"Light a match and ignite a war"

Captive State’s impassioned narrative captivates some viewers, while leaving others feeling as though they have been held captive for two hours of convoluted plot development.

Rupert Wyatt’s Captive State takes the alien invasion trope and turns it on its head. Although this humanist style film may disappoint some viewers who are expecting cataclysmic apocalypse fight scenes, I thought his emotional take was politically relevant and poignant. Despite a somewhat rushed storyline, and some glaring insufficiencies in character development, Wyatt’s fast-paced, suspenseful plot line will lock you in until its somewhat abrupt ending, leaving you wanting more and wondering: Is this really the end?

Nine Years Since the Alien Invasion of Earth:

All world governments have surrendered themselves to the new Legislators. The extraterrestrial species, closely resembling porcupines, have set up an authoritarian regime based on propaganda and an extensive surveillance system, vaguely reminiscent of Jinping’s China. The regime is obsessed with civilian productivity and has conscripted humans to build alien habitats below ground and exploit the earth’s natural resources. The Mayor of Chicago boasts of a “new American Renaissance”, saying, “Natural resource production has increased tenfold, employment is at a record level, crime at an all-time low. And we have the legislators to thank,” a line that could have been taken straight out of a soviet era Russian propaganda speech.

This world sets the stage for more of a dystopian political spy thriller rather than an action-packed alien invasion film. If you are hoping for a thirty minute fight scene this is not the movie for you. However, if you are like me, and don’t mind a more understated approach, this film is worth the watch.

The Rundown

The story is set in downtown Chicago and follows the protagonist, Gabriel Drummond, younger brother of legendary resistance leader, Rafe Drummond. After his brother's alleged death, Gabriel is forced to do odd jobs for money. However when he is enlisted to transfer secret information regarding a terrorist attack, he comes in contact with is brother, who has been hiding out ever since his terrorist cell was busted. The movie switches gears halfway through and focuses in on the cell as well as the circuitous investigation of the Police Chief William Mulligan. He is tasked with finding and interrogating the members of the resistance. Unless Mulligan can eliminate the threat, the Legislators will take draconian action, eradicating parts of Chicago. When we meet Gabriel again, Mulligan enlists him to track down the members of the resistance, threatening to kill his brother if he doesn’t comply.

As someone who is not partial to superhero-esque fight scenes, the subtle representation of the alien overlords came as a pleasant surprise. I was expecting an Avengers-like disaster flick, and what I got was a humanizing take on Planet of the Apes. In fact, it's easy to forget you are watching a movie about an alien takeover due to the fact that we only see the aliens a few times. Although I enjoyed the mysterious characterization of “the legislators”, I think the movie could have better explained the mechanisms through which the aliens are able to take over a planet inhabited by highly-developed sentient beings. Without these details, it seems slightly implausible that the human race would surrender to them so quickly. We are clued into the fact that they communicate through strange clicking noises, and that humans have developed a way to translate their semblance of a language. But even still, this seems impractical. Obviously, the point of a sci-fi movie is to be unrealistic, however, It is the job of the director/screen-writers to create a universe so immersive that we don't question the feasibility of their world-building.

Good movie. Better mini series.

In my opinion, the directors did themselves a vast disservice with their choice of format. It was a good movie, but it would have been a great mini-series. The entire movie felt rushed and to fit the whole plot into an hour and 50 minutes, the directors were forced to do away with a lot of crucial character development and world-building. The beginning of the movie starts with a series of memos flashing on a computer screen that lays out the current state of the world. But after that it is as if the directors assume the world has built itself. Furthermore, they mention things that they never come back to or expand upon, like the alien presence in Paris and Beijing. Although they tried to lay out the rules of their fictitious world in a straightforward manner, it ends up adding to the confusion. Additionally, we get virtually no character development, even of the so-called protagonist. After spending 40 or so minutes up close with Gabriel, the movie completely switches gears to focus on the terrorist cell. We are introduced to people only to see them die as if their only point in being in the movie is to further the plot.

This being said, the actors did a good job with what they were given. They scored some big names such as John Goodman, Ashton Sanders, Jonathan Majors, Vera Farmiga and Machine Gun Kelly. With a leading cast this talented, the lack of character development wasn’t catastrophic, however there was a lot of wasted potential.

Realistic Depictions of Chicago Lead to Hard Hitting Commentary about the Reality of Urban America

One of the best parts of the movie was its realistic depiction of Chicago. The movie drives home a lot of real points about race relations, police brutality, and the effects of gentrification. Instead of showing the typical landmarks that most movies filmed in Chicago focus on, Captive State took place primarily in vacant warehouses and lots in real neighborhoods. The fear of alien displacement parallels a palpable anxiety that people living in low-income neighborhoods feel about gentrification. One of the most hard-hitting lines of the film comes when Gabriel is being questioned by Mulligan. He asks for a lawyer and Mulligan replies, “those days are gone.” This line underscores the very real problems facing our justice system, such as the disparity in legal representation afforded to low income black citizens as compared to affluent white people. By using an authoritarian alien government to highlight those injustices it makes us question the nature of our own legal system. Watching the special forces raid Pilsen, could have very well been real footage of the Chicago Police Force. These scenes bring into question our current day practices and underline the sad reality that it is not uncommon for law enforcement to target low income neighborhoods or color, even when they are innocent.

Concluding Thoughts

The film comes to an almost screeching halt, when we learn a piece of crucial information that explains our unanswered questions. The “twist” at the end pulls together disparate threads of the movie in a bitter sweet conclusion, (although conclusion might be a strong word to use, given the fact that it doesn't feel like much was concluded). I usually like endings that leave room for interpretation, but this made the movie feel almost like an epilogue, setting the scene for the real fight to take place. Maybe the writers wanted to allow for a sequel, but given that there hasn’t been much talk about turning the movie into a franchise it seems like wishful thinking.

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