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Extinction
USA 2018
produced by David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Nathan Kahane (executive), Kelli Konop (executive), Roy Lee (executive), John Powers Middleton (executive), Andrew Pfeffer (executive), Erin Westerman (executive), Alexander Young (executive) for Good Universe, Mandeville Films/Universal, Netflix
directed by Ben Young
starring Michael Peña, Lizzy Caplan, Amelia Crouch, Erica Tremblay (II), Lex Shrapnel, Emma Booth, Lilly Aspell, Mike Colter, Israel Broussard, Sandra Teles, Tom Riley, Michael Absalom, Mina Obradovic, Joe Corrigall, Nikola Kent, Jovan Gulan, Dan Cade, Brad Kane, Georgia Goodman, Olivera Darko, Milena Predic, Marko Vasiljevic, Zlatija Ocokoljic, Petar Cirica, Brendan Stokey, Vladimir Grbic, Sona Havranova, Ivona Kustudic
story by Spenser Cohen, screenplay by Brad Kane, Spenser Cohen, music by The Newton Brothers, visual effects by Digital District
review by Mike Haberfelner
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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).
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