Alpha (2018)

[Robert Crawford]

Title: Alpha

Tagline: Experience the incredible story of how mankind discovered man's best friend

Genre: Thriller, Adventure

Director: Albert Hughes

Cast: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Priya Rajaratnam, Leonor Varela, Jens Hultén, Natassia Malthe, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Mercedes de la Zerda, Patrick Flanagan, Spencer Bogaert, Michael Kruse-Dahl, Marcin Kowalczyk, Louis Lay, Blake Point, Kyle Glenn Thomas, Taran Kootenhayoo, Nestor de la Zerda, Nashon Douglas

Release: 2018-08-17

Plot: After a hunting expedition goes awry, a young caveman struggles against the elements to find his way home.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

I'm seeing it tonight in IMAX 3-D.

I'll be curious to see how many complaints start appearing on Twitter from people who have no idea that it's subtitled. Supposedly there is very little dialogue, so it probably has fewer subtitled lines than A Quiet Place.

 

[Tino]

PETA is asking audiences to boycott the film because some Bison were killed during production.

 

[Malcolm R]

PETA is asking audiences to boycott the film because some Bison were killed during production.

Sounds like a good reason. There's no excuse to be killing animals to make movies.

 

[dpippel]

The bison were not killed for the film, according to a source close to the production. They were previously slaughtered animals purchased from a meat processing company. This was all investigated back in 2016, when the movie was titled The Solutrean:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/peta-calls-boycott-alpha-animal-deaths-allegation-1135323

 

[Malcolm R]

This was all investigated back in 2016, when the movie was titled The Solutrean:

Well, if recent events in Hollywood have taught us anything, it doesn't matter when it happened, whether or not it's already been investigated, or what the circumstances were. It demands a response and additional action here and now!

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Saw this IMAX 3D tonight - yay, A-List! - and liked it.

I suspect it'll be much more entertaining if you love dogs like I do, but it's still well-made. It avoids too much schmaltz and provides a pretty engaging little adventure.

Though I think it ends too abruptly!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I saw it IMAX 3D, am not a dog person, and still really liked it! I actually loved the ending - too many movies these days don’t know when to bow out and this one did. Really thrilling, some very nice 3D too.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I saw it IMAX 3D, am not a dog person, and still really liked it! I actually loved the ending - too many movies these days don’t know when to bow out and this one did. Really thrilling, some very nice 3D too.

I just thought the end was a little sudden.

Spoiler

They go on this long, epic journey and then - boom! - "we're home!"

Just seemed a little sudden, like they were about to run out of film so they said "let's stop here!"

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Spoiler

Go figure, that’s exactly what I liked about it. The one-two-three punch of them making it home, Alpha giving birth, and then seeing the two of them with the little puppies, nothing was gonna top that for me, so I was happy for the movie to have ended there on that emotional high.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Spoiler

Go figure, that’s exactly what I liked about it. The one-two-three punch of them making it home, Alpha giving birth, and then seeing the two of them with the little puppies, nothing was gonna top that for me, so I was happy for the movie to have ended there on that emotional high.

To be clear, I was fine with the "coda". It was the

Spoiler

long, long difficult journey - hey, we're home!

part I didn't like...

 

[RobertR]

Well, if recent events in Hollywood have taught us anything, it doesn't matter when it happened, whether or not it's already been investigated, or what the circumstances were. It demands a response and additional action here and now!

It's called virtue signaling.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

To be clear, I was fine with the "coda". It was the

Spoiler

long, long difficult journey - hey, we're home!

part I didn't like...

No worries, I totally understand - I just liked that aspect for exactly the reasons you didn’t.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

To be clear, I was fine with the "coda". It was the

Spoiler

long, long difficult journey - hey, we're home!

part I didn't like...

Spoiler

What did you expect? That they would never make it home?

 

[benbess]

The gender roles seemed stereotyped to me, but otherwise I thought it was a good movie.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The gender roles seemed stereotyped to me, but otherwise I thought it was a good movie.

What do you mean by stereotyped?

 

[benbess]

What do you mean by stereotyped?

I don't think the record is clear about whether women hunted in prehistoric times. My guess is that they did. But in the movie the hunting party is all men, and women seem to be relegated to keeping up the homefront. Women are only on screen for maybe 10% of the movie, if that.

https://news.nationalgeographic.com...women-manual-labor-stronger-athletes-science/

 

[Robert Crawford]

I don't think the record is clear about whether women hunted in prehistoric times. My guess is that they did. But in the movie the hunting party is all men, and women seem to be relegated to keeping up the homefront. Women are only on screen for maybe 10% of the movie, if that.

https://news.nationalgeographic.com...women-manual-labor-stronger-athletes-science/

Thanks, personally that doesn't bother me as it's not germane to the main story line which is the young man and his wolf.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I enjoyed it (Thanks, MoviePass!), even got an Alpha keychain with a ticket purchase too.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Spoiler

What did you expect? That they would never make it home?

No - I just expected that event to be depicted in a more dramatic way. As shown, it seemed like an afterthought...