployed only sparingly. Insect like sharp, and spiky, they’re genuinely unsettling to look at, with their protruding spines substituting for expression. Communicating with a language that is nothing more than a disturbing series of clicks and guttural buzzing, and watching humans translate for them during an interrogation scene makes for one of the most effective scenes in the film.

One can admire, perversely or otherwise, how utterly straight the film plays that scenario, and perhaps appreciate how it resists devolving into an Independence Day-style fire- or dogfight, regardless if the lack of spectacle is more of a cost-saving measure than anything else.

But it’s not unreasonable to expect something like excitement out of a story about freedom fighters plotting to take back the planet. In principle, this is the kind of sci-fi film you’re supposed to root for. It’s relatively short and quiet, not overblown and noisy.

It tells an original story, instead of adapting some piece of highly coveted IP. And out of necessity or not, it downplays effects in favor of character conflict and ideas. Yet so determined is the film to ground itself in contemporary anxieties, to be taken seriously as a grimly poker-faced allegory, that it makes all the alien stuff feel almost arbitrary. What we end up with a film that feels faintly like District 9 mixed with The Hunger Games, but just without that crucial spark of creativity and one in which it’s hard to muster the emotional energy to care about what happens next. Intriguing bits of mythology are mentioned but never explored.

There were big twists that were almost slapping the audience in the face far before their official reveal. There were character introductions for individuals that were then forgotten about for large chunks of the film. All of this gives the whole film a slightly incomplete, unfocused feeling because we aren’t always sure what we’re watching or why it’s important.

Returning to inter-species conflict almost a decade after he rebooted the Planet of the Apes franchise, director Rupert Wyatt works in a boots-on-the-ground handheld style which lurches to life when zeroing in on the moving parts of the resistance, like the way a phone call becomes a classified ad becomes a secret message. Is it at least a little bold, asking audiences to side with radicals trying to topple an oppressive American government? Yet a more imaginative film might have envisioned how society would actually be transformed by the presence of alien forces.

In its high concept, the film sees only a barely disguised metaphor for life in a police and surveillance state. For all its ambition, the film is far too muddled and obscure to make any kind of statement about authoritarianism or the creeping reality of the surveillance state. It’s more forgettable than haunting, not hopeful enough to be inspiring, and too morose to capture any of the revolutionary spirit hinted at in its marketing campaign.

Performances wise, John Goodman delivers a particularly understated performance, while Ashton Sanders underplays his role, however, despite the pair by far getting the most screen time, somehow the script leaves them both with little to actually do with their characters.

Instead it’s Jonathan Majors who shines and chews the complete scenery. However, in supporting roles, Vera Farmiga, Madeline Brewer, Alan Ruck, Ben Daniels, James Ransone and Machine Gun Kelly are wasted. On the whole, ‘Captive State’ is an intriguing yet messy science fiction film that suffers from a weak script and an unrealized potential.