Revolt (2017) User Reviews

Better than it had a right to be

[LordJiggy · 6/10 · 1 October 2017]

It's a decent enough Alien invasion movie. Made great use of an unusual location, and Lee Pace shows promise as heroic leading man material.

Clearly a small budget, and once more proves that not having unlimited power or bankbook isn't necessarily a bad thing creatively. Film-makers had to come up with imaginative sets and emotionally involving characters, not just throw CGI as the story.

Only a few really flawed moments and the writing could have been a little better. But, overall, worth the time.

Better than expected

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 2 May 2018]

Low budget science fiction thrillers are ten a penny these days, and way too many of them turn out to be absolute rubbish. Not so REVOLT, an engaging little effort that comes to us courtesy of South Africa. The film reminds one of DISTRICT 9 to a degree, with a sun-scorched and devastated landscape patrolled by hulking CGI robots (the good news is that animation is passable here). The main character is an amnesic soldier who has to fight his way across the landscape, encountering violent rebel groups at every turn. This film benefits from a simple story, a fast pace, and plenty of action. The budgetary constraints are evident but the cinematography is nice, which makes all the difference. Jason Flemyng has a small but memorable cameo.

Revolt: Passable Sci-fi

[Platypuschow · 5/10 · 6 May 2019]

Revolt is one of those middle budget sci-fi efforts you'll see on Netflix much alike the superior Kill Switch (2017) and alike that this also stars the excellent French actress Bérénice Marlohe.

The film is British made which surprised me. Honestly without football hooligans or quintessential Englishmen I can rarely identify them as such, thankfully that makes up 90%+ of English films.

It tells the story of a world overrun by an alien force and one soldier trying to survive through it. Suffering from amnesia and with a weird tattoo on his arm he goes on a dangerous quest for answers.

While the comparable Kill Switch was a smart movie this relies on the tried and tested formula of fighting aliens, explosions, spacecraft and all the usual tropes.

Revolt is a run of the mill film, one of those that is harmless enough to spend 90 minutes on but by the next day you'll have likely forgotten it.

The Good:

Bérénice Marlohe

The Bad:

Very cliched

Turned out to be a pretty good movie

[braddy4 · 4 July 2017]

I wasn't expecting much but since it was filmed in Africa I took that as a good sign that it might at least be gritty and have a good look, and that paid off.

The film is mostly action with above average grades for most everything in it.

This is not a B film but a fairly respectable action Sci-Fi film that is entertaining enough for a watch.

If not for the ending........

[jwcstorage · 4/10 · 4 April 2018]

I would likely have rated this higher if it wasnt for the ending. Overall it was a fun little sci-fi romp with absolutely unique looking machines invading and killing lots of squishy Earthlings, but it ends where it feels like there should be at least one more major action sequence left.

The movie was fine, with (mostly) passable acting. The main characters were nothing amazing but they did their jobs well enough. The aliens came in a few different flavors but other than the standard Tall baddie dont expect anything memorable. Same goes for the scenery which consists of blown up and run down places.

There are plot holes and dangling threads hanging out from the script unfortunately. We get several big revelations at the end, and where a better movie would have gone on to make these reveals mean literally anything, right when you're expecting the final showdown........credits roll. -_-

Some complain about the foreign languages being spoken as inaccurate, but unless you speak them it wont matter and there isnt much in the movie either.

If you want a popcorn sci-fi and dont mind a little frustration, this might be a fun watch. I wouldnt recommend it as a rental, but if its free with your subscription, and you have a couple of hours to kill, go for it!

There is one unique moment that had me laughing. If you watch the movie you will undoubtedly see it too... its not a spoiler but I'll be a bit vague anyway. About half way through the movie, the protagonist and his female friend are trapped between a couple of buildings and out in the open during a firefight. When a random human dies, the plucky hero plucks the now-dead guys gun straight outta the air! It is pure schlocky glory!

Good enough!

[lokilfa · 7/10 · 5 July 2017]

A very decent sci-fi with acceptable writing and a few original and inspired scenes in a good setting with good actors filmed properly, the whole is entertaining and the art department did an outstanding job on a limited budget.

I can only recommend this movie and praise this project especially when compared to Hollywood's super boring and high cost CGI products. This movie will grant you a pleasant and relaxed experience without stressing your patience or ruining your eyesight.

It is not a masterpiece but definitely worth your time. In fact I would not mind to watch a sequel. If Revolt could represent just the average of what sci-fi movies look like we would live in happier times.

Too stupid to be taken seriously, too dull to be fun

[thekarmicnomad · 5/10 · 20 December 2017]

A U.S solider finds himself in Africa when aliens attack but he has lost his memory.

The effects and production levels are quite good here. The aliens make sense and there is a fair amount of drama and action.

However, it is very boring. Our hero blunders around Kenya from one bunch of douche bags to another. These encounters tend to end in a rather limp gun fight.

This film subscribes to the Hollywood notion that there are three groups of people who just don't get the concept of guns: 1940's Germans, Asians and Non-American black people. It never occurs to these sub groups of humanity that with a gun you don't have to run wildly into your enemies fire like some kind of berserker. This makes the action scenes look very amateur and unbelievable as everyone charges into a nice empty spot of screen where the CG man can scrub them out.

This could have been a bit of fun but then on top of this there are several vomit inducing speeches about the human spirit and the power of sacrifice.

Also I don't think the that the person who commissioned this movie actually understands what the word "revolt" means, I think they got it confused with "repel" or "resist" perhaps.

Not the worst Sci-Fi ever, it is at least watchable - but I wouldn't.

Top notch low budget sci fi

[sacdalysimon · 7/10 · 5 July 2017]

Good entertaining low budget sci-fi , has a feel of district 9/elysium but i suppose as its filmed in south Africa there are comparisons ,didnt realise it was a uk/south African collaboration as the uk don't make that many good looking sci-fi movies and given the budget this pulls off a believable apocalyptic end of the world look ,cgi is of good standard way better than a made for sci-fi channel own production, but not quite up there with Hollywood but you wouldn't expect that but the aliens look cool and realistic. good believable story a few cliché moments that i let pass characters all have a purpose and a good looking leading lady 7/10 as i was impressed by the effort and would watch a film made by Joe Miale/ Rowan Athale again.

To sum it up not as big or as good as the for-mentioned films above but stands proud just behind them holding its head up high for the pleasure of sci-fi fans around the world to enjoy.

Good plot but largely irritating

[simonk-17903 · 3/10 · 13 July 2017]

The movie has a really good plot,cannot argue with that. What irritates me is how you destroyed our image since the setting of the movie was in Kenya.First of all,the way they spoke our languages(Kikuyu & Swahili) was yuck,you could even try using Kenyan actors for those roles & it would sound more real. Secondly,it's 2017 & Africans are enlightened,we live,work,intermarry with whites and all races from other continents and it's no big deal to see a white guy across the street,that's tarnishing our image to the eyes of the world. Finally,our military has destroyed Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia and finally Somalia restored their government and recently held elections.That should tell you just how top notch they're to be taken out that easily by one guy,it was lame.In short this movie really degrades Africans and for that it sucks.

Little movie ... but it had heart!!!

[ExitSouth · 7/10 · 7 April 2018]

Ok it's low budget, but it has a solid, simple story and you care about the characters. The lead actor is really good and holds it together. Not a "blockbuster" but good for a rainy day. One of the better small movies on Netflix!!!

A waste of time - let me tell you why...

[jbl-13597 · 2/10 · 8 April 2018]

I had no idea on what to expect when I watched this movie, but my overall experience was not a good one. I actually didn't know whether I wanted to finish it, or just find something actually worth watching.

I ended up watching the whole thing though, as I thought "what the hell, I'm hangover and don't want to look for another movie, and might as well see the conclusion to this story", even though I really got no emotional connection what-so-ever with the main characters, due to below average acting (especially from the male lead), and weak-to-no backstories. Well, lucky me (sarcasm) because this movie really doesn't have a conclusion to the story - not a satisfying one at least. There's no trying to explain why any of it happened, why they needed to abduct people, what their possible motivation was, and so on.

Also this movie is riddled with small, but surely annoying mistakes, that makes the overall impression suffer. Let me list a few that got on my nerves:

When our main leads end up in a situation with the Kenyan military, our male hero ends up shooting some of them. First of all this takes almost 10 seconds. That's 10 seconds where armed military personnel doesn't shoot him, even though he stands about 5 meters from them, and they already got their weapons ready. Instead they run towards him, and gets shot. There's even a woman who runs almost all the way up to him with her gun (that's really not how guns are supposed to be used - especially not by trained military), and then when he points his weapon at her, she surrenders it. Which could be explained by her maybe not really wanting to kill anybody. Well, think again, because moments later, with no gun, she for some reason tries to overpower our male hero in an of course futile attempt.

A returning mistake is people running out in the open to get shot, again and again, using no cover what-so-ever, even though these machines are slaugthering their fellow bad guys in front of them. There just seems to be a basic lack of common sense in this whole movie.

These machines aims like clone troopers. Can't we agree that if aliens have the technology to travel many, many light years to Earth. they would first of all have much more capable weapons technology!? Also one of these machines literally shoots a guy on a motorbike out of the air, but can't hit the different moving cars our heroes travels in, at way slower speeds.

At one point our heroes are driving away from hundreds of these alien tripods, and when they finally gain speed enough to outrun them, they choose to seek cover in an abandoned house out in the open for all the robots to see. What!? WHY would you ever do that!?

The last thing I'll mention might really also be the dumbest of them all. At the very end, to get power to the EMP which of course has battery issues. He grabs an wire from a downed alien robot, and proceeds (with apparently a lot of electricity running through his body) to grab the EMP and power it up, so they can save the day. What really bothers me is, that there is NO GOD DAMN REASON for him to run the electricity through his body. Like, NO REASON AT ALL. What he COULD do, and what any normal person would do, is to push the EMP the last 2 meters (6 feet) over to the wire, and instead power it directly through that.

I could mention more things, but I really don't want to devote any more time to this movie. I just want to end this by saying, this isn't the worst movie I've seen. But it definitely is a B-movie, and not one of the better ones I've seen. There's just too big a lack of common sense in this, and too many loose ends.

How to do more with less

[frequenzangriff · 8/10 · 29 December 2017]

As a sci-fi fan i really liked this movie. This film is a reminder that a good movie, even more a sci-fi isn't about the effects but the story and its characters, it's about a good plot.

Here it's obvious they would hove done a better movie if they could, they even show that to us, but so what? star wars was also a low budget movie in its time.... not that i'm comparing both, only pointing out that this isn't anything important at all. Yes it has some flaws, but this movie does it right and well in so many ways and things (i dont want to add spoilers), and thats what makes it so good. And also vonsidering the low budget and low resources they did a great job, and it's very entertaining. Also the movie has contains several unique ideas like the robots not having a humanoid form, but instead they are just practical, weird and very mechanical. Also they dont waste a lot of movie time talking science BS to explain the whole stuff to us, we learn what we need trough flashbacks and quick conversations. Also we have a really strong female that doesnt need to be rescued from the male, thats very atractive but not sexualized - she uses normal loose kakhi pants (not uber tight) and an ordinaty tank top - no cleavage or bum shots whatsoever - now thats awesome that they treat the female with respect.

Compared to hollywood that spends millions and has the best resources and releases abominations like battleship (more like battleshit), terminator genisys (pure garbage), Jupiter Ascending , the Green Lantern and Gods of Egypt (and many others).

.A suspenseful and entertaining indie sci-fi thriller worth the watch.

[robfollower · 7/10 · 9 September 2019]

It's a decent enough Alien invasion movie.Clearly a small budget, and once more proves that not having unlimited power or bankbook isn't necessarily a bad thing creatively."Revolt," a propulsive, no-nonsense sci-fi thriller that's far more watchable than its generic title may imply.A suspenseful and entertaining indie sci-fi thriller worth the watch.

What you get if you combine poor writing with talentless director

[lordz-35761 · 3/10 · 8 April 2018]

Everyone involved overacts, almost like it is an instruction from the director. They plot in nonsensical at times and they apparently misplace items between scene's, having assault weapons in one scene and not having them moments later, after a short (not shown) skip in time. Perhaps some scenes was cut due to budget or time, and the continuity suffered from it.

The directing, chosen angles and editing is poor - perhaps some of the jarringly poor camera work and editing can be traced to 'oh, here they had to skip showing how they got somewhere since if they turn the camera 5 degrees more one can see the barricades and non-apocalyptic scenery'.

I was surprised how little I enjoyed this one.

Good special effects!

[bettycjung · 9 April 2018]

4/8/18. Terrific action thriller. Good special effects adds to the excitement of this movie. Worth catching!

Good premise, weak execution

[seacargm · 2/10 · 2 October 2017]

I can't stand movies directed by people seemingly incapable of reading a scene and asking "Is this realistic?" You have so much leeway in a sci-fi film, but hen you blow it by having people do things completely out of character. Is everyone bi-polar or something??? Also, is there a reason the moab wasn't put on wheels? That technology too advanced? I suppose it doesn't matter given it appears to get lighter as they lost people to carry it.

Sticks and rocks against alien tech. Seriously? And the lights stayed on after the EMP??? What? That's not how EMPs work !!! Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't comment on the over-acting when injured. Wow.

Such lost potential.

Average, but good average

[siderite · 7/10 · 22 December 2019]

I don't know why, but I am a sucker for alien invasion stories. They make no sense, since anything that comes from space cannot be defeated since we can't get to them, but it is always fun. This film is combining the genre with the African locale, something that has been done before with zombie movies and action movies and the like, but it seems to become more common. I think that's great for Africa!

Anyway, the weirdly handsome guy from Halt and Catch Fire is the protagonist, with the help of Bond girl Bérénice Marlohe (who is also beautiful but has the weirdest smile), and they are trying to get somewhere that matters while Earth is under attack by pretty cliche aliens who abduct people by sucking them in big ships and kill them with walking robots that turn them into dust. The end is both predictable and underwhelming, like they expected to continue the story in a sequel. It might still happen, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Bottom line: average, but entertaining.

Nothing New on the Screen Front

[Tweetienator · 5/10 · 5 August 2017]

Revolt is War of the Worlds or more recently Battle Los Angeles on a small budget-scale (it reminds me a little of the zombie flick The Dead, also playing in Africa). The movie is okay and entertaining but the plot got imo some very weak spots: SPOILER ALERT - how does one who is marked and tracked creep along to his enemy!? Our hero dragging the emp to the mother-ship, it's just a very bad idea and won't work for obvious reasons. Also, an enemy who invaded the whole of the earth - this is so much of a big scale operation even a 1000 emp's won't change the outcome, and btw - I am sure such a sophisticated alien race would know what kind of war equipment and techniques humankind would have got in their arsenals. Well, the movie is okay, but I personally am a little fed up with movies where some hero(es) beat a much more powerful enemy - just imagine, a few Stone Age People beat with their clubs the legions of Rome...

On the plus - well acted, production of good TV-scale - a movie for the sci-fi connoisseur on a boring afternoon.

To live is to fight

[michaelRokeefe · 6/10 · 9 July 2020]

In the aftermath of an alien invasion, an American soldier, Bo (Lee Pace) , awakens suffering amnesia in a cell in Kenya alongside a French foreign aid worker, Nadia (Berenice Marlohe). The two set out seeking refuge somewhere in war ravaged landscape. Large alien robots are attacking Earth and bands of ruthless Kenyan fighters live only to torture, rape and ravage. CGI helps the story as much as it hurts. The sets are exciting , but subject to a limited budget. The cast also features Jason Fleming, Patrick Bakoba and Welile Nzunza.

Don't you be fooled by the preview. Rubbish movie.

[manojdandeniya · 2/10 · 30 September 2017]

what a waste of space. Rubbish movie. Terrible directing. Good stars bad editing. Preview made me watch this movie. Don't you be fooled by the preview. There is nothing good about this movie. Story is crap. Aliens shooting and abducting humans for what ..!!? Comes to the end of the movie someone crash their ship with an EMP..!!! And All fine. Totally loose the audience.

Better than Big Hollywood Sci-Fi, but still could be better.

[damoreja · 6/10 · 20 August 2018]

I enjoy seeing different types of alien invasion movies as much as anyone, and often I watch them and am very disappointed with the plot holes and shear stupidity.

I often enjoy low budget sci-fi movies better than the big budget hollywood ones, and Revolt was no exception.

What I liked:

• I enjoyed the creative take on "electric robotic" aliens and the CGI was incredible for a low budget film. While many complained about the plot not making sense because we never find out why the aliens are invading or why they are taking people, this to me doesn't matter. Theoretically in this situation, you may never find out the true intent of the alien invasion - so this didn't bother me at all.

• I liked that not every main character lived. In most big Hollywood fims, all the main characters SOME HOW pull thru. While I expected Bo to pull thru it all as the main overall character, I was pleasantly surprised that Nadia did not. It's just nice to see a little realism that "not everyone makes it".

What I didn't like: The US military is shown combating the alien onslaught in Kenya as the movie opens. Troops are down all over the place and the main character is blown off his feet. Later in the movie Bo and Nadia are stopped on the road by the Kenyan Army who threaten to kill Bo because there are rumors that the Americans are behind this. Secondly - later in the film they say the United States is no more, along with other countries, and they could be the last ones left. They also said that the satellites fell from the sky so there is no way to communicate with foreign nations.

Here is the conundrum with the above: How can America be behind it all if they don't exist anymore? And how do you know they don't exist anymore if you have no way of contacting them? Hmmm... kinda doesn't make sense at all. And not sure why they would think America could be behind it if the US military was clearly shown fighting and dying against these alien machines like everyone else. Seems like the creator of the movie didn't think this through first.

Also, the portrayal of combat in the film is the last thing from strategic. Everyone with a gun wants to run into the open to take a shot at the big bad alien with the weapon 100,000 times more powerful.. instant later they're smoke. Come on people, are we really this dumb?

Then the main character Bo was being used as a "tracker" by the alien army, how exactly did this work? It seems the aliens had no clue who he was until they "scanned" him. Then they were like - oh, you're the tracker - I don't kill you. That makes little to no sense as a tracking system. If I lost my keys and had no clue where they where until I saw them and scanned them with something and said - yep here they are - then it's a pointless system.

This is proven in the scene when Bo is shown sneaking up behind the aliens to throw a grenade at one of them. The aliens have no clue he's there until they scan him. Same thing on the street earlier on when he was injured. An alien had to scan him first. This was absolutely pointless.

Finally, I don't like it when movies make it seem like there is one random smart dude in the world who has figured out a way to "take 'em out" when the rest of the world - including the most educated and powerful nations "all couldn't figure it out - and are now toast". Give me a break. Not even half way through the movie I already figured out an effective strategy similar to what was used. I'm SURE many others around the world would have developed similar if not way better strategies and have been taking them down already.

But at least this isn't as dumb as "Independence Day" when hero Jeff Goldblum uploads a measly virus to wreck havoc on the WAY ULTRA ADVANCED ALIEN SUPER COMPUTERS because they're not smart enough to have a firewall or anti-virus system. Sigh - typical Hollywood.

Could have been a lot better and more original

[LilyDaleLady · 2/10 · 26 June 2020]

I don't like dumping on small low budget indie films by first time directors, because everybody has to start somewhere and not everyone is a Spielberg. But this is pretty lame. First viewing, I fell asleep during "Revolt", so I gave it another shot. So many problems, but what's the first and biggest in all such endeavors? THE SCRIPT. Someone needed to go over this with a red pencil BEFORE money got spent.

Let's start with the name: "Revolt"? it's not even about a revolution. And the word "Resist" is used all through the film to symbolize the human struggle to survive an alien invasion! A quick parsing of IMDb shows both names have been used multiple times in various films, so why "Revolt"? It makes no sense. Plus, it helps nothing that the cover art makes it look like a third-rate Xbox game and not a movie, and whoever did the art, must have created it BEFORE they knew who the lead was....because it doesn't resemble him at all. (Lee Pace was a last minute replacement for the original lead Alex Russell.)

Then the plot, such as it is -- a rehash of every alien invasion film since "Terminator" -- I can't even list every one -- definitely most of all this wants to be "DIstrict 9", which was also filmed in South Africa (here, subbing for Kenya). But also War of the Worlds and Battle Los Angeles and The Darkest Hours....probably more I can't remember this minute. The special effect where people go "poof!" and explode is way overused. The alien robots look just like other ones in every sci fil film of the last 20 years. CGI has sadly made it all too easy to pop this into movies; so easy they have it on ordinary TV shows. Nothing original here at all.

Plot? A US special forces solider stationed in Kenya during a world invasion by aliens (huh? is the US occupying Kenya? did it ever?) is injured and wakes up in a Kenya prison cell with his memory gone. Good news though! the cell next door houses a gorgeous French doctor played by Berenice Marlohe -- an actual former Bond girl! I mean, what the luck! could have been another guy -- or a 55 year old female doctor -- or a 14 year old girl. But no, it's a gorgeous super-hottie! The gimmick is the soldier can't remember his name. (SPOILER ALERT: I sat through this out of grim determination to find out his real name, because I thought it was a clue that would wrap up the action. I'm saving you that effort. It's never revealed. He remembers everything at the end, even his childhood address -- why would that be on his t-shirt anyhow? -- but sticks with the name "Bo" that the hottie girl gave him. Huh?)

The two of them wander around, encountering both aliens and rebels. At some point, they improbably find a cool 1950s RED convertible in perfect condition which has GASOLINE IN IT -- in the middle of Kenya, during an alien invasion? and drive around in it. I mean, it's not conspicuous or anything! RED! then the aliens grab Ms. Marlohe and she's never seen again. Despite not so much as a sidelong glance or even a kiss, the film decides they were about to fall in love (??? again, what if she was 55 or 14? pretty convenient she's smokin' hot, isn't it?) The end of the movie is a sentimental montage about how fantastic she was. I guess he feels bad he didn't even manage to cop a feel.

This movie is a waste of time for the talented Lee Pace, who's done vastly better work over the years and probably by now deserves a cool leading man role. This wasn't it, going direct to video after languishing for 3 years. He's miscast as a Jason Bourne type (guy who forgets his name and why he's here, but still retains mad military fighting skills and reflexes). I wonder why they didn't make HIM the doctor and HER the US soldier! or make him the photographer/journalist? Pace has a gentle, puppy-dog face that just doesn't convince me that he's a stone cold military killer.

I am also reminded that in the original "Terminator" -- the ur-movie for this kind of "run from the CGI alien robot!" franchise -- what makes THAT film stand out and still be the gold standard after 35 years, is the LOVE story between Sarah O'Connor and Kyle Reese (Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn, in terrific & unforgettable parts). It's their tenderness contrasting with the cold monstrous cyborg that lifts that classic film above all the rest. All this time, and newbie directors/writers STILL DON'T GET IT.

"War of the Worlds" meets "District 9"

[mzand-751-539572 · 9/10 · 6 July 2017]

I have a saying. We die hard sci-fi fans have to suffer for our sci-fi -- meaning we endure some pretty awful stuff just to get a hit of our favorite genre. Most of the suffering involves sitting through badly written and acted low budget indies with cheesy special effects. However every now and then, we are rewarded by a gem of a film like "Revolt," that overachieves and dazzles us.

Set in Africa, after an alien invasion that has wiped out the rest of world, a small group of survivors makes humanity's last stand. A big idea, right? One that could go wrong in so many ways but writer/director Joe Miale, along with co-writer Rowan Athale's smart and unsentimental script avoids all the usual pitfalls. It's smart, efficient and always to the point. The CGI aliens are terrific and director Miale seamless blending of CGI with the live action create the kind of tense and visually rich hellscape we like to see in our post apocalypse movies. Lee Pace is a welcome surprise as an action hero and along with an equally talented cast make this one of the best alien invasion films to come along in a long while.

While not a waste of time, still a very average sci-fi

[hypersonic8999 · 6/10 · 24 September 2017]

* This review might contain very minor spoilers in the fourth paragraph *

Earth has been invaded by alien robots. Humanity has largely been defeated. The film follows a soldier who lost his memory and a doctor as they try to survive and find the remnants of humanity, in the closing days of the invasion.

Considering its budget, the film is a technical masterpiece. The camera work is good. The settings and atmosphere of the film is really great. They manage to pull off the post-apocalypse pretty well. There's some really solid special effects, which is surprising for a film of this calibre. The sound effects are satisfying. The acting isn't lacking and the direction is all in all OK. The plot is simple and to the point, but we need to talk about the writing a bit.

This film didn't work for me for two reasons: There's a big chunk around the beginning and middle of the film where essentially nothing is happening. It's just two people walking the savanna. I guess it gives us exposition on the destruction the aliens have wrought, but it's not that impressive. There's a couple action sequences in this part that kinda break the monotony but they are over quick. There's some really cringe montage shots spread throughout, that I didn't like at all, didn't achieve anything to connect me with the protagonists, and broke the immersion to an extent.

The other reason is that the film doesn't explain anything. Who are the aliens? Why are they here? Why are they gathering up people? What are those fighter jets flying overhead every couple days that don't seem to do anything? In my opinion this is the mark of an extremely poor sci-fi film. Particularly this film whose characters never really connected with me. I didn't care if they lived or died frankly. The only thing keeping me interested were the questions about the aliens. And then the film just ended without explaining anything. This is a cop-out by action "sci-fi" films that try to avoid plot-holes by not having an actual sci-fi plot. Just stuff that looks like sci-fi.

So while it's a competently-made film, it is not an enticing film. It's enjoyable to watch, even entertaining in a lot of moments, but for the most part it's either boring or barely engaging. I would recommend watching it if you like films of this kind. You'll like it. It's just not for me. And if you are like me, then it's likely you'll be far less forgiving than I was.

Terrible

[tlarraya · 2/10 · 24 September 2017]

This movie is terrible. We knew going in that this was a B movie but it was supposed to be a good B movie. That is not the case. It was good to see Lee Pace in a movie nonetheless (Halt and Catch Fire) but the movie was terrible. Just a waste of time. Skip this if you can. Don't say we didn't warn you. Give this a miss and save some time to do something else.