Alpha (2018)
Directed by Albert Hughes
In the prehistoric past, Keda, a young and inexperienced hunter, struggles to return home after being separated from his tribe when bison hunting goes awry. On his way back he will find an unexpected ally.
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3 films that influenced Alpha
What critics say influenced Alpha
Que nadie espere una nueva En busca del fuego (Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1981), esto es más un curioso spin-off sobre cómo el niño de Ice Age (Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha, 2002) creció convirtiéndose en el primer animalista de la historia.
When this was first announced, I was sure Sony would animate it, “Ice Age” style.
Unlike a majority of films set in prehistoric times, which simply use English as the language spoken (and typically with a British accent, for some reason), the production of Alpha is actually far closer to a movie like Mel Gibson‘s Apocalypto .
Classic survival tales like Life of Pi, 27 Hours, Into the Wild, Cast Away, All is Lost and The Revenant are equally entertaining and heartfelt.
Perhaps films like The Revenant have forever spoiled me with depictions of survival in the face of extremely harsh and seemingly insurmountable conditions, but much of Alpha feels safe.
But Keda is not dead, just badly injured, and here, at the halfway point, is when the film becomes a survivalist adventure, like a PG-13 version of The Revenant .
It’s basically The Revenant meets Barbara Woodhouse, with a hefty dollop of schmaltz, full of clichés (a tense stand-off between two chieftains that dissolves into a chuckling hug — they’re actually old friends!) and hilariously portentous subtitled dialogue (“Pain will journey with us”).
Remember in “The Revenant” where Hugh Glass went on a journey and you felt every second?
Like Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Revenant," Smit-McPhee's pained expressions are enhanced not so much by raw acting talent, but the punishingly frigid environs in which he finds himself.