Captive State

Audience Reviews

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Finn M Apr 15, 2019 'Captive State' is an intriguing yet messy science fiction film that suffers from a weak script and an unrealized potential.

Draco W Apr 14, 2019 You wouldn't be able to tell from it's colorful paint bomb poster that "Captive State" is actually a dark, gritty, minimalist tale of humans uprising against an occupied alien force. I don't even remember seeing ads for "Captive State" on TV or reading about it on the internet. But director Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) offers a bleak, resourceful movie about a group of human insurgents struggling to inflict damage at the heart of the 'closed zone' in downtown Chicago (which has been transformed into a nightmarish landscape by human conscripts). It's 9 years since first contact and the aliens have taken over the world, closed off all major cities, and they've implanted worms in everyone's neck to monitor human activity. Human spies are everywhere and the aliens (nicknamed "The Roaches" or "The Legislators") are making a big public appearance at Soldier Field to further demonstrate their cruel intentions. My favorite aspect of "Captive State" is a refreshing reliance on old technology because the aliens have stripped away all computers and smart phones. Cryptic messages are printed in newspaper ads and more important messages are sent by carrier pigeon. Nice. While "Captive State" succeeds in portraying oppression and control in the 'closed zone' it doesn't spend enough time reinforcing the alien threat. Yes the creatures are scary and they vaporize poor folks in the opening scene....but I needed to see more of them! That's right--I needed it. I'm tired of fleeting glimpses of aliens. Wyatt's aliens are beautiful CGI things too difficult to describe without making them sound stupid (...giant morphing, hairy porcupines...?). I didn't necessarily need a 'why' to the story as much as I needed a 'more' to the story...! More aliens, more uprising, more reprisals, more something. I kept thinking of a better movie like "Edge of Tomorrow" which struck a tremendous balance of threat and menace to the courage and uprising. "Captive State" is a well-made low budget film, but suffers for it. John Goodman leads a great cast but his role in the story is all over the place. Is he a friend, or is he a bad guy? Is he helping the insurgents, or is he leading them to their doom? All is made clear at the end (dismally so) but I didn't care for his character in the least. The final solution is interesting, but the story would have made a better limited TV series because there's so much potential wasted on this movie's short run time. I'm glad I got to see "Captive State" but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it again. See more

Hagrid R Apr 6, 2019 The second lamest movie of 2019 till now. No tension, no nothing. The trailer promises a lot more than the movie delivers. Well, I should have known better seeing that John Goodman was the only famous actor as, though he isn't a bad one, I can't recall a single movie with him that stuck to my mind as something outstanding. The shooting is poor (handheld camera most of the time) which sometimes even gets you dizzy. Another director could have also surely squeezed out more from the story. As it is, it was 2 hours of slow nothingness. 2/10 points See more

Apr 5, 2019 Great concept that is undone by low budget and the need to keep the story small enough to fit that budget. There were a couple of great Ocean's 11 or Mission Impossible "follow the spy" scenes that were very well done. But overall the movie may be too busy hiding its plot and twists for you to really enjoy them. Too many mysteries and too much unexplained. With all the mysteries you don't really care for any of the characters and thus don't really care what happens to them. See more

Albus S Apr 1, 2019 I so much regret to have spent my $$$ on this half cooked boring mess. I actually fell asleep for around 10 minutes, but I could not leave the theatre because my bro and his fiancee were there too See more

Ron R Apr 1, 2019 I can honestly say I appreciate the collaboration of director Rupert Wyatt and writer Erica Beeney. A MUST SEE Sci-Fi Thriller. This movie is about an extraterrestrial take over and a human rebellion that takes place in Chicago. The movie is Brilliantly done, I'm surprised that is not categorized as a Sci-fi, Thriller, Suspense. Pay close attention to everything that's happening in the movie from beginning to end, the movie will leave you with your mouth open saying WOW. See more

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Captive State

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