“Be careful what you dream?” Is that what I am supposed to take from a man who might be prophesying cultural annihilation? Is Peter prescient or traumatic? I bet you can’t wait to find out. Just as I’m betting you’ll be wowed when the invasion of Earth is staved off by Michael Peña and Lizzy Caplan. Who needs A-listers, anyway? The invaders probably can’t tell Brad Pitt from Michael Pitt, amIright?
Peter (Peña) is having bad dreams. He keeps seeing his apartment highrise attacked by lasers. He sees massive destructive, his wife Alice (Caplan) dead; he sees his children mourning their lost parents. Is this the past? Is this the future? How can either of those be true? Peter is just an average Joe. He’d know if his apartment building had been destroyed already, right?
His work consists of what appears to be screwing lightbulbs into the floorboards of unused space-movie sets.
“You guys rented a sci-fi set, right?”
“Yes, but this picture is only about aliens; it isn’t actually set in space.”
“Hey, you want this stuff or not?”
“Fine. We’ll take it. But I am NOT happy… (turns to intern) HEY YOU! Go write a scene with this shit in it.”
What we do learn from Peter’s work is that 1) the dreams are only getting more intense and 2) Peter is something of a technophile. Oh, I see, he’s not just your average José after all. Extinction borrows generously from The Matrix and Battle Los Angeles. Yet at this point in the film, I was sure that I was watching a knock-off Total Recall. To the film’s credit and discredit, I was not.
I suppose if you’ve never seen a movie before, you won’t guess what happens next. In the attack that followed, I was sure that the fam was going to recreate that roof-hurling scene from No Escape. To the film’s credit and discredit, they did not. The problem with failing to emulate an exciting scene from another film is you’ve got to fill in the gap with your own thoughts … and sometimes they suck. Everything about the first half of this film said “B movie.” B setup, B sets, B effects, B stars.
Funny things happen sometimes when you give up on a film. The second half of Extinction was not exactly exciting, but intriguing as well. While it took forever to get to the big surprise, I appreciate how it got there, and what the film had to say once it did. I did not appreciate the fact that Extinction set itself up for a sequel. HAH! Who are you fooling? You already made a full length film with Michael Peña carrying the load. What happens when Michael Peña gets “too big” for this role? Who’s your goto star then, huh? Freddie Prinze Jr.? One of the non-acting Jonas brothers? A watering can? Extinction grew on me, but not enough and not necessarily when it mattered.
SoCal sets a scene for reckless fare
Aliens and war machines with much to bear
Scientists grow weary
With our age-old query
If El Lay is destroyed, who among us would care?
Rated TV-MA, 95 Minutes
Director: Ben Young
Writer: Spenser Cohen and Brad Kane
Genre: Total B-call
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Cyborgs
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Somebody who doesn’t want to root for Michael Peña
