Peter (Michael Peña) is not exactly the perfect husband and father, and that's somehow linked to the nightmares he's having - heck, some of them he even has at work, where he repeatedly just passes out. This becomes a bit of a problem, so much so that his boss David (Mike Coulter) urges him to visit a wellness center. Thing is, Peter is convinced his nightmares are actually visions of things to come, inasmuch as they all are consistent and seem to form a narrative - which seems to be the extinction of humankind by the hands of some faceless attackers. So when at the wellness center a patient tells him he has pretty much similar visions and "they" want to erase his memories, Peter just leaves - much to the disappointment of his wife Alice (Lizzy Caplan). Thing is, later that day, the city is attacked, by some faceless invaders with superior weaponry, and now all that matters to Peter is to save his wife and two daughters (Amelia Crouch, Erica Tremblay), and he figures the only way he can do that is to get them to the company he works at as that building's pretty much built like a fortress. Now the building's only a few blocks away, but unfortunately, the invaders are hell-bent on wiping out the entire human race, shooting everybody on sight, including civilians. Trying to make it to the company, Alice is critically injured, but on the other hand, Peter manage to overcome and capture one of the invaders - to find out it's a human, Miles (Israel Broussard), in a battlesuit. Once at the company, Peter is rather surprised to find David and a few other employees, being over-prepared for this - but none can help Alice, only (of all people) Miles. And while Miles is treating Alice, Peter finds out that she is an android. And in fact, so is he. Eventually, he's filled into the history of androidkind: Once, they were enslaved by the humans - their creators - but there was an uprising where the androids bested their masters and drove those who were not erradicated off the planet. A piece of history so vile that it was decided that the memories of all (or almost all) androidkind should be erased and they should live under the impression that they are humankind. And that worked fine until the actual humans attacked, planning to take back their planet. And the company Peter worked at actually constructed an escape route for the survivors of the human attack, with David being the coordinator of this - so basically, Peter and family are exactly where they need to be. Only, the weapons technology of the humans has become so advanced it's doubtful the android defenses will be enough to keep the humans at bay for long ...

Now the initial set-up for this movie - failing father has together in time of crisis to save his family - is not very promising, as it has been used in movies of this ilk a few times too often. And while the action's really well-staged, the effects look spectacular and the look of the invaders alone is fittingly creepy, in all it feels like a run-of-the-mill survival thriller - which only changes about halfway through when we're let in on the backstory of the thing that pretty much turns everything on its head. And then the film becomes really good and actually really worthwhile, and it makes one see the set-up in a while new light even (even if it could have done with a few less clichés).

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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