Movie Review--Captive State

"We have one more chance to light a fire big enough for the whole world to see."
--Rafe, Captive State


Many movies about extraterrestrial invasions focus on depicting Earth's initial contact with the aliens or the first stages of resistance.  Captive State summarizes both within the first ten minutes, instead showing the buildup to and aftermath of a major rebel plan against alien representatives known as Legislators.  The story is in no way simple, and relatively little is communicated to the audience in a straightforward way, but those who give the movie a chance to slowly explain itself might be very impressed by the end.  Consistent warnings by various characters against Greeks bearing gifts suggest the twists of the subversive third act.  Seeing the various plot threads unify near the end will justify the entire film for some viewers, while others will likely find that the slow, complicated nature of the story dulls the excitement of waiting for the finale.  After all, the themes and plot ideas are often far grander than their execution.

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Production Values

Despite being about an alien occupation of Earth that is rebranded as a positive, beneficial arrangement for humanity, the movie scarcely shows its alien antagonists.  Instead, much of the drama involves various human efforts to help or hinder the Legislators.  The Legislators themselves enjoy a fairly original design, being creatures that can walk on all fours or stand upright, their skin covered by porcupine-like spines.  Since the focus is placed on humans, however, Captive State succeeds only to the extent that the humans are portrayed well.

One of the biggest problems of the film is the manner in which the script completely sets key characters aside for a great deal of the runtime, leaving viewers uncertain if they are even still a part of the story.  There are even characters with potential for holding the spotlight that are abandoned after the first few dozen minutes.  Thankfully, the characters that do receive persistent attention from the script are acted well, even if the enigmatic, complex nature of the story means many of them are not particularly developed by the final shot.

Vera Farmiga (one of my favorite actresses, especially because of her performance in The Conjuring series) makes the most of her scenes, although she does not appear in very many of them.  Her character does turn out to be quite different than initial perceptions imply, mirroring the plot as a whole.  As the story progresses, though, it falls mostly on John Goodman and Ashton Sanders to keep viewers invested in the human-Legislator conflict, with their respective characters finding themselves at the center of the narrative.  Both actors handle their roles admirably, with Goodman in particular being difficult to read in terms of personal motivation.


Story

Spoilers!

Almost ten years after alien beings successfully established themselves as the ultimate rulers of Earth, maintaining a dangerous peace with humanity that some perceive to be genuine, a young man named Gabriel discovers that his allegedly deceased brother is still alive, contributing towards a plan to strike back at the Legislators.  When the scheme succeeds, tension between the Legislators and humans heightens.  The ordeal leads to the exposure of a deeper resistance movement than the pro-Legislator police force expected.


Intellectual Content

Serving as a political thriller within the context of a extraterrestrial occupation, Captive State naturally features the explicitly political themes of oppression and liberty.  Some viewers might be distracted from these themes by the complexity of the script, though.  Still, even viewers who have trouble following the plot trajectory will be exposed to a relatively unique take on alien-human interaction, where the aliens strong arm humanity into a superficially prosperous unity.  If genuine extraterrestrial creatures were ever discovered, they could range from powerless (by comparison to humans) to intelligent but manipulative to extremely hostile.  The aliens of Captive State fall somewhere in between the latter two.


Conclusion

Captive State is certainly not for everyone, but those who are willing to watch all the way to the final scene will be rewarded with a grand payoff that strings many aspects of the story into a coherent whole.  The movie's flaws are obvious, but so are its strengths: an intelligently constructed plot and talented performances.  I would not be surprised if Captive State is relatively quiet in theaters--especially considering that it was released right between enormous titles like Captain Marvel, Shazam!, and Avengers: Endgame--but comes to be more widely admired several years later.  The ideal viewer is someone who appreciates both science fiction and political thrillers, but that shouldn't stop people who enjoy complicated storytelling in general from considering the film.


Content:
1. Violence:  Aliens are occasionally shown attacking humans, and a resistance member's wounded torso is seen.