Captive State is a new film that should terrify you. It is a thinly-veiled look at what the Democratic Party is trying to do with America with their goal of disarming and subjugating the population. In the movie, an alien invading force has taken over the Earth 10 years earlier by hiding behind a false story of governing us for our own good and peaceful existence. Sound familiar yet? The film concentrates on a Chicago neighbourhood where a group of people have decided that the alien force is truly evil and must be stopped. The rebel group calls itself Phoenix, and like that mythical creature, they hope to bring humanity out of the ashes of slavery and back to their normal, pre-invasion lives.
John Goodman is Chicago police officer William Mulligan, who has the dubious task of uniting humanity against the extraterrestrial invaders. He recruits Gabriel Drummond (Ashton Sanders) for help. Gabriel is the son of a fallen soldier who was among the first to lead the Phoenix rebellion, and they lead an assault on the areas that are marked “off limits to humans” Unfortunately, the script by Erica Beeney and Rupert Wyatt (who also directed) is so muddled that the cast, itself a mix of known and unknown talent, overact, making even the most ludicrous situations seem straight instead of comedic, casting a pall on what could have been a thrilling action-adventure story.
The cinematography is laden with dark, hard-to decipher CGI and much too great an expanse of outdoor “establishing shots”. In the end, it gives the impression of many movies and storylines trying to copulate with themselves in order to create a much-hoped-for wonder child instead of one overblown “what if?” film. The younger actors carry the whole thing, whatever it is, with much more applomb than the established veterans. This could have been a great piece of work, but as I said in the beginning, it merely serves as a public service announcement for what the Democrats hope they will lead America into if they can defeat President Trump.
The Chief's Smoke Signals 