directed by:
Christian Jude Grillo written by: Christian Jude Grillo genre: Sci-Fi |
I’ve always got time for a stowaway-based plotline! As I read over what “INTRUDER” was going to be about, I felt like there was going to be a great chance I’d be interested in this latest offering from Writer/Director Christian Jude Grillo. The loose details are that an “underground fighter and her estranged father steal a spacecraft to escape a dying Earth.” While that was immediately interesting to me on a personal level and sensing that we’d be in-store for a movie that had very few characters and locations (which I tend to love), when we actually meet the “underground fighter and her estranged father” for the first time, it’s a complete game-changer. I went from thinking this would potentially be a somewhat run-of-the-mill space flick to thinking we might be watching something more along the lines of a classic odd couple pairing. Bree (Dana Godfrey) seems like a warrior with an unhinged persona, and it’s clear that Mr. Hewitt (Andrew Hunsicker) is a businessman and very different from her in just about every way. Smoke (Kenneth McGregor) is just about washed up permanently, and at the end of his run, a character who is leaning into the role of a shady agent who is known to not exactly always bring the best to the ring. We don’t know if Smoke is here for the moment or the long haul at first, but I like him!
“Are we all going to die? That’s the question on everyone’s mind.” The news reporter on television is as happy as usual to ratchet up the drama. The outlook sounds bleak for Earth in the background as we get to know the characters, and ultra-wealthy Jude Micah (D.C. Douglas) seems prepared to abandon ship instead of using his money & means to help fix the planet. Why fix what’s broken when we could just go and get something new? Isn’t that our attitude towards just about everything? Why would it be any different when it comes to the potential end of the world? Heck, this world…let’s just go get a new one! Justin (Christopher Inlow) and Mary (Rayna McGrath) seem to think that’s the right way to go, and they practically have their bags packed for “Second Alpha.” Mary is a bit confusing to meet…she either talks in the third person or references someone else named Mary at the same time we’re being introduced to her, and yeah, it’s weird. It’s one of those moments where you’re watching a film and feeling like this little tidbit of information might be something you should take note of, you know what I mean? That being said, it’s often tough to discern what information you need and what you don’t when you’re watching a movie for the first time, especially in the realm of Sci-Fi. I’m not gonna be the guy to tell you that “INTRUDER” feels easy to follow when you’re watching it, because I genuinely don’t think that’s the case. Grillo is writing at his own pace and directing with his own unique understanding of the story, and somewhat putting the onus on us to keep up, even though we’re not half as familiar with the details as he himself would be. You’ll see snapshots of news stories and advertisements for Micah Tech starring Sali (Mae Claire), and nothing really seems to make a whole ton of sense in real time as we’re watching. Which is fair – we’re often left to piece together a plotline until we figure out what’s going on; last I checked, that’s part of the joy of watching a film to begin with, ain’t it? It takes quite a while before we finally get to the “Orion Intruder,” which is a ship designed to take folks to Second Alpha. As Bree convinces Sali to get her ass in gear and send the ship into space, it also begins to seem like Jude Micah is the space equivalent of Billy McFarland, selling a Fyre Festival in the outer limits that increasingly seems like it’s not really going to happen. People like Mary (and as it turns out, her daughter Mary – mystery solved!) are growing frustrated with the space program they signed up for, and feeling like they’re being left behind. Which, for the time being, they kinda are as Bree gets launched into space. I’m just thankful she got up there, and this movie finally got off of crummy ol’ Earth. Wouldn’t you know it, though – apparently, space isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and life up there is kinda hard to navigate? How about a scenario where you’re seemingly without food, and by the time you find any, it’s all packed in a freezer chilling out with a dead corpse? Rough right? Don’t worry, the bags of food were sealed, so I think it’s all good…but I’m by no means a nutritional expert. The drama between Micah Tech continues to ramp up, and from the sounds of things in a whistleblower’s account, the whole company is corrupt. “Fear was the sales pitch,” he explains & goes on to detail how Jude Micah was able to scare the public into buying their tickets to get off the planet. “INTRUDER” then goes on to add an extra dimension of commentary on society by explaining how the ultra-wealthy would be able to buy their way to Second Alpha, but the rest of us common people would all be stuck on Earth as it continues to crumble around us. Stacey Laurel (Britnee Glasco) helps us fill in the blanks through the details of her ongoing reports. Some of it is deadly serious, some of it is intentionally funny, but I think what Channel 1 broadcasts is pretty helpful overall in terms of leading us in the right direction as to what’s really going on here.
Acting-wise…it’s not bad, but at the same time, it’s not going to be what you write home about when it comes to watching “INTRUDER” either. Effects-wise, they’re used sparingly, which is probably for the best, but I’ll also fully admit that the added colours, and even the ship’s animation shown briefly, end up all being a good fit. It’s the loosest part of the plotline that remains the movie’s biggest asset – we don’t spend a whole lotta time with the potential stowaway and only revisit it every so often through the first hour of this film, but every time that plot point comes up, our interest & engagement rise along with it. What could be clarified a little more, perhaps, is why Bree would even care? Sure, there’s the concept of resource guarding, maybe, but it honestly just seems like she’s pissed off that she might not be alone on the ship and is determined to hunt this “INTRUDER” down. But Bree could be crazy for all we know – she’s a fighter by trade, so this could very well be a case of one too many hits to the dome. You’ll have to stay tuned if you wanna find that out. There WILL be blood…like…a LOT of it…and work being done with a pencil that would make Joe Pesci and his ballpoint pen from Casino blush the brightest of reds. I was a little tossed over the inclusion of the interludes…news stories, interviews, and whatnot. I think we’d have been completely & totally lost without them, but at the same time, it felt like we were continually being interrupted when trying to follow the bulk of what Grillo was showing us onscreen. Sometimes it’s just best to let things play out, like how you get the answers to so many of the questions you have around an hour & ten minutes into the movie at long last. It’s a commendable twist in the plotline that really does seem to bring things together in a way that makes total sense. What I felt like I enjoyed most was the commentary on rich vs. poor that Grillo threaded into this story so seamlessly, because it’s definitely one of its most believable plot points, and one that’s more relatable than ever in the current climate of haves and have-nots on what’s left of planet Earth. Unsung heroes would include Sali – I love that character and the way Mae Claire played her – and I kind of wish we got to spend a bit more time with Jude Micah as well, because D.C. Douglas was awesome too. All in all, “INTRUDER” is probably a little more fun than you’ll realize at first as it continues to lighten up along the way with its news and humor combinations…it takes a while to tune into the vibe of this film as you figure out what it is you’re really watching, but once you get there, it’s plenty enjoyable. I’m going with three and a half stars outta five for “INTRUDER” – it’s a bloody good time & deep down it’s a film with something to say. |
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