Extinction Review Spoiler Free
Extinction is a film that’s just been released on Netflix as the latest original movie for the streaming platform. It comes directed by Ben Young and stars Lizzy Caplan, Michael Peña, Mike Colter, Emma Booth, Israel Broussard, Tom Riley and Lilly Aspell.
Extinction is a film I would usually be naturally interested in as the science fiction genre is one of my favourite film genres. So when a trailer for a film like this appears in my Netflix feed, it’s basically going on my list as a must watch film this week. But should you make sure you spend 90 minutes on Extinction this weekend? I’m not too sure of that after sitting through it myself.
The plot of Extinction centres around the idea of some sort of Alien invasion on planet Earth. Peter (Michael Peña) lives a life with his wife and his children in their apartment. For some reason Peter is getting strange dreams about an attack and everyone thinks he’s a bit mad. But when the attack comes, it seems that actually he wasn’t. These things happen quite early on in the film and basically from there it’s an action film, although I would have to say, possibly a lower budget action film experience.
Apart from having what’s essentially a really simple plot, somehow things don’t seem to work. Never in the film did I really come to care for any of the characters, there’s essentially no development for anyone. We do get to learn a bit about why the attack happened and what was happening in the past on planet Earth. But none of that really makes any impact in the end. The worst part of the film is the final few moments when things are concluded, for some reason we get a narration from Michael Peña’s character and to me it seemed out of place. It is almost as if because the film had no real meaning, they just decided to insert one in the end there.
Michael Peña tries his best in this film and really I don’t mind this actor. But unfortunately the script is the biggest struggle the film has and even the best of actors wouldn’t be able to do much with this. I’m hoping in the future that Michael Peña can get a great film role as he’s actually quite likeable. You can actually find him in cinemas at the moment in Ant-Man and the Wasp.
The special effects aren’t too bad. I thought in the beginning that the sound was pretty good and the initial invasion was quite tense. It’s good for something I’d expect on Netflix, but you would be a bit let down if you saw this at the cinema. The invaders themselves could have been a bit better, it was obvious when they were first revealed and we got a look at them that it was just a person in a suit because you can see their legs when they’re walking.
Extinction is a bland film experience and inside the genre there’s much more better offerings out there. If you really want to waste 90 minutes and you’re a fan of Michael Peña then maybe give this one a look. But otherwise, I would be happy to say to maybe save some time and avoid it all together. Netflix releases so many things these days that there’s quite likely going to be something better to watch very soon. If you really want a sci-fi experience maybe try Altered Carbon or if you want an invasion film, try The 5th Wave.
