Rupert Wyatt's latest flick is Captive State, a bizarre experiment that may not work for some audiences but works hard to get you thinking.
After a brief prologue in which two boys are orphaned when alien invaders strike, we get a whole lot of exposition before the plot really begins. Essentially, the aliens have taken over the world, assaulting the cities and setting up, well, captive states. After a period of nine years, the world is a very different place; the longsuffering city of Chicago sets the scene of this film. A central area has been razed in each occupied city, and the alien leaders live underground, allowing their human goons to run daily affairs. As the aliens have disarmed and demilitarized Earth, they rule with total impunity.
It's all really nothing special, and a lot of the ideas are vaguely hinted at by the extremely limited dialogue. Besides the opening credit mash-up of media voices and news headlines, there is almost no exposition in the film. We don't know much about the aliens, who appear briefly and look like large puppets with tendrils that harden into urchin-esque spikes when aroused (word choice?). They seem to be smart in addition to their physical danger, as they have confiscated all digital devices and are working to wipe them, uploading the data to some mysterious end. Interestingly, despite their totalitarian regime that has earned them the nickname "Legislators," they seem to be well-supported by the general populace. Chicago may look rough in the greyscale movie, but unemployment is almost nonexistent and the economy is strong.
The lack of real information characterizes this movie as a profound example of cerebral indie work. Somewhat entertaining but mostly confusing, we get carried along trying to piece together the tiny bits of plot and characters we know. I suppose a repeat viewing would help, but ultimately we're not meant to know much. Why? Because the movie is really about a widespread resistance movement, guerrillas planning a massive strike against their oppressors. Everything is layered in double-speak and hints both vague and blunt; characters are pawns who we never really understand or appreciate but who nevertheless are admirable somehow. It doesn't help that the immensely talented cast is about as eclectic and random as the aggregate limbs of Frankenstein's monster; John Goodman and Vera Farmiga play as if in a spy thriller, Kevin Dunn as if in a police procedural, Ben Daniels and Ashton Sanders in a sci-fi action flick.
Despite appreciating the film for doing the whole alien invasion thing in a different, grounded, gritty way, I can't help but be disappointed by the mess of the whole thing. Blurry, shaky, dark cinematography and frenzied, non-sequitur editing do nothing to help our comprehension of the already secretive tale. And while I love the social commentary and heady ideas, they never really coalesce into a cohesive whole. Case in point: the rule of the Legislators (and why do they have that name? Do they actually make laws, or just demands?) is marked by demilitarization even though they themselves are crazy violent, a fierce love of country even though the whole world has been overrun, a theocratic religious fervor that doesn't explain the brainwashing of the common people. We see a pep rally of sorts near the climax, when "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" has been rewritten to praise the aliens, and everyone is happy as hamsters.
It's all interesting and cool -- if not very fun -- but I feel the same way about Captive State that I did about Hotel Artemis. Style and novelty are cool, but if there is so incredibly little substance that we are bewildered more than inspired or even entertained, it's just disappointing. If you want a great horror flick about alien invasion in an urban setting, watch Cloverfield. If you want a great sci-fi thriller about conspiracy to overthrow an oppressive regime, watch Rogue One.
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