Occupation: Rainfall (2020) User Reviews

Let down by poor acting

[kate-buccilli · 5/10 · 31 January 2021]

I am a little apprehensive about the authenticity of the reviews on this page. This is an honest user review with no affiliation to the film.

This movie is action-packed with some incredible CGI and was, overall, relatively entertaining. The story-line was not fantastic but okay, by all standards a typical alien invasion must-save-the-world-at-all-costs vibe. However, it was unfortunately let down by some very sub-par acting (unfortunately by some of the main characters), some bad script and so much flashing/CGI/chaos during war scenes that it was sometimes hard to keep up with what was going on (perhaps deliberate to create drama but sometimes felt overdone).

Overall, I would say that this was an improvement on the first film (particularly in terms of CGI and overall production quality) but still lacked in its choice of actors and script.

Lots of shill ratings

[ronnchinn · 4/10 · 3 June 2021]

Plenty of action and special effects but the storyline is a confusing mess. Don't buy all the high ratings 4 is about right.

Not every movie needs to be Citizen Kane

[fordhamfamily-10245 · 6/10 · 17 August 2021]

For Pete's sake, so much elitist posturing. A movie can just be fun, and this one is. Yes, it's your standard alien invasion movie, but it has amazing visual effects, neat makeup and most importantly, rousing excitement. If this was a horrible film, I'd say so. No, I don't work for the studio. No, I'm not friends with the director. But as much as I love Seven Samurai, I can also appreciate having a good time. So chill out and have some fun!

Very mediocre film

[gpx_fto · 2/10 · 8 April 2021]

I honestly question the truth behind some of these reviews. Very apparent that they don't match the film once you watch it.

Bad acting, uninteresting storyline and just tries too hard.

I walked out.

I'm not going to rate this highly just because I should support local talent. Let's call an apple and apple and a sub par movie a sub par movie.

Not good.

Flawed in so many places

[louis-mar · 1/10 · 28 January 2021]

When I see reviews like this I get really suspicious about the legitimacy of the reviews on IMDB. Yes, I know its an Aussie movie and support the Australian film industry and everything. But to have crew members or friends come and put up reviews which are just not accurate is lying to people. The movie has great special effects, really amazing. No complaints there. But that's about all it has going for it. The story is so disjointed and incongruent, it just doesn't flow. One minute people are in one place, and the story skips and you're like "did I just miss something?". There's also notable continuity errors. An example is one of the actors gets splashed by 'clear' alien blood, then in the next shot its a blue/black colour. I don't believe this is just a case of 'its not your taste in movies', I'm a big sci-fi fan, it's just some people didn't do their job well on this movie - mainly the screen writers. There's other good Aussie movies out at the moment which are far better made, like 'Dry' or 'The Furnace' - I'd recommend them over this.

Did I see the same film?

[stevewalsh-13785 · 3/10 · 11 February 2021]

Wanted to like this film but can't for the life of me understand how it rates here as well as it does. Started well but soon deteriorates into a chaotic mess. Most of the effects and live action sequences are confused and lack impact. The performances are amateurish to acceptable. Over long and still there is "Chapter 2!" - Makes one appreciate "Beyond Skyline".

Wow actually wondering if those low ratings are fake

[kaefab · 7/10 · 13 June 2021]

So no the movie is not gonna win an Oscar, but its not that bad either.

The special effects are pretty good not sure if anyone saying different saw the movies from the asylum. Its not star wars but they try to make it feel a bit like it.

Reminds me of terminator mixed with independence day on a lower budget.

There is less then a handful of known actors and all others are Australian actors so if you don't come from there a good chance they are unknown.

Take it for what it is a sci fi action and nothing more.

Occupation: Rainfall shows what's wrong with modern blockbusters.

[nicchang · 3/10 · 4 February 2021]

I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark on the big screen and it was one of the most glorious and spectacular cinematic experiences in my lifetime. To see these classics on the big screen just makes me happy and it's one of the greatest and most finely executed blockbusters that never gets old. Almost immediately after that, I watched Occupation: Rainfall... it became a reminder as to why I'm frustrated by today's modern blockbusters.

The only thing that's worth complimenting about Occupation: Rainfall is that it's an Australian effort to make a regional blockbuster and I'm interested to know the budget and filmmaking process behind the film. There's clearly a larger budget than the first film and Occupation: Rainfall presents itself as an ambitious sequel so it's going all out with what it has and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed by the overall efforts... but crikey, it's about as dumb and irritating as a Hollywood blockbuster, and just because it's a bigger film doesn't mean it's better.

Occupation: Rainfall is visually unpleasant viewing from start to finish. It wants to be a visual spectacle, but it suffers largely from an overabundance of terrible CGI, poor lighting and lens flares, and noticeable green screen. Accompanied by a generic score and overwhelmingly loud sound design that can make dialogue incomprehensible, it's a technical mess. It also has editing so irritating that it gave me Resident Evil: The Final Chapter flashbacks, particularly in one action sequence towards the climax. The action does have entertainment value and I did enjoy it... whenever it was clear and comprehensible (that was rare) and I had more fun counting the jumpcuts in my mind.

While Occupation: Rainfall was never going to be great story-wise, it's also boring. Some of the dialogue is awful, the characterisations feel thin and the storytelling reeks of a generic nature, but where the writing tremendously fails is in its attempts to craft emotion. The emotional beats felt like unearned attempts to create audience investment and at the same time, it awkwardly injects comic relief that proves more to be distracting than unfunny, causing Occupation: Rainfall to suffer from tonal inconsistencies. Most of the performances fall flat to the point of being forgettable, but I was especially disappointed to see Jason Isaacs wasted in a terrible voice role and Ken Jeong deserves better comic material than what he's given. It's a blockbuster full of so many sci-fi clichés and ill-judged decisions that it led me to wonder how this got made. And knowing that the first movie played at only 16 cinemas and made $35,111 from a $6 million budget, it seems a third movie will be inevitably greenlit. And that's hinted by the atrocious cliffhanger ending, which is desperate to create a new Australian film franchise and go Full Hollywood on us.

Watching movies like Occupation: Rainfall mostly shows what's wrong with modern blockbusters. While I'll admit I'm impressed by the production values, some of the action and the overall ambition put into the direction, they all led to a safe and painfully generic end result that doesn't have much heart and it fails when it comes to both the technical and storytelling elements.

Plot and Characters (2/10) Presentation and Direction (4/10) Acting (4/10) Script (2/10) Setting/Locations (4/10) Tone/Action (4/10) Cinematography/Visuals (4/10) Sound/Music (4/10) Editing (2/10) Pacing/Length (2/10)

Score: 32/100.

LIKES: +Ambitious production values +Some entertainment value in the action

DISLIKES: -Flat, wasted performances -Generic story relies on safe clichés and unearned emotion -Uninteresting, thin characters -Messy visuals and editing -Irritatingly loud sound design -Slightly overlong runtime, boring pacing

Mostly fun, action-packed sci-fi

[gavinp9 · 7/10 · 5 February 2021]

'Occupation: Rainfall' is a sequel to the low-budget Australian-alien-invasion film from 2018 - but this time it's bigger and better - in all respects. Returning from the first film, attempting to save Sydney, are Matt (Ewing), Amelia (Tranter, in place of Jacobsen), Marcus (Go) and Dennis (Gerred), who are joined again by Peter (Morrison) & Bella (Stevens) in the third act. This time, they're helped by General Abraham (Roberts), Wing Commander Hayes (Gillies), Captain Wessex (Coles Smith) and Gary (Makoare), one of the 'greys'. The film wastes no time is setting up where things are - the aliens have essentially destroyed most of the world, and only small pockets of resistance remain, such as Sydney. The survivors then evacuate to the Blue Mountains.

Director Sparke has a much bigger budget this time, and isn't afraid to use it, with the aliens being a good mix of costumes and CGI, and the spaceships and air battles are really well done. This is definitely not a Hollywood film, but he does well to blend all the film's inspirations - 'Star Wars', 'Avatar', 'Predator' - into a mostly-cohesive whole. At the film's core is Matt - hero from the first film who despises the "maggots" - being forced to team up with "Gary", one of the aliens who is now on the humans' side. Gary is also the most well-rounded character - and gets some good fight scenes too!

As always with Aussie cinema, it's good to see local scenery, although a bit of it is CGI-Sydney in ruins! Still the Blue Mountains look nice - but I'm not sure why it's not snowing there if it is snowing where the small village is, presumably near Jindabyne. Near the end, Bud (Jeong) and Steve (Issacs, another alien) provide some comedic relief and a futile battle takes place, leaving everything set up for a third film. Doesn't always hit the mark, some stilted dialogue, but a good score, some well-made battles, believable alien villains, a bigger question of "do humans deserve our planet?" and an undercurrent of "what would I do in this situation?"

Terrible

[errornl · 2/10 · 4 June 2021]

Disjointed story-line with massive skips, continuity errors, wooden acting where most seem to just call it a day and blurt out lines.

It's below mediocre... Those 7 to 10 star raving reviews are beyond fishy.

But the fact that those ratings are either bought or placed by well intending simpletons and relatives is more entertaining then that 2 and half hours of badly scripted budget CGI nonsense.

I've seen bad, and this is NOT it!!!

[logisticus69 · 8/10 · 21 November 2021]

I've read all of the reviews, good and bad, and I must say that haters will hate. Having seen thousands of movies in my time, I have been exposed to trash that just never should have been made.

With that said, where these negative reviews come from is beyond me. This movie has some flaws, but I am hard pressed to single any out as reasons to avoid this sci-fi gem.

One positive review labelled this movie as "fun", and its the best word I can think of to describe this 2 hour alien invasion epic. The effects were phenomenal, the story easy to follow once you allow yourself to have an open mind, and contains LOTS of action. The producers used their budget wisely, as I would easily compare this to any big budget Hollywood garbage coming out these days.

My only complaint was that, at times, the dialogue was difficult to hear or understand. Not sure if it was inadequate sound mixing, or just unintelligible mumbling. It did detract from my enjoying the movie at times, but I got over it.

And again, having read all of the reviews before watching the movie, I just didnt see where or how this movie earned such hostility and nonsensical critiques. So, watch it for yourselves folks and enjoy the ride... it might not be a 9 or 10, but it definitely earned ratings of 5 and above from any serious movie goer.

Who let the Grays out?

[nogodnomasters · 7/10 · 7 February 2021]

This is the sequel to "Occupation" 2018 film although at the end of the film it claimed to be chapter 1 indicating there will be more. In this film (mini spoilers) we discover that the Grays struck the Earth with a meteor in order to kill off the dinosaurs and make it habitable for themselves. They went into hibernation for a few hundred million years and saw that man, a "freak of evolution" was here and needed to be removed from their planet. (Their home planet had died).

There are Grays that help the humans fight. The film opens up with a ton of confusing action and no character introductions, which come later into the film. Ken Jeong and Jason Isaacs provide us with some humor and colorful characters as opposed to grunt fighters we must endure the whole film.

You can watch this film without having seen the last one. They catch you up with a couple of sentences.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Nothing New

[The-Sarkologist · 3/10 · 9 February 2021]

Honestly, I'm rather surprised that this film has as high a rating that it does, considering that it really wasn't anything new. Okay, it does show you what you can do on a minimal budget, and it is sort of good seeing an Australian film maker making a sci-fi epic, though just because it is Australian, and sci-fi, doesn't necessarily make it any good. I guess my biggest issue with this film was that it just wasn't all that original. Basically it starts off where the previous film ends, and some of the aliens have decided to switch sides. They then learn that there happens to be an artifact located in Pine Gap, an American military installation near Alice Springs. As such a small group decide to make their way there so that they can see if they can use it against the Aliens. They reached Pine Gap, and a big fight started, at which point I proceeded to fall alseep. That's what I mean that there wasn't anything particularly new with regards to this film. In a way it had basically borrowed way too much from other movies, and other than the fact that it was set in Australia, there wasn't really anything uniquely Australian about it. Like, for instance, it would have been much, much better if they had decided to include some indigenous Australians as a part of the team heading to Pine Gap, and it isn't as if there aren't any available to participate in films - there are plenty. Another thing is that the Pine Gap scene was just silly. It felt as if they had decided to rip the entire Area 51 scene right out of Independence Day, right down to the eccentric scientist that was just plain annoying. In fact, that was the point that a couple decided to walk out of the cinema, and honestly, I don't blame them. Yeah, while I sort of support Australian film, they still have to be good, and there are certainly some pretty good ones out there. Unfortunately this isn't one of them, which sort of makes me wonder why this film has such a high rating on IMDB.

Absolute shocker (and not in a good way)

[ianparkinson-47437 · 1/10 · 31 January 2021]

Not sure where to start Looks like it was made by a bunch of students who couldn't get into uni because of COVID Poor acting Effects standard of 20 years ago Storyline all over the place Couldn't wait to get out

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse , on the screen it says Chapter 1, surely there isn't going to be a Chapter 2 of this rubbish

Save your money and go and watch Monster Hunter

Yawn. Star Wars this ain't

[patrickjames-41485 · 1/10 · 28 January 2021]

If I've seen a more boring and less original movie, then I've forgotten it. Like I'm going to forget this one. If you don't have something better to do than watch this movie, then find something. Truly awful.

So much explosive action - but I still yawned...

[brucefinch · 6/10 · 3 February 2021]

Watching this knowing it's such a personal project, I was definitely impressed with the overall effect. But... though Sparke does a sterling job emulating the appearance of the franchise he loves so much - I felt he fell well short of Star Wars' emotional involvement. That said, every actor gives 100% embodying their character - to the point where I almost cared about them. Almost... Our connection with the key players is so thin that among all the brilliantly staged action choreography, I genuinely found myself yawning. In a spectacle on this scale that shouldn't happen. The light relief from Ken Jeong and his mate was a bit jarring against the sheer earnestness of every other character - but, again, they played it for all they were worth... The special effects were dazzling and virtually flawless - on the odd occasion you could 'see the joins' it was easy enough to suspend disbelief and go with the flow. And it was nice, as an Australian, to see all the recognisable landmarks. So, kudos for pulling off what they did - even if it was a bit silly and uninvolving at times. Footnote: 2 hours in I began to suspect they weren't going to wind things up... then, sure enough - It's only Chapter One! They didn't tell me THAT going in...

Mediocre Sci-Fi Movie

[angelkitteh-32778 · 5/10 · 5 June 2021]

Current IMDB score of 5.4 is not too far away from the mark. I'd say it's around 4 to 5.5ish if I really push it. It's a very generic sci fi flick that doesn't aspire to be something greater or deeper than your typical shoot em up where all aspects of the story are skimmed through so you aren't really invested in any of them except staring at action scenes after action scenes.

Out of everything I thought the coolest thing was the alien queen's armor. Some parts of CGI were well made but it was generally inconsistent and towards the poorer side. I think with a budget of 25 million AUD they could've done better, perhaps take out a few action scenes but flesh out the rest and of course the script. But I enjoyed it nevertheless as I knew what to expect.

Another one

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 5 August 2021]

So apparently there is another one of these ... before this. I had no idea and just discovered it here on imdb. Obviously I can therefor not tell you how this fairs and how it does continue to tell the story of the previous installment. Also this seems to be open for another sequel too ... whatever floats your boat (or spacecraft).

The action and effects are pretty solid, considering the low budget this must have had. Nice little movie that could and if you are into B-movies you may find it better than others. The characters have not too much depth, but there is some development - so at least something.

Average

[rodgers316 · 5/10 · 29 January 2021]

This isn't 10 stars nor is i 1 star - so ignore those reviews. If you saw the first movie then you are getting nothing better than that. The acting is quite poor as is the camera work. Just know it's 2 hours and a bit and it never quite gets any good at all.

Australians can make impressive movies (go see The Dry) but this one is a bit embarrassing and shouldn't be in cinemas, should have gone straight to Netflix

Entertainment on a budget

[philpop · 8/10 · 5 February 2021]

I watched the first installment with an open mind and enjoyed it thoroughly. Yeah its a bit cheesy and low budget but it was good to see an alien invasion movie told from an Aussie point of view. Like the first this one is entertaining it's not without it's flaws but this is purely made up sci-fi fantasy so who cares its a nice escape from our covid plagued world and shows, hey thing could be much worse. The cast is great and look forward to seeing them again in the next installment and will watch this again numerous times when it comes to Netflix.

Not bad.

[serinawhatt · 7/10 · 29 January 2021]

I can't say I didn't enjoy this because I did. It's not a perfect movie, but what movie is perfect let's be honest...

Brainless action and even more brainless storyline.

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 5/10 · 16 June 2021]

Talk about milking the action scenes; of the 128 minute runtime of this well-funded B-movie, half is many unnecessarily long, dragged out and pointless action scenes, that are also poorly choreographed.

The other half is the most convoluted and basic-as-it-gets cliched story, from a frustratingly derivative screenplay. There are more plot and technical issues than running-time minutes. If you take every popular sci-fi like Star Wars, Star Trek etc, and throw them in a blender, this is the story you would get.

It's a shame, because the although overused and mostly dated S/VFX, alongside some excellent prosthetic costumes, and for the most part some adequate acting (how the heck did Ken Jeong end up in this?), this film had tons of potential. I never saw the first one, which apparently was much worse than this one, but who if funding this sinking ship? And there's going to be a part 3?! Are the Australian tax write-off's for lost revenue that amazing?

Had writer and director Luke Sparke at least consulted a seasoned sci-fi writer, there'd be hope for a cohesive story that would have continuity - and be exciting. Maybe he'll figure that out for part 3. And please stop that annoying, unfitting and overbearing non-stop score on your next film, I wanted to stick pencils in my ears to stop the pain. It's a very generous 5/10 from me.

waste of time

[poppsy69 · 1/10 · 4 June 2021]

Don't bother folks... seems like a decent story but just so under done it's a waste of your life.

Movie (not even) for kids

[BogdanH · 2/10 · 3 June 2021]

And another waste of time movie.

This movie has nothing to do with "sci" part of sci-fi. No idea where from such high rating comes... maybe covid influences good taste?

I won't go into what's wrong in this movie, because list would be too long. But in short: everything.

I didn't know that's a sequel of another movie and according to some "reviewers", it's better than the first one... Now I feel a bit happier.. by knowing there exist even a worse one.

Just awful

[gordon_sharpe · 1/10 · 3 June 2021]

I got ten minutes in and it felt like ten years. Only watch if you hate yourself.