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Occupation: Rainfall
Occupation 2
Australia 2020
produced by Carly Imrie, Carmel Imrie, Shanan Becker (executive), Michael E. Beer (executive), Bill Bromiley (executive), Clint Buchanan (executive), Elphie Coyle (executive), Simon Duma (executive), Clay Epstein (executive), Geoff Imrie (executive), Anthony Jephcott (executive), Jonathan Saba (executive), Ness Saban (executive), Luke Sparke (executive), Angela Taylor (executive), Phillip Thomas (executive) for Sparke Films
directed by Luke Sparke
starring Dan Ewing, Temuera Morrison, Daniel Gillies, Lawrence Makoare, Zac Garred, Jet Tranter, Mark Coles Smith, Trystan Go, Ken Jeong, Jason Isaacs, Izzy Stevens, Dena Kaplan, David Roberts, Vince Colosimo, Katrina Risteska, Eliza D'Souza (= Eliza Matengu), Madison Haley, Geoff Imrie, David Becconsall, Jacob Paint, Chloe De Los Santos, Tara Wraith, James Straiton, John Reynolds, Memphis Sargeant, Tony Nixon, Angel Reid, Sam Sidhu, Brad McMurray, Erin Connor, Rhylan Jay Bush, Ben Chisholm, Elphie Coyle, Peter O'Hanlon
written by Luke Sparke, additional dialogue by Dale Dye, Felix Williamson, music by Frederik Wiedmann, visual effects by Green Smoke Digital, Creative Cupids, Fin Design & Effects, Worldwide FX, alien prosthetics by Meg FX, alien specialty costumes by Stingray Sushi Studios
Occupation
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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Two years after the events of the original Occupation: Earth has
been pretty much overrun by the alien invaders, and most of humankind has
been killed, but there's still pockets of resistance, like in Sydney,
Australia - but eventually even this town must fall, forcing the survivors
into a secret underground army base the size if a full-blown city run by
Commander Hayes (Daniel Gillis), a big time alien hater who admittedly
might be a smart tactician, but at the same time his methods are often
questionable to criminal. So Amelia, who has long campaigned for peaceful
co-existance between human and aliens, doesn't trust him one bit - and
eventually finds out he keeps aliens in a secret dungeon where he has them
tortured and experimented on, in order to develop some gas to commit
genocide on them. Ultimately Hayes is relieved from his post for that, but
then the aliens launch an attack on the army base, and the cards are
re-shuffled ... Meanwhile, manly man Matt (Dan Ewing), alien
collaborator Garry (Lawrence Makoare) and youngster Marcus (Trystan Go)
have mounted a mission to track down project Rainfall, something the
aliens seem to be desparate to get their hands on but have no clue where
to find it. But somehow our heroes have found a clue to its location,
which means a trip across the country on carnivorous horse-like alien
creatures, and they run into lots of aliens, but also a village of human
survivors - who promptly want to lynch Garry -, and find two more
companions in war veteran Peter (Temura Morrison) and his daughter Bella
(Izzy Stevens). Eventually they reach the location of Rainfall, a secret
American army base abandoned by all but clumsy Bud (Ken Jeong) and his
wise-cracking alien friend Steve (Ben Chisholm, voiced by Jason Isaacs),
and the find out Rainfall is actually a giant meteor, the one that
triggered the extinction of the dinosaurs - and that might have been an
alien projectile, launched to shape earth to their liking ... Now
it's of course true that much of the story of Occupation: Rainfall
has been seen elsewhere before, actually in scores of similarly themed
science fiction movies and TV shows, and despite up-to-date and pretty
impressive CGI effects work, one can't help but being reminded of 1980s
mach action cinema every now and again. But that all said, despite the
slightly derivative nature of the film, and even its slight cheesiness in
parts, one can't denie how well it's put together, telling a story of epic
proportions with hardly a moment to catch one's breath, with relatable
characters and cool alien designs. Basically it's a very entertaining
genre ride - and one that's easily comprehensible if one hasn't seen the
first Occupation, despite this being a direct sequel.
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