Captive State

Starring: John Goodman, Ashton Sanders, Jonathan Majors, Vera Farmiga, Kevin Dunn, James Ransone, Alan Ruck, Madeline Brewer, Machine Gun Kelly, Kevin J. O'Connor
Directed by: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Horror, Science Fiction
2019

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: After an alien invasion takes over the Earth, a small band of insurgents in Chicago prepare to fight back against the oppressors.

Review:

Tim: I generally enjoy alien invasion movies, and while we've gotten a ton of them over the years, Captive State puts a unique spin on this story. It takes place after the invasion is already over and the human race has alien overlords who have taken over the planet. It's fascinating to imagine what the world would be like under these conditions. The idea behind this movie is a great one- we can watch as the humans try to live in an occupied country. You get to see the collaborators as well as those rebelling against the alien. The movie throws some great ideas out there. It gives us a few nice twists in the story. Ultimately, though, the movie never quite comes together as seamlessly as it should have. It honestly felt like the story would have been better served in a novel. We needed more time to mine these characters and their motivations, we needed more insight into occupied Chicago. As is, this 1 hour, 49 minute movie feels like it stays too much on the surface.

I actually find the idea that this story should have been a novel fascinating. As I watched the movie, I continually wondered if it was based on a book. It would make sense- there's a lot of complexity in the plot and it never quite feels like we know enough. It was hard to stay up-to-date on the moving parts, who was who and where loyalties lie. It felt like similar movies that tried to adapt a book- it's just impossible to pull everything from a novel into a screenplay. You always trade off some of the detail for the visuals. That's exactly how this movie felt to me- that there were great ideas presented, but the format didn't allow for them to be fully explored. I was a bit surprised when I read that this was an original screenplay from director Rupert Wyatt, as well as Erica Beeney. The story felt too shallow as depicted here, but I would sign up to read a book about this in a heartbeat. You don't often find yourself in this predicament, but it's one of the biggest flaws with this film. It tries to include so much that it's a bit frustrating that we're limited by the format.

I love John Goodman and was really excited to see him here. His role is an intriguing one and he keeps you guessing with his stoic performance. He's continually underrated as a talent, so it was great to see him be able to show his talent in a genre movie like this one. Vera Farmiga was solid, too. She has a small role, but makes a huge impact on the overall film. I really enjoyed her here. It's interesting that the two biggest names in the cast both have supporting roles. Ashton Sanders was good in the lead role. I might not have loved his performance, but it works and it was mostly enjoyable. I wish he would have established a stronger emotional connection through his performance, but I don't have many complaints about him. Jonathan Majors was really strong in a smaller supporting role. I very much enjoyed his performance and I wished he had more screen time. Apparently Machine Gun Kelly was in this film, but I can't remember anything from his performance. As a whole, the cast was above average for a movie like this.

The special effects are decent. There's nothing here that really blows you away or generates a sense of awe, but nothing detracts from the film, either. There's some cool visuals throughout the film (the scene with Goodman and the mask is especially memorable). As a whole, they certainly add to the film.

I mostly enjoyed Captive State, but my complaints have already been mentioned. It feels like we're constantly trying to catch up with the story, which gets old after a while. It serves to disengage us a bit- it feels like we're missing pieces of the puzzle, and not the kinds that are purposely held back to surprise us later. This movie certainly has some of those and I'm cool with that. The issue is that it's hard to care about this world or the characters without more information about them. The movie could have actually used more backstory and focus on the characters. Even another 5-7 minutes would have helped with that. So, in the end, Captive State feels like a decent movie that can't quite capitalize on all its great ideas. Still, it's a worthwhile film to see.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Alien Nation, District 9, Attack the Block, 10 Cloverfield Lane