“They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.”
Someone to love, have it in spades. Something to do, go to a movie. Something to hope for, a really good science fiction movie.
Thankfully hope is eternal, because are needs were not met with Captive State.
First, this movie is science fiction, but light on aliens. It’s more a resistance to alien invasion movie, which was personally disappointing to me. I don’t know what the special effects budget was, but it couldn’t of been much, because this is not a big special effects movie. The alien ships looked like the turd emoji on my phone. Seriously!!
Captive State starts with a lot of dialog how the aliens arrived, how they took control, a timeline of eight years was laid out. Then more talk, laying out characters. The movie is slow to start; I began to check the time on my phone and couldn’t believe less than ten minutes had passed.
Now get this, the main characters are African American brothers Rafael and Gabriel Drummond. Are you kidding me, brothers named Drummond! I immediately had a flashback to “Different Strokes” (If you don’t understand this, Google it)
Getting back to the movie, the brothers were separated after the death of their parents soon after the start of the invasion (which began in April 2019!!). Their father was a police detective and partner of John Goodman (Mulligan).
Older brother, Raphael, becomes a leader in the alien resistance, and is presumed dead. Gabriel is more an “I’m looking out for myself” kind of guy and works in a facility collecting data from humans.
Mulligan is focused on dismantling the resistance, doing whatever is needed to complete this task. There are clue phrases, some repeatedly in the dialog. When you hear them, you’ll know, CLUE!!
“Light a match. Start a war” and “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts”
When we get away from the timeline, away from all the talking that has nothing to do with plot progression, the movie really starts to pick up and become interesting.
The stadium buildup, the event and aftermath are some of the best scenes in the movie.
John Goodman, does a great job in his role as Deputy Commissioner Mulligan. He is so good in his quest to destroy the resistance; you are blind sided by the twist at the end.
If they edited out the unnecessary dialog, this isn’t a bad movie. Those who love government conspiracies will enjoy this movie. It took all of six months for all the countries in the world to surrender to the aliens. But, that’s not bad, because we have a strong economy and low unemployment since the invasion. And they aren’t called aliens or invaders, they are now known as
“Legislators”. We still deport people, no silly wall needed. We send them away on the alien turd ship to a planet far far away. It seems the government is still spinning it in 2027.
Captive State, be patient, don’t expect a sci fi CGI masterpiece. Relax in your seat,and wait for it, you will enjoy this movie.
I really went back and forth with this rating, but I feel C plus is fair. If you miss this at the theatre, it’s definitely worth a Red Box rental, no coupon code required.
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