As a dog lover, I have been anxiously awaiting the release of Alpha. The film tagline promised to deliver a story of how mankind discovered our best friend. The trailers had a nice mix of live action and CGI that gave the right visual feel and promised to be an exceptional film.
20,000 years ago, somewhere in Europe, a small tribe struggles to survive. The tribe is led by Rho (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson) whose son Keda (Kodi Smit McPhee) has just come of age. Keda and another boy are welcomed into manhood with a brief beating prior to setting out on their major game hunt of the year. Rho passes on his knowledge to his son as they prepare for the hunt. When the hunt goes wrong, Keda finds himself alone and stranded in a strange place. In his quest for survival, Keda battles a wolf, later finding companionship and synergy in his quest to survive and hopefully find his way back home.
Alpha is a fat, wet, doggy kiss to dog lovers the world over. The story is a bit simple, with a man vs. nature take on prehistoric survival. The linear plot isn't bad, although it lags at times. The story has plenty of action to break up the monotony, while allowing the relationship between boy and dog to develop at a nice pace. The interaction between Keda and his canine friend seemed genuine, helping the story maintain a degree of credibility and holding my attention. The ending was a bit sappy, but the writers found a rewarding way to tie the story together. What Alpha lacked in depth, it made up for in warmth and visual appeal.
Alpha was filmed in California, Canada and Iceland. There was a major character born in Iceland, but the cast came from diverse backgrounds that included other Nordic countries, North and South America. The lead actor, Smit-McPhee was born in Australia. So early man had quite a cultural mix. The mixture wasn't distracting. The cast fit together okay. I'm not familiar with the actors, other than Smit-McPhee who has an impressive resume. I liked him in The Road and Let Me In. He has been in several other films as well. Those were just two that I particularly liked. He was solid in the lead role, carrying much of the film on his shoulders. The exceptional CGI helped sell the effect, taking some of the pressure off of him to do everything. The wolf was equally lovable, so I guess I need to give credit to the animal trainers and special effects crew for bringing her to life.
Alpha is rated PG-13. The rating is based on intense sequences, injuries and death. The subject matter was contextual and handled well. There is not much in the way of blood and guts, other than some survival killing of animals. There were actual bison killed and skinned for this movie. Those bison were processed by a beef jerky company and were killed humanely. This was not a film that abused animals in its production. The film has a run time of one hour, 35 minutes. The film was sluggish at times, but the run time indicated that good editing kept the movie from bogging down too much.
Alpha was a love letter to dog owners like me. I am a sucker. I liked this film perhaps more than I should have. It was an interesting take on the relationship between man and beast. The relationship was developed nicely with great special effects and interesting struggles to survive. Yet the film also managed to be slow at times. I enjoyed the film and thought the quality visual appeal lent a great deal of enjoyment to the film. The interaction between actors and CGI was seamless. I am not certain I always knew what was real and what was CGI. So kudos on that point. An excellent film that had plenty of room for improvement. 7.5/10.
Trailer and images subject to copyright.