Movie Review: CAPTIVE STATE

A new sci-fi movie is on the big screen with almost NO fanfare to announce it.

After a very suspenseful opening scene, we get handed alot of exposition during the opening credits to explain the aftermath of an Alien invasion. We’re then introduced to a few main characters, and then a large amount of supporting characters who are from all over the downtrodden city. The movie is also filmed very, hand held, gloomy, and colorless to show how desperate the human situation is. Some scenes do amp up the visual styles towards the third act.

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t really unfold in a “captivating” matter. There’s multiple plot threads with seemingly no connection between them until the third act. There is the underlying current of an oppressive government and the rebellious citizens that are being stamped out.

After more than an hour or so, we finally have an idea about what this film is supposed to be, then the story becomes interesting and the threads you’ve been looking at start to form something.Then we get one final piece of the puzzle, then credits.

I don’t think this movie sets up it’s universe well, and with so many characters only appearing briefly, there was no one for me to really connect with. The closest we have to main characters is John Goodman as Mulligan and Ashton Sanders as Gabriel, but because we don’t really know their goals, we’re just watching them drudge through an incomprehensible situation (until the ending).

Director Rupert Wyatt definitely made this dystopian futuristic Chicago feel like a real place, I just wish the film had set up at least ONE plot point to follow from the start.

If it’s streaming, and you haven’t shut it off by the hour mark, stay to the end because the story reveals itself and it actually is interesting.

2 out of 5 stars

-Marquee Mark