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It is generally known that movies influence one another. As the industry scales, creating something new and unique is becoming exceedingly difficult; it is within the job of filmmakers to take components and elements that are well known and put their spin on it. One of these films is Revolt, directed by Joe Miale. Although it is a mashup of other movies, it has something unique to offer.
The premise is simple, robotic aliens, equipped with whirring tools of Goldilocks that turn humans into dust, invade Earth (or Africa in this case). Instead of focusing on the humans and the war, Miale focuses on the story of an amnesiac, hero and a sexy French doctor, Nadia played by Lee Pace and one-time Bond girl, Berénice Marlohe, who are trying to escape a war-torn area.
The concept of a couple connecting while the creatures are only shown in the background will probably remind one of Gareth Edward’s Monsters. The fact that this was shot in South Africa means that comparisons with District 9 are inevitable too, just without Neil Blomkamp’s social reflection thrown into the mix and the whole military-fighting-aliens angle can remind one of Battle: Los Angeles.
At the same time, the robotic invaders look like the tripods from War of the Worlds, and any Africa war movie for sure has to think of Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down. And so forth, Miale has certainly been keeping track of the last decade or so of sci-fi/war movies because it is so obvious that it makes one wonder.
But, at the very least, they should be praised for not straight up copying and pasting everything. I reckon Lee Pace isn’t a name that comes to mind when casting a gun-swinging hero but the silent badass bit appears to suit him nicely, at least one worth following for about 90 minutes with Marlohe who happens to be ok too. Miale does some good things with what was probably not a lot of money. There is some nifty visuals in it, none better than a herd of aliens stampeding through a plain at one point.
That small scale is more than likely a result of the tight budget. The plot begins to unfold in the last chunk, but sadly, it finishes just as it is becoming really engaging (and the movie title begins to make sense). Revolt ends up looking like a very promising pilot to a TV show (or one you would want to watch) since this one zooms through its exposition except for a cameo from Jason Flemyng as a wounded war photographer who tries to sell the importance of the alien invasion, which is not shown in the film.
In terms of science fiction, Revolt does not bring anything new to the table and any fan of the genre will more or less feel a constant deja vu. But hey, it’s certainly strange enough to be entertaining.
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