DVD Review: Captive State

Captive State
[DVD Captive]

Captive State is an odd film — part science fiction, part post-apocalyptic, part political espionage thriller, and 100% depressing.

The setting is Chicago, nearly a decade after humanity was basically subjugated following an alien invasion. Much like the 1980s mini-series and single-season TV series, “V”, “V: The Final Battle” and “V: The Series”, aliens have arrived, shown they have superior technologies, and essentially take over our planet. These “Legislators” then use the humans to do their dirty work — humanity ends up split between the collaborators — who work with and for the aliens — and the dissidents — who form an underground rebellion against the aliens and try to undermine their plans.

This film chronicles the frantic actions of a small cell of rebellious humans, up against the might of the local Chicago government, which is backed by the Legislators’ tech. There are multiple layers of stories going on simultaneously. The film has a dark, gritty realism, and the few moments of science fiction we get, in views of the alien Legislators, are very limited. John Goodman is noteworthy as the head of the Chicago security forces, doing the aliens’ bidding, but most of this cast were “unknowns” to me.

It’s a well-made film, but very depressing to watch. I recommend Captive State for its drama and storytelling, but don’t go in expecting a “happy ending”.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try District 9, or Chappie.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Captive State web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!