ALPHA – Rated PG-13 – 1 hr. 36 mins.
DIRECTOR: Albert Hughes
WRITERS: Albert Hughes, Daniele Sebastian Wiedenhaupt
STARRING: Kodi Smit McPhee, Natassia Malthe, Leonor Valera and Johannes Haukur Johannesson
If you like wildlife, scenery, and closed caption (yes you have to read), this is the movie for you. If you don’t like any of the three you will pick this movie apart. Alpha is set in Europe 20,000 years ago. We meet a tribe with a coming of age boy Keda (Kodi-Smit-McPhee), who is the son of the chief (Johannes Haukur Johannesson).
The chief is proud of his son and has chosen him to go on the hunt with the other men of the tribe. They go on this hunt every year, where they hunt Bison. Keda’s Mother is worried because Keda is more of a sensitive soul who leads with his heart, not with his strength like his father.
Alpha is rated PG-13, but this is mainly because of some of the intense hunting scenes, directed by Albert Hughes who in 2010 brought us the Book of Eli. Hughes has a great eye when it comes to filming the landscapes, and some incredible CGI from the stampeding Bison to the scene where Keda goes under the Ice in a lake.
The one problem I had with Alpha is they try to make an emotional connection throughout the flick, but it never works. I think if they wouldn’t have tried so hard it would have went smoother with the relationship between Keda and the Grey wolf.
Yes, there is a Wolf that Keda comes in contact with (I won’t explain how this happens, but I will let you know that it is a great scene). The Wolf and Keda both learn from each other, heal, and keep each other alive throughout the Journey back to Keda’s tribes camp.
I grade Alpha a B- while I loved the story, and it is visually one of the best I have seen this year, there is too many plot points and things you can pick apart.
MATINEE CHAT with Kathy Kaiser 