The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

The worst thing about not being able to draw is that you can have an amazing idea of a painting in your head, but when you try to create it, it comes out looking horrible. Similarly, Captive State had a great concept, but it can’t draw.

Captive State follows young Gabriel Drummond (Ashton Sanders) as he joins the resistance against the extra-terrestrial regime that has taken control over the government, and is now being called the “legislators”. With strict rules, tracking chips, and the police working for the legislators, can Gabriel help the rebellion succeed?

The concept of Captive State is pretty cool; the human race is no longer fighting aliens to prevent them from colonising Earth, they already have. They have also set up a regime and have governmental help. Unfortunately, the film pays much more attention to that aspect rather than the aliens themselves, or how they came here in the first place. Indeed, the feature does attempt to fit all the information and plot points in the film without diverting into focusing on the aliens themselves. That being said, the aliens only appear a few times in the movie and are ridiculous looking.

The above plot excerpt makes it sound much more suspenseful than it actually is. The reason it is not as suspenseful as it could be is that you won’t really understand what is happening, who these people are, or what are they doing and why, almost 70 per cent of the time.

This can lead to two scenarios: an intrigued audience that is hungry to find out more, or a detached audience that is confused enough to completely lose interest.

The problem is the movie is not the easiest to follow as it has several supporting characters whose roles are not always identifiable; its flow of events seems abrupt and can lead to confusion. Additionally, the film’s primary focus is to withhold necessary background information from the audience until the end of the film.

As for the acting, Ashton Sanders delivered a mediocre at best performance with very little charisma and memorability due to his weak facial expressions. Playing Police Commander William Mulligan, John Goodman gave a much more powerful performance that was as minimal as it was potent with underplayed facial expression and body language that evoked much more meaning through their subtleties.

You may think this movie is about aliens, but it really isn’t; it is about what people would do if aliens ruled the world. So, if you are looking for cool alien fight scenes or sci-fi content, Captive State will probably disappoint. If, however, you’re looking for a poorly executed – yet interesting – plot concept, Captive State is undoubtedly for you!