Tom Stephenson

On the one hand, this is a watchable and enjoyable film. Great cinematography and some good acting, from Riz Ahmed himself but also from the actors playing his two young sons who have great acting futures ahead of them, no doubt. On the other hand, the storytelling and overall tone of the movie were somehow off. The central conceit, and the story etched out in act one, is that Ahmed’s marine has knowledge of an alien life form which infects humans and he feels compelled to save his two young sons from the threat. What follows in act two is a more conventional chase/road trip movie in which Ahmed and his sons travel across the country evading those hunting them down. In the mix and fleshed out somewhat in act three is a grand old metaphor which never really feels like it has time to develop and lacks the heft to pull everything together. In my view, that’s largely because it’s tacked on at the end and because acts one and two aren’t brought together in a coherent and believable way. So what you’re left with is a bit of a mish-mash of a film, neither one thing nor the other. It’s a shame really, because there are lots of good ideas here but it just doesn’t feel like they all pull together at any stage into a coherent whole. 3/5.