Review of Extinction (2018) by Vdouglasjr — 20 Aug 2018

Based on the previews, Extinction (2018) seems to tell the typical alien invasion story. UFO’s flicker in the night, ships descend on an awed crowd of citizens, mass murder and destruction ensues, chaos in the streets, the usual.

Yet this Netflix sci-fi original offers philosophical commentary on the nature of the self as well as a twist that explores the political implications of artificial intelligence. In addition, it implicitly touches on highly relevant global issues like immigration, class antagonism, genocide and the tolls of war in general.

The story takes place in a not too distant future where the main character, Peter (played by Michael Peña), is haunted by nightmares of an invasion in which he becomes convinced by the day that they are omens.

At the expense of the pervasive premonitions, he neglects his family and increasingly exhibits poor performance at his job. Initially, one might get the sense that most of the movie would be about Peter trying to defend his sanity and repair damaged relationships, but writers Spenser Cohen and Brad Kane do a great job of allocating just the right about of time to get the audience to finally side with the protagonist before for the "I told so" moment happens and the action begins.

This movie is packed with the right amount of suspense, a few big name actors and a brilliantly delivered existential curve ball. We follow the main character and his family’s short but precarious ten block journey from their bomb ridden apartment to a government safe facility as they evade violent encounters with their invaders.

Peter’s revelation about the true nature of himself arises when one of his family members needs medical attention for a potentially fatal injury and his only hope is help from the alien who inflicted it.

Michael Peña from “American Hustle” takes the lead role. Lizzy Caplan known for “Now You See Me 2” plays his wife and the Netflix's “Luke Cage” actor, Mike Colter, plays his boss. The film tells a great story in particular if you fancy the old Twilight Zone style rug ripped from under your expectations.

It does a fantastic job at it. My only contentions with the movie are its hollow backstory and its lackluster ending. The audience is given glimpses of how things came to be through Peter’s tattered memories.

As a result, there are a gaping set of holes in the chain of events that led to the origin of the alien invasion. These holes are only filled through brief references in a dialogue exchange between the main character and his antagonist.

As for the film’s conclusion, like many Netflix originals, one kind of gets the feeling that either the producers exhausted their budget or the writers exhausted their imaginations. The main character gets individual resolve, but the movie's overall conflict does not.

It is hard to tell if this is an attempt at leaving the possibility for a sequel or just weak writing. Altogether, however, the film offers a unique perspective within the alien invasion genre and one to be thoroughly enjoyed.