Extinction (2018)

Movie Name/Year: Extinction (2018)

Tagline: We were not here first.

Genre: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

Length: 95 minutes

Rating: TV-MA

Production Companies: Good Universe, Mandeville Films, Universal Pictures, Netflix

Producer: Anna Halberg, David Hoberman, Nathan Kahane, Kelli Konop, Christopher Landry, Roy Lee, Todd Lieberman, John Powers Middleton, Cory C. Myler, Andrew Pfeffer, Andjelija Vlaisavljevic, Erin Westerman, Alexander Young

Director: Ben Young

Writer: Spenser Cohen, Brad Kane, Eric Heisserer

Actors: Michael Peña, Lizzy Caplan, Amelia Crouch, Erica Tremblay, Lex Shrapnel, Emma Booth, Lilly Aspell, Mike Colter, Israel Broussard, Sandra Teles, Tom Riley, Michael Absalom, Mina Obradovic, Joe Corrigall, Nikola Kent, Jovan Gulan, Dan Cade, Brad Kane

Blurb from Netflix: Plagued by dreams of an alien invasion, a family man faces his worst nightmare when an extraterrestrial force begins exterminating Earth’s inhabitants.

Selina’s Point of View:

I love a good end-of-the-world film. The problem is that they can get a little trope-y and the writing can get a little lazy. As a result, it’s difficult to find a really good one.

Personally, I enjoyed Extinction; however, I was not surprised to find that a lot of people didn’t.

Extinction was blessed with an amazing cast. Michael Peña (Ant-Man and the Wasp, A Wrinkle in Time, 12 Strong), Lizzy Caplan (Marvel One-Shot: Item 47, The Disaster Artist, Masters of Sex), and Mike Colter (Luke Cage, Skin, Brooklyn Lobster) have all been part of various MCU projects, so you know they’re nothing to sneeze at. Even the child actors, Amelia Crouch (The Last Dragonslayer, Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Huntsman: Winter’s War) and Erica Tremblay (Before I Fall, Imaginary Mary, Perfect Match), were great at what they needed to convey. 

I believed everyone.

I’m also going to be watching Israel Broussard (Happy Death Day, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, H8RZ) closely from now on. I think he’s going to become a household name if he gets the right project. Which means I should probably learn how to pronounce it.

Whatever issues people have with Extinction, I don’t think it should really fall on the people involved. I’d say that even the writing was well done, I think the only fault was in the tone.

This is, of course, purely from my perspective, but I wish the director had paid more attention to the ‘thriller’ aspects than the ‘action’. I love action flicks, but this is different. There are some moments in this film that are supposed to hit hard and I think they lost some of their edge because they were surrounded by explosions instead of suspense.

That said, I still don’t think the movie was bad.

I enjoyed the twists and turns. I even got caught off-guard by a couple.

I would recommend this one.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 40%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 48%

Metascore - 40/100

Metacritic User Score – 5.1/10

IMDB Score – 5.8/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 3.5/5

Movie Trailer: