In 2021 the Earth was invaded by aliens we called "heavies" but we pushed most of them out. Ten years later, remote outposts established by the United Space Defense Force are there to clean up the last of the enemy stragglers, but they are underfunded and forgotten.
Shot in an after-the-fact hand-held documentary style, you will either love or hate this movie. As a veteran of the first Desert Storm conflict, I find that military-themed
movies either inspire me or piss me off... there is no middle ground. It's all in the details of military procedure, tactics, etc. This movie was unusual in that it started off bad. Really bad. As they used less and less of the inter-cut interviews, and focused more on the action against the enemy, it got better.
The interviews weren't the problem, that's just how the timing worked out. Guys with pistols in an elevated position providing cover fire by firing upward. Enemy shots that seemed to come from behind the bunker, since not much can get through a wall of sandbags... that's the point, after all. But as though the film maker learned as he went along, the tactics and behavior got more realistic.
The parallels with past and current wars were a bit heavy-handed... underfunded troops abandoned in the desert surrounded by a brainwashed enemy. After a while, when the real enemy shows its face though, you start to forget the mistakes in the beginning.
Three laugh out loud moments at filthy jokes, two eyeroll moments (one at the annoyingly over-loud flatline tone that I'm just sick of its overuse for indicating death), and two holy crap moments at some serious carnage. This is fairly bloody, and if I were to give it an MPAA rating, I'd give it a solid R just for the images of war carnage and headshots.
This is a fine movie for knitters if you're into war or documentary-style sci-fi. I'd equate it to a poor man's District 9, but bloodier. It's not terrible, but it's not great either. I gave it three out of five stars, and I'd watch a sequel on a streaming service if it became available.
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