Alpha: Review by @Kush_Hayes
Per my notes, Alpha, the movie directed by Hughes Brother Albert, was originally due to premier the first week of March earlier in the year. Then for some reason it was pushed forward to Mid September, but then pulled back to this week, Mid August. After what I saw last night, I have to imagine that they wanted to polish the visuals just a little bit more.
Visually, THIS MOVIE IS AMAZING. The trailers for this movie do nothing to emphasize that this is a visual masterpiece. AMC Metreon in San Francisco was only offering this in IMAX 3D. I am so glad I have the AMC Stubs AList or I may not have even seen this. And beautiful feels like an understatement. The camera executes sweeps, and pans, and pushes over not just the space, but through time like a painting.
Again this is the magic Albert Hughes exhibits for us on what really is a simple story about a boy and his dog.
Our trailer has an english narrative so when subtitles begin to pour onto the screen, at first I was confused. Then even when I knew we were only going to get subtitles for what is possible ancient Icelandic, whatever language this tribe from “Europe, 20,000 years ago” spoke, I kept expecting an English narrative to accompany us on our feature. The title card I just mentioned is the only English you get in this movie aside from the rolling end credits.
Subtitles dont bother me.
And as mentioned above, the story is incredibly simple. That’s not a negative. There’s only so many ways to tell this story. It’s only new detail is that this is “the first” occurrence of man and his best friend. It’s pretty easy to follow. You like the characters. You like the dad. You like his son, our main character. You like the various members of the tribe you only see briefly. You are sold that this is these fictitious peoples way of life at this time in “history”. And you belief the dangers suggested and presented are serious.
For a guy who doesn’t like dogs, I am compelled this year to recommend another movie about dogs (yes they’re wolves). This is a perfect movie for the family. Theres no swearing or nudity but there are elements of violence. I feel like this will not be in theaters next week due to SONYs strange marketing and managing.
Four out of Six Blueberries.
© 2018 TheBosNet Family All Rights Reserved
